1,000 East End kids get ‘fit for sport’ at Mile End for the summer holidays

Schools have been taking part in a ‘Fit for Sport’ campaign in London’s East End before the summer break with 1,000 children getting healthy for the holidays.

A fitness programme piloted over the past 12 months in Tower Hamlets primary schools—soon to be rolled out across Britain—ended with last month’s ‘Legacy Games Day’ at Mile End Park, a ‘left over’ from the 2012 Olympics held in East London.

It gave the children a taste for competitive sport and team spirit by competing in fun physical activities to inspire them to lead an active and healthy lifestyle.

Teachers, PE co-ordinators, lunchtime supervisors and support staff have been training up over the last two terms so they could organise playground activities to keep children active.

“This was a chance for schools to show their new-found skills,” Fit For Sport founder Dean Horridge said afterwards.

“The sheer numbers of children being active at the same time at Mile End was motivating and made a memorable day for the youngsters and their teachers.”

More than 4,000 pupils from 24 Tower Hamlets primary schools have worked to improve fitness and activity levels in the past 12 months.

Nearly 300 staff have been trained up to make the programme part of the school day.

The emphasis at Mile End’s leisure centre was on fun and to involve all children.

It involved inter-school competitions in several fields of sport and activities like running, jumping, throwing and catching—the main skills that organisers describe as “physical literacy”.

Primary schools getting fit who took part in the Legacy Games Day before breaking for the summer were Arnehem Wharf, Bangabandhu, Cubitt Town Infants, John Scurr, Malmesbury, St Matthias, St Saviour’s, Stewart Headlam and Wellington.