Nearly 100 pupils at a primary school joined a new sports club this term as part of a ‘legacy’ challenge aimed at getting children more active and leading a healthier lifestyle.

Pupils from across Belmont Primary School, Grantham, showed off their skills in a variety of sports clubs including fitness circuit, cheerleading, football, tag rugby and Key Stage 1 sports club.

The legacy challenge sees children undertake a variety of challenges set by the Inspire+ ambassadors including adventurer Sarah Outen, paralympic shot putter Sam Ruddock, 101 marathons runner Ben Smith, Olympic swimmer Sophie Allen and paralympic high jumper Jonathon Broom Edwards.

PE co-ordinator Blaine Togher has been leading the challenge.

He said: “Our young ambassadors organise and run each of the challenges and track the pupils who have completed them.

“So far we have completed Sam’s challenge which was to be active for at least 30 minutes a day and to meet the recommended hours of sleep for a child over 10 days. Our most recent challenge was Jonathan’s challenge which was to join a new club and attend for six weeks and 
to swap a screen time activity for a more active activity. “

The Legacy Challenge is totally bespoke and designed to encourage young people to be inspired towards a lifetime of sport, culture and healthy living.

It has been highlighted by Ofsted as good practice in supporting whole school development areas encouraging pupils to become healthier and more active both at school, home and within the community, increasing numbers of students participating in intra and inter-school competition and developing Leadership skills amongst young people.

Year 5 young ambassador Ebony said: “I really enjoyed Sam’s challenge to be active for at least 30 minutes a day for two weeks. I went over 60 minutes every day. I joined the school cheerleading and fitness circuit club for Jonathon’s challenge.

“We are taking part in the Legacy challenge to lead a healthier lifestyle and get active. We also have physical tasks about becoming more active and healthy lifestyle tasks including eating healthy and sleeping.”

Christmas Extravaganza at Downtown Grantham a Success with the Support of inspire+ Sports Leaders Downtown Department Store and Garden Centre Grantham welcomed over 30,000 customers during the weekend of their magical Christmas Extravaganza. The event was a strong success for Lincolnshire’s premier independent retailer.

As a key sponsor of Grantham-based Sports Charity, inspire+, Downtown were delighted to offer their Sports Leaders volunteering opportunities throughout the weekend. With over 70 volunteers, the ambassadors were provided with various opportunities to expand their skills; from assisting customers with choosing their Christmas trees to demonstrating the toys on the Toy Department. Whilst enjoying their eagerness and willingness to help, customers were keen to express their thanks and compliments to the team at inspire+.

inspire+ serve schools in South Kesteven and wider Lincolnshire with over 200 trained Sports Leaders. These young leaders will be supporting numerous events throughout 2019, allowing them the chance to enhance their experiences, which will inevitably provide them valuable skills for their futures. Oldrids & Downtown and inspire+ will be working closely together to deliver projects covering various initiatives and objectives to invest in opportunities for the Sports Leadership Academy.

Marc Blackman, Leadership Manager at inspire+ said: "It is fantastic to have Oldrids & Downtown as sponsors for our Sports Leadership Academy this year as each year we train over 100 young people, who are enthusiastic to give back to their schools and the community. What better way to do this by teaming up with one of the largest names in Lincolnshire. Oldrids & Downtown believe in the work that we have been doing with our local young people and the benefit that our initiative has had and continues to have within the local community. We see that this partnership will enable our young people to have an opportunity to gain further invaluable experience which will help them in the future.”

Richard Broadhead, Managing Director at Oldrids & Downtown said: "We have been delighted to work with the team at inspire+ over the course of this year. As sponsors of the Sports Leadership Academy, we are really proud to play a part in supporting the personal development of over 100 local, young people. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the inspire+ volunteers who really helped to make our Christmas Extravaganza weekend even more special for our valued customers. They did a great job and their energy, enthusiasm and desire to please our customers was inspiring!