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Sprint star inspires dreams of Olympic glory

An Olympic athlete left pupils with stars in their eyes and dreaming of track and field glory on Wednesday (November 20).

Jack Green with pupils at Mundella Primary School (22197730)
Jack Green with pupils at Mundella Primary School (22197730)

Team GB sprint star Jack Green led a whole-school active fitness session at Folkestone’s Mundella Primary School, and spoke to pupils about his illustrious career.

The visit was awarded as a prize after the school’s Shakespeare Class won a monthly county-wide green-travel challenge with the KM Charity Team’s Active Wow campaign. The children of Shakespeare Class were also given free-entry vouchers to Folkestone Sports Centre.

Dressed in his Team GB tracksuit, Mr Green showed pupils his medals from the 2016 European and 2017 world athletics championships, and led running and aerobics drills for children at the school.

Afterwards, he stressed how important participating in schemes like Active Wow was for children’s physical and mental well-being, stating: “It would be great to see all schools competing in this, and hopefully I can visit a few more schools in the future.”

Mundella head teacher Frazer Westmorland emphasised the potential of Active Wow to boost pupils’ performance in the classroom.

He said: “A lot of our children when they come into school in the morning are not ready to learn. Maybe they’ve not got up early enough or they’re just tired like we all can be.

“But walking to school, they’re fresher, they’re ready, their heartbeats are up, and we can hit the ground running when they come into school.

“And at schools like Mundella we need to maximise the opportunities of children. As much time as we can get them in the class, as much learning as possible, they’re going to do as well as they possibly can.

“So walking to school one day a week, great. Two or three days a week, even better. I’d be happiest if they were walking to school every day, and initiatives like these make sure it’s going to happen.”

Active Wow encourages families to walk to school, with individual schools’ classes competing each week to be awarded a Green Class of the Week Trophy.

Monthly inter-school green-travel challenges award winning classes tickets to leisure attractions including Diggerland and Wildwood and visits by storytellers.

The scheme is supported by Ashford International Hotel, Volker Highways, Countrystyle Recycling, Golding Vision, Specsavers, Eurostar, Kent, Maidstone, Bexley, Medway and Ashford councils, the Morrisons Foundation, Buckland Media and the Education People.

Find out more at Kmwalktoschool.co.uk or by contacting Active Wow coordinator Kathy Beel at KBeel@thekmgroup.co.uk or on 01227 475966.

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