Lewis Street Primary School in Salford has seen a huge rise in pupils taking up extracurricular sports activities after playing Beat the Street this Autumn.
Staff, pupils and families from Lewis Street Primary joined more than 5,000 people to take part in Beat the Street Salford — an innovative physical activity initiative that transformed the city into a giant walking and cycling game from September to November 2016.
More than twenty schools across Salford competed against each other to see who could travel the furthest during the seven-week challenge. Lewis Street Primary ended up topping the leaderboards and winning £1,000 worth of sport and fitness equipment after walking, cycling and running 3,288 miles together.
In addition to getting active, Lewis Street Primary School saw a huge increase in pupils joining extracurricular sports activities such as after-school clubs or community teams. 51 children out of total of 330 pupils either started or joined a waiting list for sports clubs such as football, dance, gymnastics and other activities.
Wendy McCormack – Executive Headteacher of Lewis Street Primary School – said: “We are delighted to have won both leader boards at the end of the Beat the Street initiative delivered by Intelligent Health. I would like to thank everyone who supported us in achieving this. Staff have committed to providing opportunities to increase the amount of walking in our local community. This has led to the children learning more about what is available within the school community as well as knowledge about the geographical local area and personal and road safety.
“There has been a real buzz about the place especially as our Partner School; Christ Church CE came third — well done both schools! We look forward to leaning about what other ways Beat the Street can support healthy lifestyles in our community”.
Beat the Street Salford was delivered by Intelligent Health with on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester and GreaterSport. In 2016, Intelligent Health engaged 865 schools through its award-winning Beat the Street programme.
