Pupils put their best feet forward with new walking club
Pupils at Whitgreave Primary are enjoying the great outdoors after their school launched a new walking club.
It came about after PE teachers Alex Albutt and Ross Edwards discussed what new opportunities they could give their pupils at the Goodyear Avenue school.
Taking advantage of nationally accredited training, the pair completed 10 months of rigorous activities across the country in order to qualify as Hill and Moorland Leaders.
They then implemented their qualifications with the launch of a new weekly Walking Club, where children have the opportunity to explore hills and moorland areas around the UK, hopefully leaving them with life-long memories and further developing their physical activity skills.
Already they have visited the Clent Hills, Shropshire Hills, Peak District and the Berwyn mountains in Wales, and have seen waterfalls, caves and wild animals on their travels.
Headteacher Sarah Redfern said: "At Whitgreave, we hold the importance of physical and emotional well-being in the highest regard, and this is a perfect opportunity to provide support in both areas whilst developing the children's cultural capital.
"The feedback from both children and parents has been extremely positive; parents are delighted that their children have new opportunities to travel to different areas and explore different types of outdoors.
"As headteacher, I am extremely proud of this amazing opportunity that our PE team are offering to our children at Whitgreave. It is such an exciting venture and the children are absolutely loving it!"
The development of the walking club was supported by Nick Dixon, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Educational Visits Advisor, who helps schools with the planning and management of offsite visits, in particular those that are adventurous in nature, residential or overseas.
He has been actively engaged with Whitgreave and its programme of hill and moorland walks and said: "This is a great provision for a Wolverhampton primary school. It would be excellent if other schools could take up this to enhance their curriculum."
Councillor Jackie Coogan, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Work, said: “This is a fabulous initiative which will in still in children a love of the great outdoors, and help them improve their health and wellbeing by visiting some of our most spectacular landscapes.”
