The Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Councillor Kevin Savage, is encouraging all local schools to participate in the Healthy Kidz Sports Day – and as part of this initiative, he has set a specially designed ‘Beat the Lord Mayor Challenge’!
Over 60 schools in the borough have already signed up to the initiative, which is organised in partnership with SPAR, EUROSPAR and ViVO.
“I’m so excited to launch this campaign in our local schools, commented the Lord Mayor. “With children now back at school, we want encourage them to get outside for physical activities, have fun and take part in their schools Sports Day.
“Lockdowns and school closures have been extremely tough on school children and staff. What our children need now is a sense of normality, therefore, this initiative will help to relieve some of the stress and pressure on principals, and ultimately help them deliver their schools Sports Day.”
Healthy Kidz provide all the resources that schools need to deliver a socially-distanced Sports Day and all resources are easily accessible online, free of charge and include set sporting challenges, how-to video tutorials and downloadable certificates.
And as an added extra, the Lord Mayor has also threw in a few challenges too! “I’ve set three Sports Day challenges for the children to compete against me and I can’t wait to see the results! Who will be able to beat me in the traditional Egg and Spoon Race, Welly Boot Toss and Sprint?!”
Bronagh Luke, Head of Corporate Marketing at Henderson Group commented; “Our SPAR NI brand has been delivering sports day kits to every primary school in Northern Ireland for over 10 years. When COVID hit and things looked very different last year, we were determined to deliver an initiative which kept kids active, brought out that end of term competitive spirit and put their wellbeing front and centre.
“This year we are giving schools the opportunity to sign up and receive a ‘Healthy Kidz Sports Day Resource Pack’. It details everything from the sports day set up, to how to practice all the challenges in the run up to the big day, plus bringing that element of interactivity and fun for all involved.”
Healthy Kidz is a holistic Health and Wellbeing Programme for schools, organisations and communities, aimed at increasing physical, general and emotional health of children across Northern Ireland and the UK.
Paul Carvill, Director of Coaching at Healthy Kidz added; “We had a phenomenal success with the introduction of the virtual sports day last year, but there is nothing like the real thing for pupils, teachers and their parents to enjoy.
“We have had a lot of fun creating the programme this year, and we’re delighted hundreds of schools across NI have signed up and will be delivering the programme throughout May and June. To have the support of SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO and ViVOXTRA again this year makes it even better as we have prizes for schools to win, from fun days to kit, and we even have created videos of Sammy SPAR in training for his own sports day, which will provide more engagement for children.”
To find out more information about the Healthy Kidz Sports Day, visit www.healthy-kidz.com. You can follow all the Sports Day action on the Council’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/armaghbanbridgecraigavon
