Banbury primary schools receive cash boost for activity projects thanks to supermarket giant

The schools won their prize as part of Aldi’s Kit for Schools campaign, with the schools already earmarking the funds for activity related projects.

Queeensway will put the award towards additions to their adventure playground, as well as the development of a new on-site forest school where pupils can get involved in den building and growing their own fresh produce.

Hill View will put the money towards creating a long-standing daily mile track for pupils of all ages and abilities to walk, run and cycle regardless of the weather.

In a general sense the funds will be used to encourage more children to be active ahead of Tokyo 2020, following a report by Sport England which showed that one-third of children take part in less than the recommended minimum of thirty minutes of physical activity a day.

Sarah Horbury-Jakeman, headteacher, at Queensway Primary School, said: “Physical education is a vital part of our curriculum, and Aldi’s support means we can provide our pupils with even more opportunities to get involved in sports and healthy activities.

“We hope it will inspire the children and, who knows, we may even discover a future Olympian of our own.

“It has also been fantastic to see so many local parents supporting us, and we would like to thank them for choosing to donate their stickers to us.”

Both schools were entered into the prize draw after Aldi shoppers collected stickers every time they spent more than £30 at the Ruscote Avenue store and took them into the school.

Claire Ferens, headteacher at Hill View Primary School, said: “All of us at Hill View Primary School are very excited to have won this competition and are grateful to everyone involved in the Aldi Kit for Schools initiative for their support.

“As well as striving to provide our pupils with the very best in terms of teaching and learning, we are committed to giving them every opportunity to develop into healthy, happy and active young people.

“We’re looking forward to using this prize money to build on this commitment and improve our fantastic sports facilities even further.”

Just 20 schools across the UK were awarded the £20,000 funding, while all schools who completed a poster received an exclusive Aldi sports kit, containing relay batons, bean bags, cones and bibs.

The Kit for Schools initiative was part of Aldi and Team GB’s long-standing efforts to get young people active and eating well.

They have also collaborated on the Get Set to Eat Fresh campaign, which aims to teach young people about eating well and gives them the skills and confidence to cook fresh, healthy meals.

Sean McGinty, marketing director at Aldi UK, said: “We are committed to working with Team GB to inspire young people in Oxfordshire to eat well and move more, and we are pleased to be able to help Queensway Primary School to give its pupils the chance to take part in additional sports activities.

“We will continue to work with schools across the UK in the run-up to Tokyo 2020 and beyond to encourage pupils to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.”

Aldi has already worked with more than 1 million young people, aged between five and 14 years old, as part of the Get Set to Eat Fresh campaign, and plans to work with 1.2 million children before Tokyo 2020.

Aldi has extended the initiative to run until Paris 2025, with the hope to inspire even more children to eat well.