Students and Staff at The John Roan school set tough challenges inspired by Tokyo 2020

Students and staff have pledged to complete tough physical challenges inspired by 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Pupils and teachers at The John Roan School are setting themselves ambitious targets to get more physically active this year.

Inspired by the Tokyo Games, Challenge 2020 is encouraging pupils and staff across United Learning, the national group of schools of which The John Roan School is a part, to work towards reaching challenging physical goals over the next 20 weeks.

At The John Roan School, the challenge has inspired students across all year groups to push themselves out of their comfort zone and make some impressive pledges, based on the theme ‘2020’. Last week saw Year 10 student Lewis Gibbs begin his challenge to swim 20km per week for the next 20 weeks, while Year 9 student Jude Smith made great progress in his pledge to do 2,020 daily skips.

As well as encouraging students to lead a more active lifestyle, the initiative has prompted staff and parents to set new, healthier routines. #

Head of PE Daniel Garvey has pledged to swim 2km and run 20km a week for 20 weeks, while executive head teacher Cath Smith has committed to walking the 20-minute journey from the train station to school twice a week for 20 weeks, adding 20,000 steps to her normal step count in doing so.

In a particularly notable family effort, the six-person Daniels family has also pledged to cycle 20 minutes a day each for 20 days.

Motivating students to take part in a new and ambitious initiative like this, where they are supported in facing challenges head on and encouraged to succeed through persistence and determination, forms part of how The John Roan School delivers an Education with Character to its young people.

Emma Tunstead, a Year 9 student at the academy, said: “My Challenge 2020 is to complete two walks a fortnight with my family around our local park for over 20 minutes. It is great to be active whilst spending time with family.”

Katherine Ngadi, another Year 9 student, said: “My Challenge 2020 is to complete 20 reps of a different type of exercise every day for two months. It’s a new year and the start of a new decade so I want to do something that will challenge me.”

Daniel Garvey, head of PE, said: “Challenge 2020 can be used as that extra motivation to get active. Pledges can be completed individually or with friends and family members. It’s the start of what promises to be a great year of sport so everyone is challenged to improve their health by getting active; this can come in the form of something small and achievable or big and ambitious.”

Cath Smith, executive head teacher at The John Roan School, said: “Over the past week, students and staff across our school have submitted some aspirational and exciting pledges as part of Challenge 2020, making a promising and more active start to the new year.

“What has been particularly pleasing to see is the enthusiasm and determination our whole school community has shown towards the challenge, which has inspired me to set my own 20-week goal.

“Taking part in a group-wide activity like this, alongside other United Learning schools from across the country, is a great opportunity for our students to be a part of something bigger and helps to nurture a sense of collaboration as well as competition.

“I look forward to seeing how everyone gets on with the challenge over the coming months as we work towards completing our pledges.”

Pictured above is Jude Smith