School community comes together on The Road to Tokyo

During the last four weeks, pupils, parents and staff from St Anne's Fulshaw CE Primary School have been taking part in their 'Road to Tokyo' fundraising event.

In honour of the 2021 Olympics, which are due to start on 23rd July, the school community set out to cover the 9,500km from Wilmslow to Tokyo by walking, riding, running, swimming, scooting or cycling (or a combination of any) to get there. When the final distance travelled was tallied up, the grand total was 12,543.32km - almost 100km travelled for every child.

In school, children ran and walked a minimum of 1km every day, often much more. They swam weekly, cycled, rode and scooted. Children, staff and parents used fitness and activity trackers to keep a tally of the distances they covered. At the end of each week, every participant updated their weekly distances on the event's home page.

Additionally, parents organised and took part in walks ranging from a quick weekly, evening 5km, to a 25km loop around Wilmslow - heading out to Prestbury and back via the Bollin Valley. Whilst family groups walked up Shutlingsloe, Three Shires Head, through Bollington and Beristall, Redesmere and Capesthorne and also around Wildboarclough.

Evening and weekend bike rides varied in length from 25km to a 100km trip out to Delamere. A group of Year 6 pupils, staff and parents cycled out to Jodrell Bank and back after the children passed their Bikeability Level 2 assessment. One family also headed off road to spend several sessions mountain biking at Llandegla in Wales.

Parents' running groups left school just after drop-off several times each week, running anywhere from 5km to 15km. They also kicked off the month of activity with a family 5km run around Lindow Moss, and one staff member ran to the top of Shutlingsloe to see in the sunrise.

The PTA organised a treasure hunt around the local area which raised almost £157 in entry fees, and parents also took part in a sweepstake to guess the final distance travelled.

Even Cookie, the school's therapy dog, clocked up her daily walk total on the accumulator! The most unusual sport involved was paddle boarding, and the one which took the prize for the greatest distance travelled was cycling.

Headteacher, Clare Daniel, said "We were absolutely delighted with the level of support and involvement of everybody in the school community, including some local businesses along Chapel Lane who also either pledged or donated, and members of St Anne's Church congregation too. Our parents have been amazing in planning and organising all of the different events and really drumming up support across all the classes.

"Now that we have completed our challenge, we are busy collecting in sponsorship and are currently approaching halfway to our total of £5,000. The Road to Tokyo event has been so successful in reigniting the sense of community that we have been missing since March 2020, and has given so many families the opportunity and motivation to get out and about and be active together.

"If anybody in the wider community would like to contribute towards our fundraising and help us to reach our goal, donations can be made at https://wonderful.org/fundraisers/80.

Funds raised will continue to support music, creative and enrichment opportunities for all pupils at the school."

Tags:
St Anne's Fulshaw Primary School
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement