Children from three local primary schools were able to hop, skip and jump into sporting action at an event run by Hartpury College students.

Twenty-seven primary school aged pupils from Westbury-on-Severn, Mitcheldean and Woodside primary schools turned up at Dene Magna School in Mitcheldean for an athletics event.

The event was planned and run by Hartpury students who are in the first year of their BTEC diploma in Sport Coaching. The aim of the session was to introduce various different athletics events.

The children took part in a variety of track and field events, including javelin, standing long jump and relays. All of them thoroughly enjoyed the day, and the Hartpury students were on hand to give pointers at every activity, as well as leading a very popular ‘Wake and Shake’ session for the warm-up.

Jayne Dews, PE teacher at Dene Magna, said: “The strong link between Hartpury College, Dene Magna and our local primary schools is hugely beneficial for all concerned. It allows the primary youngsters to develop their confidence, social skills and come together with children from other schools in a competitive, fun, learning environment.”

Hartpury has a strong link with Dene Magna School that has been established with the support of Steve Price, the School Games Organiser for the Forest of Dean. The college has run many different events for primary schools in the district.

Dan Robinson, Subject Leader and Further Education Sports Coordinator at Hartpury, said: “This is one of several festivals Hartpury runs for primary school children across the Forest of Dean. These events are organised and delivered by our students, which helps them to achieve their Sports Leader award coaching badge. I was so proud of them; they were absolutely phenomenal on the day!”

Lily-May Banbury-Pugh, one of the coaching students involved on the day, said: “We all took a great deal of satisfaction from running such a successful day and seeing the children having so much fun learning new skills and experiencing events and activities many of them had not tried before. It’s a real buzz!

“It’s great for us being able to put the things we learn into classroom into practice by coaching local children and we gain so much from this kind of practical experience.”