Lurgan company signs up 20,000 pupils for virtual sports day

Over 20,000 Northern Ireland school pupils have signed up for their very own virtual sports day designed by Lurgan company Healthy Kidz.

Run this Saturday in partnership with SPAR, EUROSPAR, VIVO, VIVO ESSENTIALS & VIVO XTRA, the Healthy Kidz Virtual Sports Day will help replicate the annual sports day and has already signed up 500 schools.

Healthy Kidz is a provider of in-school health programmes and creates and delivers holistic physical activity, general health and wellbeing programmes to primary schools.

Pupils have logged over 500,000 activities in training and preparation for the big event using the Healthy Kidz app.

It allows pupils to follow a five-week practice plan, with a clear roadmap of what activities to work on each week. There are a choice of seven from the traditional Egg and Spoon, a Marathon Challenge, Long Jump, Sprint , Superstrong Challenge, High Jump, and Wellie Boot Toss. Pupils have the option to be creative and design their own obstacle course. Pupils pick five of their favourites to complete on the day of the virtual Sports Day on Saturday 13th June.

All of these activities can be logged onto the free app, which allows pupils to track their own improvement each time. Each school will receive an activity breakdown report for them to share with their pupils at the first assembly back in school for the new term.

The unique Healthy Kidz App also allows principals and teachers private access through an on-line dashboard to view what their pupils are logging and thus giving them the opportunity to encourage them on the school communication platforms.

Healthy Kidz Director of Coaching Paul Carvill said: "It has obviously been an extremely difficult period for lots of people, not just in this country, but all over the world and we've been keen to do whatever we can to provide some relief for as many families as possible.

"The annual sports day is a key fixture in the school calendar and we thought there is no reason why we can’t replicate it online. We look forward to a fun day on 13th June when pupils throughout Northern Ireland will battling it out.”

Healthy Kidz has been focusing on its social responsibility during the Covid 19 pandemic, encouraging children to stay active in their own homes and shared spaces. It launched the the highly successful Global Challenge which logged over 35,000 activities in five weeks using the company’s app. Washing Hands had the highest scores recorded. It has also launched the on-line Virtual Sports Day Resource Pack for Primary Schools in partnership with SPAR, EUROSPAR, VIVO, VIVO ESSENTIALS & VIVO XTRA.

Healthy Kidz is a provider of In School Health Programmes and have been creating and delivering holistic physical activity, general health and wellbeing programmes to primary schools throughout Ireland since 2014. Over 30,000 pupils have enjoyed increasing their activity, fitness and good health.