PUPILS at St Peter’s Primary School have been dawning their walking shoes to walk or run 200 miles since returning to school after Easter.
Teacher Elizabeth McGrath explained the challenge which saw students walk or run around the school yard, incorporating the outdoor experience into the school's curriculum.
“We started when we came back after Easter and we decided to get all the children out twice a week and we walked 20 miles around the playground.
“Each week we worked out how many miles we did and we taught the children how far our milage would take us around the North. We included the school trips that we went on, sites of Belfast, sites of the North Antrim Coast and then made our way back to St Peter’s which completed our 200 Mile Challenge.”
In addition to the physical aspect, teachers were keen to tie the challenge in with the curriculum with students using their time outdoors to develop their numeracy skills alongside their local geography.
Continuing, Elizabeth added: “Every week I took a different class and talked them through the map, where we were and when we were out each class had certain targets they had to meet every week.
“The kids all loved it and they were out hail, rain or shine, and we hope to incorporate it again next year and make it more of a daily thing rather than a term challenge.”
