Paralympian Mickey Bushell to open new track at Telford School
Paralympic gold medallist Mickey Bushell MBE will be officially opening a Telford primary school's new Daily Mile track this week.
Mickey, along with the mayor Councillor Stephen Reynolds, parents and teachers, will open the track at Grange Park Primary School in Stirchley on Thursday.
The new track means Grange Park joins 8,890 schools and nurseries across the world that are already taking part in the scheme. It was made possible through £4,000 from Telford & Wrekin Council’s Let’s Get Active Grant.
The free initiative sees children run or jog at their own pace each day for 15 minutes. The school is also opening the track on Thursdays after school for parents to join in too.
Richard Thorpe, the school's headteacher, said: “The Daily Mile is a great example of a simple, free inclusive exercise to boost the wellbeing of the whole school and the community around it.
Health
“Children are more settled in their work, concentration levels have improved and fitness levels are also on the up. It’s great to see children and the teachers really enjoying the initiative and we hope parents will also get on board."
Councillor Andy Burford, cabinet member for health and social care, said: “It’s never too late to encourage the importance of good health, fitness and wellbeing in young children and it’s fantastic to see so many pupils and their parents benefitting.
“Fun and also support are so important when it comes to being active and we’re lucky to have so many passionate people in our communities helping to create these opportunities such as this.
“This track is just one of a number of projects supported by the council’s Let’s Get Telford Active campaign. The original pot of £50,000 aims to encourage community-led activities, creating more chances for people to have a go at different activities and find something they love, just like the Daily Mile.”
Lee James, head of extracurricular sport at the school and the driving force behind the project, said: “Grange Park always does really well at sporting competitions but when it comes to longer distances we struggle so we thought the Daily Mile would be the ideal way to help improve fitness and ultimately health for our pupils.
“It doesn’t need to be a grand event, just when the time is right to allow everyone to get out and run or move about for 15 minutes for some time to talk, laugh, get muscles warmed up and positive vibes going.
The school was also awarded funding from Tesco Bags for Life and the schools’ capital grant.
The opening is a closed event for pupils, parents and staff.
Mickey Bushell is the British record holder at 100m and 200m and a European record holder at 100m and is currently training at NGR in Ironbridge.
In the London 2012 Paralympics, he won a gold medal for Great Britain in the 100m, he set a new 100m world record in Switzerland in 2009 and won silver in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in China winning silver in 100m.
