Hundreds of schools twinned with Parkruns

Scarlett (L), Luna (middle) and Bailey (R) say they cannot wait to try parkrun

Primary Schools across the country are being twinned with Parkruns to boost children's daily exercise.

Ferndale Primary School and Nursery in Swindon is one of 500 UK primary schools which has signed up to the scheme.

The new initiative has been launched to encourage more pupils to get active, after it was revealed that fewer than half of children meet the chief medical officer's recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day.

Liz Horrobin, head teacher at Ferndale school, said: "Some of our children don't even have back gardens so to be able to show them this opportunity was something I couldn't pass on. Hopefully it will help open some doors for our children."

Over the past 12 months, 17,000 school children piloted the scheme across the UK.

Emma Sperring, event director for Swindon's Lydiard adult and junior parkrun, said: "Parkrun is so important for so many people now, it's a community.

"People come along not just to run but to chat and meet with friends. They might walk they might run."

Ms Sperring (L), Liz Horrobin (middle) and Nicola Stokes (R) are working together to make Parkrun Primary a success

Nicola Stokes helps to run the Swindon's GWR junior Parkrun, near Faringdon Road, and said that in a world of technology, getting active is more important than ever.

She added: "We all know computer games and screen time is a thing so actually getting them out of that cycle is so nice and parkrun is a really friendly way to do it."

Ms Horrobin said to ease her students into Parkrun, the school are preparing to start an after-school club.

She added: "It will just be showing them that running, sport and fitness doesn't have to be an exclusive club, you don't even need to be fit to do it.

"We'll play things like stuck in the mud and fun games to get your heartbeat going and get us exercising without even realising it."

Lucy, 11, said she's looking forward to taking part in the event.

"It's nice to know that there's Parkruns for younger children and ones for adults so everyone can get involved," she said.