An Olympic medallist visited a Wandsworth school today to launch a nationwide campaign which encourages children into becoming more active.

Sprinter Daryll Neita went to Beatrix Potter Primary School, in Magdalen Road, on February 6 to start ‘Active Kids Do Better’, a collaborative programme between Nike and Discovery Education.

With Beatrix Potter becoming the school first to join the initiative, it offers free resources, games, activities to all primary schools in the United Kingdom, ranging a hopscotch-style playground game called ‘Spell Check’ and ‘Clock Lunges’ which helps children leave their seats while learning to tell the time.

Rosemary Bowsher, a Year 5 teacher at the school, said: “We are proud to be one of the first schools to sign up to Active Kids Do Better, and it was great to be able to show Daryll how we’re encouraging pupils to get more active.

“As a busy teacher, it’s sometimes difficult to find time for fun physical activity outside of PE lessons. This programme makes it quick and easy and has given me confidence to build movement into our daily routine.

“The children were very excited to welcome an Olympic medallist to our school today.”

'Active Kids Do Better' also enables schools to access Marathon Kids, a nationwide programme which encourages children to run laps and ultimately complete four marathons over the course of a school year.

Ms Neita said: “It’s amazing to see kids of all ages and all abilities having fun and enjoying being more active. It’s so important for health and well being, and even small bitesize chunks of exercise can make a massive difference.”

The 21-year-old athlete won a bronze medal for Great Britain at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, as well as silver medals at the 2016 European Championships and 2017 World Championships in Amsterdam and London respectively.