As children from hundreds of primary schools finally returned to full classes after Easter, two local businesses are ensuring their physical and mental wellbeing are at the heart of the end of term.

Healthy Kidz and Henderson Group have partnered for the second year to deliver sports day programmes to over 300 schools in Northern Ireland, hailing the return of the end of term event before school finishes for summer.

During the height of the lockdown in 2020, the Group which supplies to almost 500 SPAR, EUROSPAR and ViVO branded stores at the heart of communities and have been supporting school sports days since 2010, partnered with the team at Healthy Kidz to deliver virtual sports day activities to over 22,000 school children in NI, recording over 1 million activities on the Healthy Kidz App.

This year, over 70,000 pupils will benefit from the programme.

Bronagh Luke, Head of Corporate Marketing at Henderson Group commented; “Our SPAR NI brand has been delivering sports day kits to every primary school in Northern Ireland for over 10 years, so when COVID hit and things looked very different last year, we were determined to deliver an initiative which kept kids active, brought out that end of term competitive spirit and put their wellbeing front and centre.

“This year, as well as our free SPAR NI sports day kits which go to every primary school in Northern Ireland, we are giving schools the opportunity to sign up and receive a Healthy Kidz Sports Day Resource Pack. It details everything from the sports day set up, to how to practice all the challenges in the run up to the big day, bringing an element of interactivity and fun for all involved.”

Healthy Kidz is a holistic Health and Wellbeing Programme for schools, organisations and communities, aimed at increasing physical, general and emotional health of children across Northern Ireland and the UK.

Paul Carvill, Director of Coaching at Healthy Kidz added; “We had a phenomenal success with the introduction of the virtual sports day last year, but there is nothing like the real thing for pupils and teachers to enjoy.

“We have had a lot of fun creating the programme this year, and we’re delighted hundreds of schools have signed up and will be delivering the programme to thousands of children throughout May and June. To have the support of SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO and ViVOXTRA again this year makes it even better as we have prizes for schools to win, from fun days to coaching, and we have even produced videos of Sammy SPAR in training for his own sports day, which will provide more engagement for children.”

Healthy Kidz has also teamed up with various councils across Northern Ireland to ensure their local schools get involved with the Sports Day initiative for 2021, even enticing Council representatives to take part in some of the activities to challenge their local schools.

For more information, visit HealthyKidz.com and YouTube to watch Sammy SPAR get put through his paces in a series of training videos.

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