Primary School teachers, mentors, welfare staff, SSCo’s and PDM’s from Knowsley schools attended Zoneparc inspirational roadshows at City of Manchester Stadium or at Leeds United Football Stadium.

Joining the delegates was Olympic Gold medallist, Denise Lewis. Denise, in her newly appointed role as a Youth Sport Trust Zoneparc Sporting Ambassador, was attending the special events for schools that have a custom designed Zoneparc playground to help pass on top tips in revitalising and keeping the inspiration in your Zoneparc.

Denise said: “As a mother with two young children, I understand that for some children the playground can be a daunting place. Zoneparc has had some great successes in reducing common problems associated with playtimes as well as being an important step to help get all young people active. I’m really excited to meet the people that make this happen, and give them my support, hopefully inspiring them to continue this important work developing our young people.”

Zoneparc/Sporting Playgrounds is a playground improvement project that aims to tackle social exclusion and increase the activity levels of young people. They have activity areas, which are colour coded for different types of activity. The Red Zone is a sports zone for small-sided court space, goals, and cricket trainer. The Blue Zone is the Action Zone with targets, hopscotch or skill snakes and the Yellow Zone is the Chill Out zone with benches and table top games.

During the day delegates had the opportunity to play, have fun, hear from other schools, share solutions, join in practical sessions for new playground games and learn about new equipment.

As part of the day the Youth Sport Trust asked each school to rise to a challenge and win Denise for the day at their school. The schools had to let Denise know why their school deserved a visit from her, tell her all about their Zoneparc achievements and how children enjoyed and participated in the Zoneparc activities, entries had to be back within a two week deadline. Knowsley is extremely happy to announce that Denise has been won for the day by CHERRYFIELD PRIMARY SCHOOL in Kirkby. Both staff and children cannot wait for her visit which will be on Tuesday March 4th. Watch this space for a follow up story.