Island children to 'skip' school

The workshops aim to encourage children to get active

Children on the Isle of Man will get a chance to skip into the record books next week as part of a visiting activity workshop.

A team of children from England are to visit to demonstrate their skipping skills in seven Manx schools.

The advanced workshop is organised by Skimmee Gien Mie (Team Wellbeing) and funded by IoM Anti-Cancer to get young people to be more physically active.

A number of challenges will be set, including a world record attempt.

Pupils have already broken a British record for long rope skipping at the end of the 2007 Summer term and children from Sulby School are on course to do the same with the Face to Face skipping challenge.

Lindsay Riordan, of Skimmee Gien Mie, said: "The reintroduction of skipping into schools has had a major impact on increasing the amount of physical activity in our schools and has proved to be very popular."

Carol Cowin, of IoM Anti-Cancer, said: "We have been involved in this initiative from the start and it has been great to see the enthusiasm of local young people to skip both in and out of school.

"It has such benefits for health and we look forward to continuing our association with this project for a long time to come."