Leicester Tigers will be kicking off a brand new community initiative for primary schools to get involved with this month.
Partnered with new club partner Global Payments, the Healthy Schools programme is designed to educate pupils on the importance of healthy eating and living.
We caught up Leicester Tigers health education officer Ashleigh Theobald, who runs the programme visiting schools across Leicestershire, to find out more.
Tell us a little bit about your background?
"My background mainly involves sports and travelling. Back in 2009, I travelled around Brazil for a month and after this gained a degree in Sports Therapy back in 2014.
"Throughout this time, I have been involved in coaching programmes including rugby, football, multi-sports, snow sports and hockey. I also worked as a climbing instructor on cruise ships travelling through Asia, a multi-sport activities coach in France and a water-ski and wakeboard Instructor in Greece before joining Tigers this year."
What is healthy schools about and why have we launched it?
Our Healthy Schools Programme is a free initiative for primary schools, which includes a week-long takeover in your school. We’ll deliver a kick-off assembly and throughout the week host a series of theory and practical sessions around healthy eating and living."
"We have developed this programme to help combat the very recent increase of childhood obesity and decrease in levels of attainment in schools within the area. Leicester has been named as one of the leading cities within these areas and has an average life expectancy that sits below the England average - we think it’s time to change!"
How do groups and primary schools get involved?
"If you are a Leicestershire primary school interested in finding out more information about the free programme or would like to book your school’s Healthy School week, please get in touch either by emailing [email protected] or call 07970 619444."
