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Pupils and staff at Pocklington School and Pocklington Prep School were delighted to receive their reward this week, for completing the Run Pock, Run lockdown challenge earlier this year.

As schools moved to remote learning for the second time due to the pandemic in January 2021, Lucy Hornby, Head of Co-Curriculum at Pocklington School, devised a number of co-curricular challenges for staff and pupils to enjoy, whilst also encouraging physical activity, relaxation and promote positive mental health and wellbeing.

Run Pock, Run challenged participants to choose a goal distance with the aim of completing the challenge within one calendar month or a maximum of fifteen runs. There was a choice of Bronze Level: 10km (6.25 miles), Silver Level: one marathon (26.2 miles) or Gold Level: two marathons (52.4 miles).  For completing the challenge, participants received a t-shirt for bronze level, a bobble hat for silver level and both for the gold level.

Senior school pupils and staff rose to the challenge, with 26 staff and 44 students taking part. Pupils commented on how much they had enjoyed the activity, as well as helping them to remain motivated and focussed during remote learning.  Parents were also grateful for the challenge with one commenting: “Thank you for the running challenge you have put together for the students.  It was such a great idea and so nice to have achieved something in this second lockdown.  My daughter and I have thoroughly enjoyed running together and hope to keep our fitness up!”

Bonnie Steel, Pocklington Prep School teacher and keen runner herself, was eager to get the younger pupils involved too as her Year 1 class already took part in exercise as part of their daily routine.  Bonnie explained: “Each day at school I would take them for a run so in lockdown we continued the daily exercise mission. We did our online learning in the morning and discussed exercise options for the afternoon. Every day we were totting up our class miles. When I saw the Run Pock, Run Challenge Lucy had organised, I immediately knew my class could do it too – I just changed the stipulation that the children did not have a cap on the amount of runs they could do, they only needed to achieve the distance (no matter how many times they needed to go out!).” It did not take long for the entire Prep School to get involved and subsequently every child in Prep School completed either Bronze, Silver or Gold level – a very proud achievement indeed!

Lucy Hornby commented: “At Pocklington, we value the impact that activities outside the classroom, and in recent times away from screens, contribute to the development of our young people and the positive effect they have on their mental health and well-being. Staff, students, and parents within our community took on this challenge with great commitment and enthusiasm, and I cannot be more proud of the personal achievements, which many have experienced throughout this period of lockdown.”