Orienteering course getting village moving

11 hours ago

Hannah MitchellNorth East and Cumbria

News image — Children from Flimby Primary School helped to design the new orienteering course near Maryport

BBC Two primary age pupils with their backs to the camera, standing in a grassy area with railings beyond, and then a road, a parked van, and houses. One of them, a girl with her hair tied back, in a black coat, is pointing the camera of a smartphone at a QR code on an orienteering control point in the form of a rectangular orange and white sign attached to the vertical post of a much larger sign. The boy beside her is also looking carefully at the smartphone screen. — Children from Flimby Primary School helped to design the new orienteering course near Maryport

A public orienteering course is helping villagers get more active.

Orienteering involves navigating between checkpoints using a special map but without a set route, and the course in Flimby, Maryport, was developed with the help of pupils from Flimby Primary School.

They helped to design the course to include elements from their curriculum and head Tanya Peers said seeing the children's ideas come to life felt "really special".

George, 10, said orienteering was good way of getting fresh air "so then you're not sat inside just playing on your iPad or something".

Peers said the school had been taking part in orienteering over the last couple of years.

Tanya Peers, the school’s Executive Head Teacher, standing smiling outside the school in the sunshine. She has shoulder-length blonde hair, and is wearing a pink flowery top and an ID lanyard. She is standing in front of a sandstone wall and beside a vertical pipe, on which two of the signs forming orienteering controls are visible. They have orange and white branding to match the colours seen on a competitive orienteering course. — Tanya Peers said the whole community had been involved

"I had the thought that it would be fantastic if the whole community could benefit from orienteering – keeping active and learning together," she said.

"The children came up with the idea of adding in a physical activity theme and seeing it in place feels really special.

"We now have an amazing course throughout the village. The whole community has been involved. It's a free activity that anyone can join in, any time of the day."

She everybody was "getting out enjoying the fresh air and becoming more and more active".

Three primary age pupils standing in a grassy area in sunshine, with a playpark and houses beyond. They are facing the camera but clustered closely together while looking down at the screen of a smartphone and pointing at it. A taller girl with long hair wearing a black coat is on the left, a boy with a dark coat and bright orange hood lining is next to her, and a shorter girl with her hair tied back, wearing a pink coat, is on the right. — Children from the school say the new orienteering course gets them moving

Cross-Curricular Orienteering and Active Cumbria's Let's Move! team worked with the school on the course, which was funded by Sport England.

The course is completed digitally using a mobile phone or tablet and there is also a paper map making it accessible for all ages and abilities.

The markers around the village can be scanned to reveal a question or an activity to complete before moving on to the next one.

People can choose to add their scores to leader tables, providing an element of competition.

Flimby Primary School pupil Susie, 10, said: "I just find it fun, because one day me and my friends will be like, 'oh we've already been to the park, we've already gone on a walk, what should we do next?' and we'll be like 'oh yeah, there's that orienteering course' and then that will just get us moving."

Another pupil, George, 10, said the course was a good alternative to screen-time, helping people get "off technology and your screens, for more fresh air so then you're not sat inside just playing on your iPad or something".

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