CHILDREN’S cheers greeted the news Ferndale Community Primary School had been crowned Beat the Street winners.

Headteacher Liz Horrobin revealed the win at the school’s lunchtime assembly. The 500 pupils at the Ferndale school clocked up more than 400,000 points in the council-backed anti-obesity project that has turned walking, running and cycling the streets of the town into a huge game.

Bridlewood and Haydonleigh primary schools were the runners up.

Yesterday, Ferndale headteacher Liz said she was proud her school had topped the leader board after six weeks spent encouraging youngsters to get outdoors and win as many Beat the Street points as possible.

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“It’s been a real team effort,” said Liz, who has been headteacher since September. “It’s brought us together.

“On the last day of Beat the Street we did a night run. We had face paint, hot chocolate drinks, glow sticks. It was just phenomenal. There were easily over a hundred children and their families. The support was incredible. We had our neighbours, people living nearby who weren’t even part of the school, coming out and cheering us on.

“It’s helped those children who don’t necessarily want to be part of a team sport. They came out and were active.”

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Pupils said they had enjoyed the game. Seven-year-old Lilyanna said: “My mum doesn’t really run a lot, but she wanted us to win, so she did a lot of running for us.” Florence, 10, added: “I like sport.”

The school would take inspiration from their Beat the Street win, Liz said: “We do our daily mile at the school. Instead of our daily mile we have been going out to the lampposts for the Beat the Street boxes.

“What it’s taught us is that the adults should join in and be part of it. We’ve had lovely conversations with the children.”

Stuart Arthur, Beat the Street coordinator, said: “Swindon had 32,000 people playing, which is the largest number this game has had. That number could fill the County Ground stadium twice over. Swindon is the model that needs to be replicated.”

What was Beat the Street?

Beat the Street was a project that aimed to fight obesity by getting people to run, walk or cycle between so-called Beat boxes strapped to lamposts and fences. People had to touch a contactless card or fob on the next box within an hour to win points. The boxes were placed at intervals of around half a mile.

The project ran for six weeks and was a partnership between Swindon Borough Council and Sport England. It was organised by Intelligent Health, which has run the game in other towns around the country.