OBESITY is being tackled by a primary school which received a grant to build its own fitness ground.

Brook Field Primary School on Cartwright Drive was awarded a £10,000 grant from Swindon Borough Council.

Over the summer the school started building the fitness ground for its students to use to help reduce rates of obesity and improve mental health.

Headteacher Dan Clarke worked with personal trainer Chris Coates from the Village Gym Swindon at Shaw Ridge Leisure Park to get its students excited for the new ground.

Dan said: “We put in the application for a grant because of mental health and obesity. We’re inclusive of all areas of development and over the last few years we have been focusing on this.

“We put in a sensory garden and running track but now we’re working on doing an outdoor sports club for them to use the equipment.

“It has been great so far, you just want to make sure you’re doing right by them. In times of pressure you get in education we want to make sure what we offer is holistic.”

All the students have been enjoying the new grounds, with around 40 children using it each day.

One of the captains is Bonita, 11, who has been training with the younger students almost every day.

She said: “We were all really surprised when we came to school and we were really excited.

“I use it quite a lot, not for PE but in our spare time. I love that we get to work with lots of different people and seeing the younger children.

“Everyone gets to use the track and the equipment, we try to challenge the other kids taking part because we know they can do it.”

Brook Field School got in touch with Chris and asked him to run a training session with the children. Once it opened he went along to teach the students about what they can do with the equipment.

He said: “It’s good, you see some of these stations built up around the country and they’re just random parts. But being in the school and actually getting them involved in this equipment is quite nice.

“A lot of the time students do the odd PE lesson which just gets them doing something but this is an option open to anyone to do a bit more activity and helps prevent obesity levels.”