Inspirational day for pupils as gold medal winning Paralympian attends school sports day

The students at Bilbrook Middle School in Codsall were rewarded for how they and their school have embraced sport for all after they were joined at their school sports day on June 18 by two-time Paralympic gold medallist Jonnie Peacock.

Jonnie, who won gold in the T44 100 metres in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio, visited the school as part of a wider initiative, with Olympians and Paralympians visiting select schools nationwide to inspire kids to break barriers to inclusion in sport as part of Sure's Breaking Limits Programmme.

Jonnie's appearance was the grand prize in a competition held by the Sure Breaking Limits Programme, which fights to give every young person the chance to get moving, regardless of the barriers they face.

Bilbrook Middle School clinched the win with a heartwarming story from Harry, a student who, despite his disability, never misses a PE lesson and, with a walking frame and the support of his friends, tackles every sport.

School PE teacher Charlotte Ward said the school and pupils had found out 24 hours before that Jonnie Peacock was coming to the school and said that his appearance had been met with great excitement by everyone.

She said: "When we found out who was coming, we just thought it was amazing and while some of our students weren't even born when he won gold in London, they did their research and we talked about his achievements, so they were really excited to see him.

"When he came, he did an assembly about how he took part in sport and answered loads of questions from the pupils about the Paralympics and his sport, then he did a warm up exercise with them and gave them all a medal with his signature on.

"Our students just loved the whole experience and he was so lovely and inspirational and down to earth.

"I hope the experience taught the students that while you can come up against barriers in your life, you can overcome them and life is not about giving up, but about achieving the goals that you set yourself."

A spokesman for Sure Breaking Limits said: "The Sure Breaking Limits Programme is a sport for development programme targeted at disadvantaged youth.

"It has been developed in partnership with Beyond Sport, a global leader for driving sustainable social change through sport.

"Through the programme, we are partnering with leading non-profit sport for social development organisations that use movement to achieve positive outcomes and providing them with funding to enhance their programmes and expand their reach.

"We’re also equipping coaches, trainers and community leaders with the skills to transform the lives of young people by giving them the confidence to break down the limits that hold them back from moving however they want."