FRIDAY, 21 APRIL, 2017

PHOTO ATTACHED OF SCHOOLCHILDREN AT THE ANGUS CROSS COUNTRY EVENT

POST team springs into action

NHS Tayside spread the Fun Fit Tayside message to secondary school pupils in Dundee and Angus at the annual Active Schools Secondary Dance Festival and Angus Cross Country event.

Active Schools, in both Angus and Dundee, have been busy organising these annual events, sponsored by the Paediatric Overweight Service for Tayside (POST) to help promote the importance of physical activity. The POST team provided medals and trophies and presented them to the winners and runners up.

St John’s RC High School had a clean sweep through all the categories at the Dance Festival. This year, as well as the usual Street and Contemporary dance categories, there was also the new Open category, allowing for any form of dance to be showcased. The winners displayed a very moving piece of dance around the impact of cancer in their Contemporary category and a very energetic Irish dancing routine for their Open entry.

Active Schools co-ordinator Gareth Dailly said, “Active Schools are delighted to work in partnership with NHS Tayside’s POST team and our local dance experts to provide an opportunity for youngsters to showcase their creative talents. Many of the acts involved have been choreographed by senior pupils. This is an ambition come true for Active Schools and a fantastic example of good practice within our secondary schools in Dundee.”

At the Angus Cross Country event at Monikie Country Park, runners from Angus secondary schools took part in races ranging from 2000 to 4000 metres. The runners were supported by fellow pupils, teachers and Active Schools Co-ordinators who work hard to ensure the event runs smoothly on the day.

Andy Garnett, Angus Active Schools lead co-ordinator, said, “We are delighted to have POST on board with this particular event as, while it promotes competitive school sport, it also allows a large number of our pupils to take part in a fun event and enjoy participating and taking on their own personal activity challenges, as part of pursuing healthy lifestyles.”

POST team lead Dr Laura Stewart said, “We are really delighted to be supporting these events again this year. The pupils put in a great deal of effort as shown in the amazing, creative performances in the Dance Festival and it's great to see young people having fun, getting involved in physical activity whilst enjoying a healthy lifestyle. Well done to all those who took part in and helped organise both the Dundee Dance Festival and the Angus Cross Country event”

The next POST Fun Fit Dundee group is running this summer. The programme is aimed at families with children aged between 8 and 13 years who need support with their weight. The group offers free sessions in a friendly and interactive environment to help and motivate families to succeed in making healthy lifestyle changes.

To book a place on the Fun Fit Dundee groups or if you have any concerns about your child’s weight, you can contact POST in confidence on 01738 473784 or email post.tayside@nhs.net

Contact:

Gaynyr Dickson

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 424716