VALE Royal School Sport Partnership is preparing to join the Youth Sport Trust and Sky Sports to help young people and families up and down the country engage in a week of virtual sporting challenges.

With young people set to miss out on a school sports day this summer, the Youth Sport Trust’s annual National School Sport Week campaign is this year being opened up to parents and families and reinvented as National School Sport Week at Home.

Taking place from June 20-26, the UK-wide campaign will give families, communities, schools and sports clubs the chance to capture the enjoyment, competition and camaraderie they have been missing out on during weeks of school closures and social distancing.

Vale Royal School Sport Partnership will be taking part in the week sharing daily challenges for local schools, pupils, families to take on before setting up their own challenges.

Chris Story, partnership development manager of VRSSP said: “Since 2012 our National School Sport Week programmes have seen almost 30,000 young people take part in a huge variety of sports and activities.

“The daily challenges we’ve been setting since the lockdown started have really caught on and we want to use this year’s National School Sport Week at Home to help even more young people and their families to come together in getting active.”

In previous years National School Sport Week has seen thousands of schools join in a week-long celebration of school sport and physical education, and their important role enhancing young people’s wellbeing.

This year, Sky Sports has teamed up with the Youth Sport Trust to supercharge the campaign.

Youth Sport Trust chief executive Ali Oliver said: “The Youth Sport Trust is thrilled to see supporters like Vale Royal School Sport Partnership backing National School Sport Week at Home to ensure no child misses out on their school sports day this summer.

“Right now, young people are missing their friends and missing the sense of connection they get through sport.

“Sport has such a crucial role to play in promoting young people’s wellbeing and this has never been more apparent than it is now.

“After weeks of isolation we hope that YST National School Sport Week at Home 2020 can help bring families, communities, schools and sports clubs back together.”

Anyone can register to take part and will receive videos and activity cards to help them plan a series of challenges. To sign up, visit youthsporttrust.org/national-school-sport-week-home