PUPILS at a York primary school have followed in the footsteps of a saint - albeit virtually - to try and keep active during lockdown.

Pupils at St Wilfrid’s School in Monkgate were challenged by their teacher, Dan Jones, to follow in the footsteps of St Wilfrid, who walked from York to Rome three times, a distance of about 6,000 miles.

Mr Jones, who teaches Years 4 and 5, said actually recreating Wilfrid’s journey would have been impossible, so the school came up with a plan for pupils to do half an hour of physical activity or about two miles a day, dubbed ‘working out with Wilf’.

Mr Jones said: “The children posted their ‘miles’ every week and sent me pictures and videos to accompany their totals, which I then put together to make weekly video updates to keep them motivated.

“Also, every time the children reached Rome, I did a forfeit.

“The first was to be soaked by a hosepipe, the second was custard pies in the face and the last was to teach for a day dressed as Miss Trunchbull, from the book Matilda.

“The challenge has been great fun and has helped keep the children motivated.

“We always say at St Wilfrid’s that active children are more engaged and ready to learn, and this has proved to be the case here.”

Mr Jones is no stranger to challenges, back in 2016 he won the Active School of the Year award and the year after was nominated for a Community Pride Teacher of the Year Award.

At the time Mr Jones, was nominated by several people, including Pauline Shepherd, who said: “Regardless of the fact that St Wilfrid’s has limited space and no sports field, our children are given extremely varied sports opportunities. Mr Jones works very hard to widen the children’s introduction to many different sports.”

St Wilfrid was a bishop of York and saint who founded a monastery at Ripon. He advocated the English adopt the Roman method for calculating when Easter falls.