AN unsung hero who has been keeping children fit throughout the pandemic is off to Wimbledon in recognition of his hard work during the past year.

Teacher Steven Jeff, the PE lead across all York-based Ebor Academy Trust schools and a regular at Staynor Hall and Camblesforth in Selby and Brotherton and Byram nearby, was nominated to go into a prize draw on national “Thank a Teacher Day”, on Wednesday.

The draw, organised by the Association of School and College Leaders for unsung heroes of the pandemic, was entered on Steven’s behalf by Gail Brown, chief executive.

Gail said: “This was for everything Steven has done in sport and team work during lockdown.

“He has harnessed social media and engaged both families and children alike with a wide range of exciting initiatives.

“I was thrilled when his entry was one of 50 drawn at random for a pair of tickets to Wimbledon.”

Steven said: “I was overjoyed. This is an event I’ve always wanted to go to – I’m hugely grateful to Gail for nominating me.”

During the first lockdown, Steven realised how vital it was that children continued to be physically active and, in his role, knew he had big part to play in that. They were only allowed to go out once a day, their regular sport and community clubs were all cancelled and they were unable to go to playgrounds and play with friends.

He started creating short videos with physical active challenges and posted them on his YouTube channel and shared them with all the schools he worked in. There was a lot of engagement – families were sharing themselves completing the challenges on Twitter and Steven says it was a joy to see lots of children enjoying staying healthy and active.

During the school holidays, he also saw an opportunity to help keep children active at home with a “healthy selfie” campaign. He asked children to post a photo or video of themselves on Twitter keeping active and healthy using #healthyselfie.

“Again, I saw a lot of engagement in this and another excellent way to see a variety of ways that children and families stay active in their spare time within the community and beyond.”

Ebor Academy Trust runs 24 schools in York, Selby, on the Yorkshire Coast and in Hull and the East Riding.