Fun and skipping games at Whitehall Park School

STUDENTS and teachers at a Hornsey primary school hopped, skipped and jumped into the week at jump-rope workshops led by actor and broadcaster Miquita Oliver on Monday.

Hornsey Lane’s Whitehall Park School hosted the workshops with Ropes by Miquita, a community group set up by Ms Oliver to promote the health benefits of skipping to people of all ages.

Whitehall Park School had bought skipping ropes for the playground before teachers realised that a lot of children didn’t really know how to use them, so when headteacher Nicola Coyle saw on Instagram that Ropes by Miquita was running skipping workshops in schools, she reached out.

Ms Coyle, who participated in the workshop herself, said: “It was really good fun. I remember skipping in my childhood but I hadn’t done it for ages.

“It’s great for mental health and getting the blood pumping.”

Ms Oliver, who co-hosted Channel 4’s Popworld from 2001 to 2006 and now hosts a popular podcast with singer Lily Allen, also gave an assembly at the school where she told students that the secret to skipping was simply getting the bounce right.

All year groups skipped with Ms Oliver and her team, with the Year 6 students taking a particular shine to the activity.

According to Ms Coyle, they declared themselves skipping ambassadors and went about helping the younger children with their skipping skills at lunchtime the next day.

Ms Coyle added: “Lots of the children said they came into it not knowing how to skip, so it was a great way for them to succeed at something in a short space of time.”