Thousands of Newham school children and their parents took part in their own mini-Olympics.

The children, who were from eight schools, enjoyed the melee of fun in the E13 Learning Community’s Mini-Olympics Day held recently at Southern Road Playing Fields.

It was opened by Abdul Rahim, Chair of E13 LC, as he was handed the E13 LC ‘torch’ which had been relayed around the schools during the previous week.

The event day included Primary School athletics competitions, a friendly schools and gender-mixed football tournament, and the Primary Boys Football Cup Final between teams from Selwyn and Curwen Primaries.

Schools’ teams in the athletics events each adopted an Olympic country’s flag and one of the Olympic values - Excellence, Friendship, Respect, Courage, Determination, Equality and Inspiration.

Classes from the schools were treated to performances by more than 20 acts on the Big Dance Bus, Navarang Indian Classical Dance and a mass Zumba workout. They also got the chance to try out sports and other activities on over 20 ‘Have-a-Go’ areas - including Kwik Cricket provided by West Ham Cricket Club, Speed Stacking run by West Ham Utd Inspire Learning Centre, and Tri-Golf provided by Davies Sports.

Other acts and providers included staff and students from E13 LC schools, Cumberland Sports Partnership and Leytonstone High School, Big Dance Bus professionals, and a range of other independent individuals and organisations.

Newham MPs Stephen Timms and Lyn Brown also attended the event, along with local Councillor Forhad Hussain and the head teachers from the E13 LC Schools—Cleves, Curwen, Plaistow, Portway, Selwyn, Southern Road primary schools and Lister Secondary.