OLYMPIC great Sir Steve Redgrave visited Flixton Girl’s School to celebrate the huge success of the Sporting Promise programme, an initiative encouraging more young people to take part in PE and school sport.

Sir Steve was joined by Claire Cashmore, Paralympic double silver and bronze swimming medallist at London 2012, to meet the students and throw themselves into alternative sports that are part of the programme.

These included Lacrosse, Dodgeball and Ultimate Frisbee. The Flixton students were joined by pupils from St. Mary's CE Primary School for an impressive gymnastics display.

Sir Steve said: “There does seem to be this situation where a lot of primary schoolchildren wiil have a go at any sport and when they get to secondary school they say I’m not very sporty, i’m not going to do this.

“At secondary school the programme is introducing sports that are not mainstream so there’s no stigma attached to what they’re doing.”

He said taking part in sport can help young people in numerous ways - from improving communication skills to encouraging team work and a competitiveness they can take into the world of work.

Sir Steve said: “It’s not about looking for the next world champion or they next Olympic champion. It’s about life skills in general and it’s about health and fitness.”

Julie Hazeldine, Headteacher at Flixton Girls School said: “It was an honour to have such an iconic sporting legend visit the school. Sir Steve really got involved in the alternative sports activity, including dodgeball, and the kids loved it. It was a great opportunity for everyone to try something new and feel inspired about taking part in sport.”

The initiative It is a partnership between the Youth Sport Trust, Matalan and Sporting Pro that ensures children across the country have vital access to sport In school