Harvey, a pupil in Year 9 at St Michael’s CE High School, said “I decided to create some characters and with the help of my mom we have written this children’s story book aimed at primary school children. The characters have messages to deliver which include encouraging kindness, getting more active and eating healthy.”

Harvey’s hobbies include “playing for a junior football team, table tennis with my brother and at school and playing basketball with my friends. I hope my book will encourage children to play a sport or try different sports and have fun while keeping active.”

Sandwell’s Public Health team have teamed up with Harvey so every primary school will shortly be receiving copies of the book which will hopefully inspire young children across the borough to get active with their families and express their talents and interests to fulfil their potential and live a happy and healthy life.

Harvey’s school is part of the Rowley Regis Learning Community, which consists of 11 primary schools together with St Michael’s C of E High School. The community created an annual physical activity and sport programme featuring training sessions for primary school teachers accompanied by resource packs for each activity, as well as competitions and events for all 11 primary schools held at St Michael’s.

The scheme also featured leadership development for St Michael’s students and an introduction for the primary school pupils into a range of activities including yoga, dance, mini tennis, dodgeball and handball amongst others.

Earlier this year, the latest Sport England survey showed that children in Sandwell are on average the most active in the West Midlands and fourth most active in England. The percentage of Sandwell’s children meeting physical activity guidelines has risen significantly over the last four years, to the current high position in 2020/21 with 59.7% of children meeting the target despite the disruption of the pandemic.