During the May half term holiday Yatton Schools suffered a devastating fire which caused significant damage to the infant school building.  Deputy Headteacher Sarah Howard nominated the school for a ‘PE with Joe’ live lesson, and when Joe heard about the recent fire at the school he was eager to come along to meet the children “I was so excited to visit the school today. I had a tough time at school myself and the school has had a difficult time recently. But today I saw a bunch of kids with their spirits lifted as through exercise we can forget about stress and begin to think more positively”.

Currently four classes are being educated offsite as their classrooms were damaged. These children are currently travelling each day to St Andrews’ Primary School and Chestnut Park to undertake their learning. Following the PE lesson Joe and school staff waved these children off to their offsite classrooms for the rest of the day’s lessons.

The heavy rain at the start of the morning did not stop the determined pupils and staff – over 500 of them gathered in the playground in their coats to take part in the workout. Luckily the downpour stopped as the lesson got underway.

Keeping a sense of community has been a real focus for Miss Jo Keeble, Headteacher, and this was a great opportunity to do something as a whole school; “All of the children were very excited about Joe’s visit. It was lovely to see the whole school together as we are currently spread across three different school sites”.  

Following the workout the whole school performed for Joe; they sung ‘This is Me’ from The Greatest Showman complete with actions. This was very moving, with Joe himself becoming emotional, at the sight of the children singing all together about resilience and self-belief. It really captured the spirit of the school.

Joe also ran two question and answer sessions with the children which covered topics such as what do you do in your spare time (ride my bike), what did you think you wanted to be when you were older (a PE teacher) and what is your favourite recipes (Joe’s chicken pie). The children were all very excited to meet Joe and he gave them lots of time to ask their questions.

Joe’s enthusiasm around staying fit and health both mentally and physically was infectious. Niamh O, a Year 5 pupil had done some of his workouts before online “I was so excited to meet him, I remembered all of the moves from his videos; my favourite is the ‘Spiderman’. It was a brilliant morning.”

The special visit came about following an Instagram message from Mrs Sarah Howard, Deputy Headteacher “Six weeks ago I messaged Joe asking if he would film a video for the school to cheer everyone up after the fire. He replied, almost immediately, saying he would love to come and visit us instead. The children have been so excited, they have decorated the school before his visit and had such a memorable morning. It has brought us together as a school. Mental health and wellbeing of the pupils and staff is very important and if we can do something to make them smile it helps them take their mind of challenges they are facing. I am so grateful to Joe for giving us his time”.

Gary Lewis, Chief Executive of the Lighthouse Schools Partnership, “since the fire we have been inundated by kind offers of help and support from the local community. Today’s visit from Joe really helped boost the spirits of the children and staff as they continue to work through this period of disruption. These acts of kindness really do mean a lot to Miss Keeble, her staff and the children”.