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London 2012 Olympic mascot Wenlock made sports day extra special for pupils at Heycroft Primary School in Leigh on Sea.

Wenlock’s visit was the school’s prize for winning a competition about exploring what is unique about their community run through the London 2012 education programme ‘Get Set’.

The initiative called ‘Get Set to make your mascot’ invited primary schools to undertake a project to find out about their local area and customise the Olympic mascot Wenlock or the Paralympic mascot Mandeville to represent something that is special about their community.

Year 6 children at Heycroft Primary School all worked hard, researching the local area and submitting their own ideas and opinions on what makes Southend-on-Sea a great place to live. During art club, everyone designed their own mascot and then shared these with the rest of the school. They then went about combining all the best ideas to create a final, winning design.

Andrew Palmer, Head teacher at Heycroft Primary School said; ‘The Get Set make your mascot competition really enthused the pupils to work together to submit the best design that encapsulates everything that’s great about where they live. I’m thrilled that our pupils won the chance to meet Wenlock; they have all been so excited at the prospect of having Wenlock visit and enjoy sports day’.

Seb Coe, London 2012 Chair, said: ‘The Get Set programme is a way schools and school children all over the UK can make the most of London 2012 and the opportunities it offers – and this initiative has proved just how successful it is. These young people have been able to embrace the Olympic and Paralympic Values and have used them to be creative and work as a team. The results have been immensely impressive.’

Cllr Stephen Castle, Cabinet Member for Education and 2012 Games added; ’I’m really pleased to see that schools across the whole of Essex are embracing the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Heycroft Primary School is a testament of this. Winning a visit from the Olympic mascot demonstrates how inspirational the London 2012 Games can be to the young people of Essex.’

Get Set is the official London 2012 education programme for schools and colleges across the UK. More than 18000 schools have already registered with the programme. It provides students and teachers with access to free resources including films, activity and fact sheets and access to competitions such as Get Set to make your mascot. Through Get Set programme schools and colleges which demonstrate how they are using the Olympic and Paralympic Values can apply to join the Get Set network. Members of the network will receive tickets to the Games through the London 2012 Ticketshare initiative, as well as other exclusive rewards and opportunities.

Heycroft Primary School is one of more than 4000 schools which has already taken the next step and joined the Get Set network – they are making the most of the opportunities available through it.