GIRLS at Vale of Leven Academy have been fighting fit as part of a new Active Girls initiative.

First year girls at VoL chose three activities to partake in, spending 30 minutes at each station. They had the choice of archery, mokyfit, fitness studios and netball, as the school, in line with the young ambassadors, School Sports Council, PE Department and Active Schools, try to encourage more girls to take get active.

Alannah Mackinnon, young ambassador for Vale of Leven Academy, said: “As one of the two Young Ambassadors for VOLA I attended the Young Ambassador conference at Hampden where we were made aware of Active Girls Day on October 2.

“When we returned to school the PE department weren’t aware of this and I saw a potential opportunity, a chance to bring something new to the school.

“Working with my fellow YA Amy Mcateer, and our school Sports Council we organised our S1 Active Girls day.

“With the YA conference being on the September 15th this didn’t leave a lot of time to organise but with the help of our Active Schools Coordinator, Craig Thompson, we managed to arrange a great afternoon.

“I feel that participation in sport from girls in our area is quite poor so to have an opportunity to get so many girls active was something I jumped at.

“We took girls out of classes Friday afternoon and they had three sessions including Mokyfit, fitness and archery.

“It was a huge success and girls had a chance to try sports that we will have running as extracurricular clubs in school. I hope to see this lasting as an annual event which will over time gather a higher profile.” Matt Hooper, head of PE, added: “This is a fantastic event that out Young Ambassadors have organised and delivered.

“At Vale of Leven Academy we value the importance of physical activity in promoting wellbeing and lifelong participation in Sport, particularly among girls where a significant drop off rate occurs during the transition from primary to secondary school.

“We also value the importance of developing leadership capacity in our young people and this has been reflected in the quality of today’s event, this is down primarily to the hard work and dedication of our Young Ambassadors.”