PONIES BRING LEARNING TO LIFE FOR AINTREE BEACON’S PRIMARY PUPILS

The summer term provided an opportunity to run a busy programme of activities within our innovative Aintree Beacon, for over 600 pupils from the local primary schools and secondary school involved in the project.

The Aintree Beacon is an annual programme of bespoke activity in Merseyside and the borough of Sefton, run in collaboration with Aintree Racecourse and Equestrian Centre. The programme aims to engage the local community through learning and development, delivering a series of fun and unique educational activities on and off the racecourse which use the context of racing to encourage active learning.

Following the maths-based racecourse days for Year 7 pupils in May, it was the turn of the Year 8 pupils from Maricourt High School to take part in a creative writing day in school. The workshop aims to develop teamwork, leadership, creativity, communication and presentation skills through fun and interactive team-based activities, with prizes presented to the winning groups.

Thanks to Aintree Racecourse, Aintree Equestrian Centre, and a local riding school, Year 5 pupils from the Aintree Beacon’s four local primary schools (St John Bosco Catholic Primary, St George’s Catholic Primary, St Benedict’s Primary, and Holy Rosary Catholic Primary) have their first involvement in the project through Pony Education Days.

These exciting days at the Racecourse provide an introduction to pony riding, care and management, which for many pupils, will be the first time they have been able to meet a pony up close. As well as the hands-on care and riding involved in the days, pupils also get a behind the scenes tour of the weighing room and racecourse, and a jockey experience on our equicisers.

Back at school, Year 6 pupils from the four primary schools took part in fun workshops linked to their curriculum learning and providing an introduction to the history of horseracing in their local area and the current sport. The ‘Question of Sport – Aintree Style’ quiz at the end of the day is always very popular!

Aintree Racecourse and the Grand National are of great historic importance and cultural relevance to the local area, with around 50,000 attending this year’s Grand National Day of Aintree Racecourse’s festival and a further peak TV audience of 7.5 million viewers. The Beacon project explores this historical and current day significance to the local area, engaging young people in relevant topics which promote citizenship, core and soft skills, and link to lifelong learning, training and employment.

Find out more about the Aintree Beacon project here.