AN inspirational teacher got on his bike to show pupils the importance of healthy living.

Peter Connor, a PE teacher at Bradley Primary School, Nelson, wanted to come up with an innovative to way tackle childhood obesity and teach the children and their families about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and exercise.

So the 33-year-old took to his static bike to take part in a fundraising 160km cycle to raise funds to buy the school child friendly pedometers.

Mr Connor said he hoped his efforts would get his pupils excited for taking part in exercise.

He said: “We’re trying to bring fun into exercise and just get them a bit more involved.

"This is the good thing about the pedometers, you don’t need to be good at football or rugby, you just need to take some steps to be taking part.

“We are involved in the Change4Life campaign and we’re trying to get as many children as possible into doing more exercise.”

Mr Connor said the pedometers were the school’s idea for encouraging the children to go head to head in a ‘who can get the most steps’ challenge.

The challenge will see year groups go up against one another on a week by week basis, with the year group who has the most combined steps at the end being the over-all winners.

The children will also be challenged to meet daily targets by tracking and monitoring the number of steps they complete.

Mr Connor said he recognises the need to do something about child obesity levels, and hopes that the children will be able to look back on the cycle challenge as a positive thing to remember.

He said: “I wanted to show the kids the benefits of me doing exercise and show them the good things that can come of it- I want them to see the benefits.

"When it came to raising the money, local businesses, parents of children and the school kids themselves all played an active role in supporting the cause.

“We were aiming to raise £200, but raised £540 so we have enough money to buy more pedometers than we originally expected.”

The school was hoping to have their pedometers by the New Year, when the will be a reward for the top class who rack up the most steps.