A TEACHER who has helped improve the attitudes, health and wellbeing of pupils through sport has been nominated as a Children's Champion in this year's Proud of Barnsley awards.

Jonathan Bean, a teacher at Churchfields Primary School in Cudworth, has helped increase participation levels by more than 80 per cent.

When he started at the school in 2013, only seven per cent of pupils participated in sporting/exercise activities in or outside school.

Jonathan has been nominated by his colleague Sally Thomas on behalf of the school staff and parents who said: "There has been 430 per cent increase in the amount of girls engaging with sporting activities and 260 per cent increase for the boys. The impact this has had on our children, their attitudes to school, their own health and well being and the community is quite possibly tangible."

In her nomination, Sally said there were now more children joining out of school clubs such as The Pinfold Pumas, Barnsley Athletics Club, Darfield Dunkers Basketball Club and many others.

She said over the course of the year, Jonathan had facilitated football, basketball, handball, netball, boccia (a sport for children with disabilities), multi-skills, rounders, athletics, cricket, benchball, orienteering, cross country and many other activities which had allowed the children to become the real champions.

Under his guidance, support and training they have entered, enjoyed and won multiple competitions, including representing Barnsley at the South Yorkshire Games at the Institute of Sport in Sheffield, and playing to a crowd of more than 3,000 people during the Sheffield Sharks Basketball final game of the season and winning 8/2.

He runs 90-minute after school clubs weekly except on Wednesdays when he has a staff meeting and even gives up his dinner times most days of the week to offer practice and training sessions for children who can't attend after school. He regularly gives up his weekends to go and support the children at their out of school activities when they ask him to.

Sally added: "He runs so many clubs, so that he can offer every single child an opportunity to have fun, develop their skills and achieve so that absolutely no child is left out or doesn't have a sport that they can't enjoy. He has provided and managed opportunities for the children to attend sports matches after school regularly to raise aspirations and organised events where the children have got to meet the players.

"He is not children's champion because he is a teacher, that's nothing to do with it. We strongly believe that he is the children's champion because what he has done for the children's health, fitness, morale, confidence, attitude and aspirations is incredible. It is very common for him to stay awake until the early hours of the morning so he can prepare and organise as many opportunities for all the children to be a part of. People around Cudworth are actively talking about how many more children are out and about playing sport and getting out into the fresh air, rather than sitting at home on their Xbox or PlayStation.

"Upon learning of his nomination, Jonathan said: "It is so important, whether someone is brilliant or someone wants to turn up and have fun, the difference it makes to the kids is unbelievable. There were some children in year two who we thought had speech problems because they wouldn't talk but now they are talking and are going to speak at a presentation. About three years ago, before I came, there were roughly 30 children regularly playing sport in after school clubs. Now there are 400 places allocated to kids and we're only a 350 pupil school. It's fantastic and it's all down to their hard work and dedication. We've won an awful lot of things and represented Barnsley, but it isn't about how many medals and trophies you have, it's about enjoying it and sticking with it.

"I feel quite speechless to be nominated. I don't really see the things I do as anything extra or above an beyond, I just enjoy it."