A primary school teacher from Priory Junior School, in St Neots, is one of nine teachers in Cambridgeshire who have achieved a physical education qualification.

The teachers were presented with a Level 6 award in Primary School Physical Education Leadership at Cambridgeshire County Council’s Stanton House, in Huntingdon, on January 25.

Cllr Simon Bywater, chairman of the Children and Young People’s committee was joined by Mike Crichton, chairman of the Association for Physical Education, and Chris Faley, training manager of Sports Leaders UK to present the awards.

Cllr Bywater said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be presenting these awards. Cambridgeshire is committed to high quality PE teaching and this course helps teachers to deliver lessons that inspire a healthy and active lifestyle for all children. I hope that more teachers in the county take this qualification to help them deliver compelling PE lessons that raise the standards of PE teaching in our schools.”

The award is a recognised qualification in leadership and management of PE within primary schools and qualifies subject leaders to support and train colleagues who teach the subject. As part of the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Department for Education devised and implemented a new national strategy for PE and school sport. All primary schools receive PE and sport premium funding to boost PE provision and improve the quality of PE teaching and last summer the premium was doubled.

In November last year, Priory Junior School received a Gold School Games mark to recognise its efforts towards PE. The school is one of only 120 in the country to reach this level and will now apply for a platinum award.