BKFA is pleased to support the Kites in Schools initiative led by Steve Sutton and Helen Hancock of the Midlands Kite Flyers.

The project was started in 2006 by Steve and Helen with an original idea to get children flying kites. It started with one school (Glen Hills) in Leicester. They set a kite club up and also helped with art, etc.

From this, the project gained a couple more schools via the Midland Kite Flyers magazine. Steve put together an e-mail to send to a few schools in the Leicester area, Before long, they had visited 48 schools to promote the idea, and a sports partnership was formed.

A core syllabus and training programme was prepared for 42 participating schools. Talks were held with Flexifoil resulting in books and other material being made available to give away to interested children. A web site was also developed which has now evolved into the /www.kitesinschools.org /site.

Press and TV coverage was also gained, with items on both the BBC and ITV regional news.

Presentations were given to teachers, in order to gain their buy in to the scheme. BKFA also attended the event; demonstrating all types of kites in what must rank as one of the worst ever fields for kite flying!. We also attended the first schools competition day in association with MKF and were pleased to be able to judge the children’s kitemaking competition.

The current situation is that most of the schools in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire have “signed up”. Steve has also been to Melton, Northampton, Stoke and Chesterfield. The scheme has also broadened its coverage, as Leicester Council has set up a ‘kites in the community’ scheme to get people from different backgrounds to play together.

Steve and Helen have also done kite making workshops in conjunction with museums.

Perhaps the most significant development is the involvement of the industrial giant, Unilever.
In conjunction with a campaign for better school meals, they have used kite flying as the sport to promote the health and exercise aspect of the project. Steve’s project has a prominent appearance in the leaflet that Unilever have published for the campaign.
The company is also poised to provide direct promotion of the kites in schools project with publicity and other support.

We congratulate Steve and Helen on their efforts and are pleased to support the scheme in whatever way we can.

You can find out more about this programme by going to www.kitesinschools.org