Ex- athlete becomes Leaps and Bounds franchisee

Former athlete Keri Lees has launched the first Leaps and Bounds mobile play programme franchise in nurseries across the Staffordshire region, with help from fellow athlete and Olympic Gold medallist Sally Gunnell OBE. The play programme is a two year progressive physical development course for children covering agility, to balance, climbing and co-ordination and has been developed by Tumble Tots (UK) LTD in consultation with lecturer of physical education with Homerton College, Cambridge University Patricia Maude MBE.

Sally comments: 'It is great to see how involved children are in the activities and how much fun they're having. We know if children begin to enjoy physical activity from an early age, they will keep it up in later life.' Keri represented Great Britain with Sally in the Olympics for 13 years and finished her career in 2001. She says: 'With current lifestyles and the growing problems of child obesity, childcare providers and parents are aware of the importance of getting children to start a healthy lifestyle from a young age. The more they enjoy physical activity, the more likely they are to keep it up throughout their adult years.'

The Leaps and Bounds programme has a unique structure and every 10 weeks covers a different set of objectives. Parents are given an objective card at the start of every 10-week block so that they are aware of the skills their child will develop in that time.