A SCHOOL’S sport staff have been seeing the results of a challenge they set in order to get more girls involved in sport.

Teachers at St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic School in Richmond noticed the increase in girls participating in sport quadrupled after introducing the initiative to tackle the common drift away from sport as girls progress through school.

The focus was on the extra-curricular activities on offer to girls in school, developing a week-long programme which offered students the opportunity to try a wide variety of activities including Zumba, ultimate frisbee and Harry Potter favourite, Quidditch.

Kate Zissler, head of girls PE, said: “We hoped to get a few more girls involved with the initiative but the response was amazing.

“Usually, between 25 and 30 girls turn up for extracurricular activities and the majority of those are year seven.”

Year nine student Rebecca Court said: “It encouraged girls to try something new like boxercise or trampolining.

“You didn’t worry about what people might think because there was no pressure - you just got out there and had fun.”

Staff were inspired by the This Girl Can advertising campaign to encourage women to take part in sport after concerns from a UK-wide report finding that only 12 per cent of girls aged 14 get enough physical activity each week – roughly half the number of boys the same age.