Entertainment

John Boyega makes surprise visit to his old primary school

The Star Wars star got down with the kids and some Jedi-inspired exercise moves.
The Star Wars star got down with the kids and some Jedi-inspired exercise moves. The Star Wars star got down with the kids and some Jedi-inspired exercise moves.

John Boyega surprised pupils as he visited his former primary school in a bid to encourage children to get active with a new training programme inspired by the Star Wars films.

The actor, who plays Finn in the latest instalments of the sci-fi films, joined in with the schoolchildren at Oliver Goldsmith Primary School in Camberwell, London, as they took part in the new national Change4Life Train Like A Jedi initiative.

The campaign, launched by Public Health England (PHE), aims to increase levels of physical activity amongst children in England, using Star Wars and its characters as inspiration.

Train Like a Jedi
Train Like a Jedi John Boyega visits his old primary school, Oliver Goldsmith Primary School in London, alongside British taekwondo double Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones to support the new Change4Life Train Like A Jedi programme (Doug Peters/PA)

Boyega got stuck in with the moves as he joined the children and British taekwondo double Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones, who is leading the campaign.

The Train Like A Jedi scheme is built on 12 Jedi-inspired moves to create one special Jedi training regime to help children learn and master key skills – technique, strength, stamina, speed, agility and mastery.

It also involves a video with “Jedi-inspired moves” to get children excited about exercise.

Train Like a Jedi
Train Like a Jedi Train Like A Jedi is designed to tackle low levels of physical activity amongst children in England (Doug Peters/PA)

PHE said that children’s activity levels are “alarmingly low” – only 23% of boys and 20% of girls aged five to 15 get the required 60 minutes physical activity a day.

The Jedi programme has moves that can be done in 10-minute bursts throughout the day to meet the recommended 60 minutes per day.

It said that the new training programme has been designed to make physical activity fun and inspire children to move more.