I am delighted to be running the upcoming London Marathon for the secondary school that I work at in South London (Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich).

During the years that I have worked at the school, I have seen first-hand the amazing work that teachers and support staff do with our boys on a daily basis. At least 1 in 3 children at my school receive free school meals. For those who don’t know what this means, free school meals are provided for pupils who live in a household which earns under £7,400 per year.

Our school does so many amazing things for our pupils, including offering free daily breakfast each morning, providing at least one school trip every year for each child, and bringing in a wide variety of guest speakers to motivate our boys to go on and achieve their dreams.

Having spoken to the amazing inclusion team at my school, we have come up with a great idea to create a sensory room with the money that is raised from me running the marathon. The sensory room would be created for pupils to have a quiet space to take time of out lessons, receive therapy and detach from the daily stresses of school life.

I know first hand how integral support is in school for pupils with additional needs. My amazing nephew Hayden, who has cerebral palsy and global learning delay, is always grateful when I speak to him about the amazing levels of care and attention that his teacher and support staff provide for him. Knowing this, I would love to be able to help some of our most vulnerable students have an even better school experience by installing a sensory room at Harris Boys.

Both the boys and I would be ever so grateful for any donations you could make.