A school pupil believes his chance to participate in the Get Set for Community Action programme is the perfect preparation for his desired career as a teacher.

Logan Graham and other participants from Durham Community Business College have been working with younger children from a local Sure Start group and nursery, organising a fun mini-sports festival best fitting their abilities.

Running games and presenting prizes have been just some of the activities the college has been taking part in, seeing them named as one of six Get Set leading schools and earning a trip to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The Get Set for Community Action programme saw more than 500 community projects take place across the UK in the run up to the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games showcasing the work of more than 15,000 young people ‘Action Leads’ aged 14-19.

And for Logan, 16, a trip to London was the perfect way to cap off their hard work, and believes the experiences he has gained will be unrivalled heading into the future.

“Working with Get Set has given us a huge amount of leadership skills, we’ve become a lot more confident around other people,” he said.

“I always knew it would be enjoyable, working with your friends is a great atmosphere to be around, but it also brings people new experiences which they’ll never forget.

“A lot of people don’t have younger brothers or sisters, so it’s a great chance to work with children, particularly for those who want a career out of it.”

Get Set for Community Action is a year-long UK-wide programme created by the British Olympic Foundation and British Paralympic Association, made possible thanks to a £2.1 million award from the Big Lottery Fund. Kimberley Herron was also an Action Lead on the project, believing her confidence has been transformed thanks to Get Set.

And the 15-year-old was delighted with how the nursery children responded to their input, and hopes it’s something that can continue in the future.

She said: “A few weeks after out mini-Olympics, we got a message from the nursery to do more activities, so we did games and reading sessions, and we were able to get really close bonds with them.

“Hopefully across the winter we could set up a winter Olympics for them, it’s something we do in our lessons anyway.

“It’s given me a huge amount of confidence. Before I started on the Get Set programme, I wouldn’t have spoken in front of even small groups of people, but now it comes really naturally and it’s made me so proud that I’ve come so far and I can set a good example for our school too.

On hand for the celebrations were former sprinter Christian Malcolm as well as Dan Norton and James Rodwell, Olympic silver medallists with the Great Britain rugby sevens team in Rio.

“It was great to go around and see the different groups from all over the country and how they’ve supported the community, with a chance for us to share our Olympic stories,” said Norton.

“It brings everyone together. If it wasn’t for volunteers then we wouldn’t have been Olympic silver medallists, so we’re really grateful for them and it’s fantastic to see programmes like Get Set to carry that on.

“The Action Leads will be able to take a huge amount of skills from it, suitable for any role they go into, and their work ethic and enthusiasm will help them get to their end goal.”

Get Set for Community Action is a new UK-wide programme for young people and their communities created by the British Olympic Foundation and British Paralympic Association and made possible thanks to the Big Lottery Fund. To find out more visit: www.getsetaction.org.uk