Teacher misses pupils so much she goes on 18-mile run to visit each one

A superfit primary school teacher was missing her pupils terribly and wanted to visit them individually.

So marathon running Sarah Wilson, 43, who teaches early years and nursery children, decided to do an 18-mile run to visit each of them.

The dedicated teacher, who works at Fishergate Primary in York, visited more than 60 of her pupils so she could speak to them at their homes.

It took mum-of-three Sarah six hours to complete her mission.

She carefully mapped out the route of all their homes – with only one pupil who lived too far out being met halfway.

Sarah also raised more than £1,000 for national foodbank charity The Trussell Trust while she was at it.

She said: ‘Every year, on 4 May, our lovely school do a Star Wars marathon day where all the kids get involved to run a mile each to complete marathons in aid of charity.

‘I was sad that that wouldn’t be going ahead this year, so we started thinking about what we could do.’

She continued: ‘We didn’t want to encourage everybody to go out so instead it was decided that I would do the running.

‘I teach five, six and seven-year-olds so I find checking in with them can be quite difficult on the phone – some of them don’t like to chat.

‘So I decided to combine our May run with checking in with the kids and it worked brilliantly.’

All her children downloaded a tracking app called Glympse, which allowed them to track where she was and see when she was coming near to their homes.

Most of the kids were out waiting for her when she arrived with big smiles and a cheer.

‘My only worry was that, as they are so young, some kids might want a hug but it seemed they were well-prepped on social distancing so they knew to keep well back from me,’ said Sarah.

‘It was lovely to see the kids.’

It also gave the kids extra school projects as they produced posters and pavement chalked artworks in anticipation of her appearance.

Sarah, who is married to civil servant Mike, 46, and has three teenage children, was delighted to combine her love of teaching with running.

She has currently set herself a goal to run 100 marathons by the time she is 50.

Until lockdown started, she had managed to do 34.

Keen runner Sarah said that while the run was hard, seeing her pupils waving back helped to keep her going.

She said: ‘It was really fun to see all the pupils and just to give them something to enjoy during these tough times.’

Around her work, Sarah is continuing to raise money and collect food for local food banks.

To donate, please visit Sarah’s JustGiving page.