HUNDREDS of teachers and school staff will be on a health kick in Benfleet and Thundersley thanks to an unexpected £80,000 hand-out.

Sixteen schools will be part of the new Active Colleagues scheme, run by Active Rochford and Active Castle Point It will see employees offered free sports classes such as badminton, netball, football, swimming and fitness and gym sessions.

The funding from Sport England will see the sessions run until July next year and culminate in a corporate games Olympic-style event.

One of the organisers Steve Bish, who is the partnership development manager at the Deanes and part of the Active organisations, welcomed the grant and hopes to start the sessions in the next two weeks.

He believes it will have a knock-on effect for pupils by making sure school staff are healthy and reduce sickness rates.

He said: “We applied for the funding and put ourselves forward because as a group we are one of the biggest employers in the area.

“It is about trying to increase the health and wellbeing in the workplace and the balance between work and free time.

“Staff will be able to access all the sports and premises, with Deanes as one of the sites being used.

“If it works hopefully it will be longer term.”

The project is currently just being tried in the Benfleet area but if it is successful Mr Bish hopes it could be rolled out.

He is expecting about 200 employees to take part and facilities at Runnymede Pool and Waterside Farm will also be used.

Staff will also be able to benefit from lifestyle advice sessions.

The schools involved are part of the Benfleet and Thundersley Interschool Cluster Trust, which was set up as a charity to provide opportunities for the schools to benefit the pupils, both directly and indirectly.

It includes all the schools in the area apart from