Arkholme Primary School pupils in Carnforth are embracing golf to improve academic performance and mental wellbeing.

The pupils are participating in the Unleash Your Drive programme by national charity, The Golf Foundation, which gives children from different backgrounds the opportunity to play golf through a six-week course.

The course combines golf games and activities with the teaching of nine mental toughness tools to help build resilience for pupils through their childhood and later years.

Emma Muckalt, PE lead at Arkholme Primary School, said: “The children absolutely loved the session and having Andy here to work with them was brilliant.

"They’ve learned so much since they started the Unleash Your Drive sessions and really taken everything on board.

"It has helped with their learning across the curriculum and not just in golf which is great. I’d recommend it to other schools – it’s really easy to follow."

The programme was inaugurated last year by the charity’s president and Sky Sports presenter, Nick Dougherty.

The programme was developed after evidence showed escalating levels of poor mental health among children.

So far, the programme more than 500 schools have applied to take part in the programme, and Arkholme Primary are one of 100 schools to deliver the sessions in its first year.

The Golf Foundation plans to open the subsequent wave of Unleash Your Drive applications soon.

Andy Leigh, head of the Unleash Your Drive programme, said: "We believe that all children should have access to golf regardless of their background – it’s great for their mental health and wellbeing.

"Unleash Your Drive is a programme to introduce children to golf and it also provides a platform for life skills which will help them at school and beyond school as well. We want to take this into more schools across the region and the country.”

To find out more about the programme and to raise funds to help the mental wellbeing of young people, go to www.golf-foundation.org/uyd.