The city's top boxer, Tony Jeffries, took time out of his gruelling training schedule for the Bejing Olympics to present healthy schools with their awards.

The number one light-heavyweight champion went along to the new Aquatic Centre to give the latest schools, which have reached National Healthy School Status, their certificates.

To clinch the award each school has to prove good practice in four core areas of healthy living, personal, social and health education, healthy eating, physical activity and emotional health and wellbeing.

Tony, 23, is seven-time England champion and the first ever boxer from Tyne and Wear to quality for an Olympic Games, so knows all about the importance of a healthy lifestyle for young people.

An ex-Farringdon School pupil, Tony was especially proud, as his old school was the first to be awarded the National Healthy School Status during the pilot scheme.

A dedicated Healthy Schools division has been set up at Sunderland City Council to drive the campaign on Wearside and ensure the city has at least 75 per cent of its schools with National Healthy Schools Status, with the remaining 25 per cent working on it, by 2009.

Lee Murdoch, the city's Healthy Schools Coordinator, said: "The national healthy schools programme focuses on the whole school approach to improving pupils' health and wellbeing and is of high importance to Ofsted."

Further information about the Healthy Schools Programme can be found at www.healthyschools.gov.uk