Sir Ben Ainslie visits Kings Academy Northern Parade School

The News, Portsmouth

Sir Ben Ainslie visits Kings Academy Northern Parade School in Portsmouth to talk to children about the Sail Grand Prix event happening in Southsea on the 19th and 20th July 2025.

Transcript

00:00It's fantastic for CLGP to be coming to Portsmouth. We've had many races in

00:04Portsmouth over the years, I think back to 2015 and 16 and we had the America's

00:09Cup here and we had huge crowds down on the South Sea waterfront and we expect

00:13to see that and more with CLGP. It really has turned into this incredible global

00:18circuit and for Portsmouth to be back on the map with that I think it's great

00:22given the maritime heritage that we're all so proud of with the city.

00:26You mentioned the heritage there, I mean when it does come to Portsmouth are you

00:29hopeful that Great Britain is going to triumph? Of course you know we're

00:33representing Britain in CLGP and also recently in the America's Cup so we're

00:39really trying to again you know sustain that maritime heritage that we've got in

00:44Britain. We're a very proud island nation and being at the forefront of yacht

00:50racing or ocean racing that's where we want to be and also to most importantly

00:55inspire the youngsters. It's great to be here at the King's Academy today talking to some of the local

01:01youngsters about what CLGP is and the event coming up in the summer and also

01:05you know a big focus on sustainability and fantastic to see all the great work

01:10that the kids and the teachers have done here at the school so it's a really

01:14exciting day and a really exciting summer ahead in Portsmouth for CLGP.

01:19You mentioned the inspiration there because you've got your labs here in Portsmouth as well and you

01:21were today really talking to the kids about getting into sailing I mean how

01:25important is it for you to kind of pass this talent down to the next generation as it were?

01:29Well I think sport in general we know it just has such a great

01:33opportunity to inspire youngsters whether that is into sport itself but

01:37also into so many other areas of life and we have the 1851 Trust which really

01:42focuses on using sport to inspire youngsters to get into those key STEM

01:46subjects and also to teach them about sustainability and to talk to some of

01:51the youngsters today about that was really inspiring and for sure it will

01:55have an impact on them in the years ahead and that's what we want to do and

01:58really use that power of sport.

02:00And just lastly talking on sustainability there we saw the youngsters here were doing

02:04sustainability wise we've seen what's happening in sailing sustainability wise

02:07I mean are you excited for the next few years ahead there seems to be a real

02:10shift at the moment into sustainability are you excited for what's to come with

02:13tech and sustainability?

02:15Well yeah and again I think sport has that great

02:17opportunity from from a sustainability angle with the CLGV we have the Impact

02:22League which is really our race off the water to be to see which team can be the

02:27most efficient the most sustainable but also the most innovative in terms of

02:30coming up with ideas and solutions to tackle climate change and really if you

02:35look at look at that challenge it's really is innovation that is going to

02:39help mankind out of this this fix that it's in so the fact that sport can

02:44obviously be a great competition but it can really make a difference off the

02:47water with CLGV that's exciting we're really proud to be a part of that.

02:50Hello my name is Catherine Wildon and I am the head teacher here at King's

02:55Academy Northern Parade infant and junior school.

02:57So tell me a little bit about this morning and what's been happening.

03:00So this morning we were very fortunate to welcome to our school Sir Ben Ainslie

03:05and his team from CLGV they came along to deliver an assembly and to have a

03:11look at our school to help to raise awareness of on sustainability and to

03:17talk about the CLGV events that are happening in the future.

03:20What was the reaction like?

03:21The reaction was really really positive it was really lovely to have Sir Ben Ainslie in.

03:26The children were so inspired they were so enthusiastic they loved learning more

03:30about CLGV and they loved learning more about sustainability.

03:34So tell me why the school was chosen for for the visit today.

03:38Absolutely so back in 2016 Low Carbon the company contacted the school and

03:44they actually donated some solar panels to Northern Parade and so they wanted to

03:50come and have a look at our projects that we had done since 2016 to help to

03:56become more eco-friendly and to help with sustainability across the school so

04:00that was the initial link but they also wanted to come to raise awareness about

04:04their CLGV and future events that are happening in Portsmouth in July.

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