With GCSEs and A-levels looming, pupils can be forgiven for associating education with turgid textbooks and interminable essays.

But one Mill Hill school believes the curriculum should not only be about training the mind, but more about teaching children to discover where their true talents lie.

Having exchanged their uniforms for PE kits, pupils aged five to 11 at Courtland School, in Courtland Avenue, are spending this week on the playing fields, trying a range of sports from cricket and football to yoga and fencing.

In the classroom, they will also learn about sporting events and personalities throughout history.

The five-day sports fest is one of a number of themed focus weeks, organised at the school in the past four years to keep pupils healthy and stimulated.

Held three times a year, these have included a week of healthy eating, an outdoor activity week, and a week of performing arts.

Headteacher Lisa Walker said the idea was designed to promote a rounded education for the students.

She said: "In many schools, the curriculum can be too academically based, but our ethos is everyone can be someone', so this way, those children who are good at sports get the opportunity to develop those skills.

"I think putting time aside for this is very important. Without it, the children don't get to experience a different range of sports and are not active enough. It's a chance to give them a taster of what's out there. I don't see it as an alternative to academic work, but as a complement to it.

"The more active and healthy children are, the better they can perform in the classroom," she said.

The Focus Week initiative ties in with the Government's growing emphasis on health and exercise and was the basis for the school's achievement of "healthy schools status" in March this year - a label given to schools that prove their commitment to healthy living.

A Healthy Schools spokesman explained that the programme was not just about physical health but had added benefits.

He said: "Children in healthy schools tell us they feel healthier, happier and safer.

"Their parents tell us they feel more involved in their child's learning and often feel better themselves.

"Schools tell us the programme has brought sustained improvement in behaviour, standards of work and school management."

Coaching children at Courtland are a number of sporting experts and professionals, including the Saracens rugby team, ex-Commonwealth fencing champion Karim Bashir, and ex-England netball player Melanie Mansfield.

PE teacher Kathryn Afford, who organised the week, said it was designed to raise participation in sport, increase pupils' knowledge about different sports, promote local clubs and inspire children to lead an active lifestyle.

She added: "These activity weeks create a wonderful, memorable opportunity to try something new, because you never know what latent talents a child might have."