After taking part in the opening ceremony here of the first pilot scheme for the School Games, which will attract up to £20 million of Government funding over the next three years - Hunt maintained that the new event, which is being introduced in place of the old UK School Games, will "bring the magic of the Olympics" to pupils throughout the country.

Furthermore, he added that one of the key elements to the new competition would be the creation of events that allowed disabled and able-bodied pupils to compete "on an equal basis."

He told insideworldparasport: "There are some sports which are really well suited to this idea, such as sitting volleyball, or goalball, which is a kind of football where the ball has a bell in it and non-disabled children can wear blindfolds so they are playing on exactly the same basis as visually impaired children.

"It will be on a totally equal basis.

"And it will be made a requirement of the School Games that schools introduce some of these sports, and we hope it will be great not just for the disable children, but actually change attitudes among non-disabled children as well.

"It's brand new in sport, and very exciting."

Baroness Sue Campbell, chief executive of the Youth Sports Trust, which will play a major part in organising the new competition, told insideworldparasport that the School Games could help fast-track pupils with ambition to a Paralympic future: "We are very committed to there being a very new and much improved pathway for young people with disabilities in sport.

"While there's been some pockets of good practice in this area there has never been a national push and there's never been a national pathway.

"So those are the two things that should change.

"This should become much more universal and there should be a clear pathway for young competitors with disability to move from school onwards.

"Within the schools we are trying to work out new forms of activity that will engage disabled pupils alongside able-bodied pupils.

"So we don't just say, today we've got some sport for disabled people over in that corner."

As well as considering sitting volleyball and goalball, Campbell said there would be competitions involving two-strong teams of able-bodied and disabled pupils in wheelchairs.

"I think the important thing will be how we move from that school level to our inter-school level and beyond," she said.

"So if young people have serious aspiration, and want to become Paralympians, we've got a pathway for them to follow."

She added that there would be "enormous" benefits for all in terms of the mixed competition.

"My experience is when you do work on inclusion, whilst it really is good for young people with disability, it is life-changing for the kids who are able-bodied," she said.

"They have to develop empathy - with is very different from sympathy - and they have to develop an understanding of how to adapt games to make them inclusive for everybody."

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