Sport Autumn Newsletter

It was great to see all of The Purbeck Schools feeder schools again buying into the Primary sports programme. This year we also welcomed Sandford Primary to join us for competitions and CPD. As usual the calendar is brimming with competitions and a number of COD opportunities for all including specialist teachers and HLTA’s.

The year started with a run of ‘Dare to Believe’ events for pupils in years 5/6, 3/4 and 1/2. The ‘Dare to Believe’ events for years 3-6 events were aimed predominantly at SEND pupils. This was to give children that wouldn’t normally get involved in a competitive environment an opportunity to take part in a variety of different activities which would help them to develop their self-confidence and belief that they can take part in different activities and achieve. Some of the activities involved were Handball, Walking Football, SAQ relays and Tag activities.

These events were attended extremely well and all pupils that took part thoroughly enjoyed themselves and left buzzing and keen to continue when back at school.

The next few weeks were focused on Football for Year 5/6. Initially we held a mixed tournament. This event was organised and delivered by two of our Yr 12 students as part of their Level 3 OCR Sport course. They were Jack Byron and Tom Navin. They did an excellent job of making sure that the event ran to time and everyone knew where they were going and what they were doing at the appropriate times. We had 8 teams attending which was fantastic and it was great to see so many pupils having a go and showing their football skills. The winners of this years tournament were Sandford Primary and they will go onto represent the Purbeck area in the County Finals.

The Girls football tournament was also brilliantly attended with 8 schools participating. Again the event was organised and delivered by two Yr 12 students, Alfie Leaton and Nathan Carter. They did a fantastic job and had to adapt things at the last minute to accommodate arrivals. The tournament was fabulous to watch and it was great to see so many girls enjoying their football in a competitive environment.

Tag rugby for Year 5 and 6 was next on the agenda. For this event we are extremely fortunate to have a good link with Swanage and Wareham rugby club and we were able to undertake this tournament down at the club. It allowed the pupils to experience a club environment. It was also great to have representation from the club present so we could sign post any pupils that enjoyed themselves to a Sunday morning training session. Again this tournament was prepared and delivered by two Yr 13 students Harry and Morgan, and referred by a number of our Yr 9/10 students. All of whom did a fantastic job. With 9 teams entered this allowed for an excellent tournament with all teams managing to play each other. It was great to see such a high standard of rugby being played and it was clear to see that many pupils had a fantastic time, which we are hoping in turn has encouraged a few more to want to take up the sport. As it was a festival of sport and inline with the RFU directives the event can not be competitive in nature, however we are able to award schools with points with reference to TREDS (Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship), these points are awarded in relation to the team but also to parents and coaches on the sidelines, this year all schools showed many of these traits, but one school showed an exceptional level of this and that school was St Marks in Swanage. Well done to them.

This festival bought this very busy half term to a close. Thank you to all schools for attending and taking part in such a positive manner. I hope to see you all again next half term for another set of events.