Sport Relief

(23 March 2010) Congratulations to Miss Smith who with the help of our PE Faculty, Sports Captains, BTEC Sport candidates and our grounds staff, planned and co-ordinated the school’s fundraising activities for Sport Relief (visit the website) on Friday 19 March.

"Being a part of an event like this not only helps our pupils make a positive contribution to the community, but also raises their awareness of the important of a healthy lifestyle, and encourages them to reflect on the opportunities that they have here in the UK in comparison to those less fortunate than themselves elsewhere,” explained Headteacher, Chiquita Henson.

During the day the PE team honoured their promise to dress up if the pupils raised £500 and it was clear, as early as Wednesday 17 March, that there was going to be no way of getting out of this as the total from bucket collections of loose change and the sale of raffle tickets had already exceeded this figure. The enthusiasm on the day was infectious, beginning with the PE staff going around, as promised, in fancy dress before school, collecting money and encouraging pupils to take part in the activities throughout the day.

“It just shows what a community can do when it is inspired to get involved and for this day to literally ‘pull together’ for a good cause” said Head of PE, Anne Hacker, who wore a blonde wig and canoe for the day out of respect for Blue Peter presenter, Helen Skelton, who took on a gruelling challenge for Sport Relief this year too.

On Friday 19 March, Miss Smith, appropriately dressed as Superwoman, used her powers and influence to engage pupils and staff in the mile run, an event held in PE lessons and throughout our two lunchtimes.

Fay Smith explained; “The idea initially grew out of a task for my BTEC group which required them to plan a sports event. They chose to run an inter-tutor group football competition on Tuesday 23rd March for Sport Relief. However, such was the enthusiasm for us to be a part of the national event on 19 March as well, that things just took off and I am extremely grateful to everyone for helping us more than double our original target by raising over £1000!”

The highlight of the day, however, had to be the ‘Tug of War’ held in a specially designed arena on our front field at break time. Surrounded by a large crowd of pupils from all year groups, the staff tug of war team bravely and successfully took on over 15 pupil teams and only gave in to the final group of Year 7 pupils as the whistle went for the end of break.

“There was a real buzz about the school in anticipation of the staff v pupils Tug of War, and it was wonderful to see everyone come together to raise so much money for such a wonderful cause. It was even better to see that the bulging biceps of the staff team were generally more than a match for our pupils!” said Head of Key Stage 4 and anchorman, David Clarke.