That’s the view of Richard Moore, Cottenham’s Deputy Head and Inclusion Lead, who has led the development of PE lessons and lunchtime and after-school clubs for pupils with SEND, inspired by the adapted activities at Panathlon competitions.

These in-school activities are ideal preparation for competing in external Panathlon competitions – and Cottenham saw all their practice pay off by finishing runners-up in the recent Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Primary Final in St Ives, having won a local qualifying event to get there.

Richard takes up the story: “We’d been going to Panathlon events for a year or two and it became clear that we should be doing more of this type of activity at school to achieve the same positive outcomes every week for those children who find school the hardest.”

Using funds from the school’s Primary Sports Premium, they invested in equipment that they’d seen at Panathlons and trialled a sports club for pupils with additional needs on a Wednesday afternoon.

Richard explains: “It was immediately clear there was a real taste for it among the teaching assistants who were working one-to-one with those children. It quickly became a really positive part of their week. It grew in popularity and there was a real buzz that these children were getting this experience.”

The club grew in popularity (beyond the 17% of pupils with SEND at the school), more equipment was added and soon it resembled a full primary Panathlon competition every week! This translated into success at external competitions, as the school team won a local Panathlon competition at Impington in January. That sealed their qualification for the regional event in March, where they won silver medals.

“The kudos those children had among the whole community for going away and winning a tournament was incredible,” reflects Richard. “It sent a really positive message to everyone else.

“For those eight children, who all need significant support, they went in thinking, ‘We can do this!’ That is something those children may not experience very often. There was a real sense of being part of something special. It meant so much to them to go somewhere as a team wearing the school jersey.

“Receiving applause from the whole school in Friday assembly is priceless for them. For the teaching assistants to see them confident, achieving and relatively independent is amazing. They are confident and able to regulate themselves in ways you’d probably never see in a classroom.”

Panathlon is now an established part of the curriculum at Cottenham Primary and staff hope to run their own inter-school competition and even engage parents in an opportunity to compete.

Richard explains: “The rest of the school community [who don’t have special needs] are always asking if they can do the Panathlon activities in their PE lessons. That gives real kudos for those children who ‘own’ Panathlon. For other children to be asking to do ‘their’ thing is great for them.

“It’s not just about developing their physical skills, it’s the way they support each other, give each other feedback and show a healthy and positive level of competition. They’re getting more creative in adapting the activities, changing the rules, using the equipment in different ways, dealing with disappointment, taking turns… there are just so many positive effects.

“It’s so important that those with additional needs have this sort of status in mainstream schools. For those children to be highest achievers in a certain area sends such a positive message to everyone else about what’s possible.”

Tony Waymouth, Panathlon’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We are delighted that Panathlon competitions are inspiring schools to purchase equipment and use our ideas and activities. We’re leaving a legacy of regular inclusive participation and competition through PE and sport clubs and internal competitions. It’s fantastic to see.”

The research found parents who had a positive experience of PE at school were almost twice as likely (63%) to say their children enjoyed PE at school today and much more likely to encourage their children to be active and play sport (vs 35% of those parents who didn’t have positive experiences).

Alison Oliver MBE, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said:

“We are excited for National School Sport Week to be returning this summer and want to support as many families as possible to find a love for sport and feel they have a place to belong within it.

“Schools are uniquely placed to deliver opportunities and motivation for children to be more active, but this research highlights the importance of working with families too. It is important to highlight, regardless of their own memories and PE experiences, what they do now to support their children’s experience can influence their wellbeing and education as well as their physical activity levels into adulthood.”

The Youth Sport Trust launched its PE & School Sport Annual Report recently and earlier this month launched its new long-term strategy, ‘Inspiring Changemakers, Building Belonging’ to help build back healthier, happier and more resilient children and young people, to balance the demands of the digital age through human connection, and transform society’s perceptions and attitudes to the value of play and sport in the education and development of young people.

Speaking on why her journey to ensure all three of her children, one of whom has autism, has inclusive sporting experiences, Margaret Hay, Author of A&Me said:

“I have always looked at what my children enjoy and got them involved in what suits their strengths. We need to start looking at sport differently. It is not about rigidity, it is about adaptability, and building programs for every ability.

“Because through sport many different skills are learnt and build a foundation for later life.”

The research among UK parents of children aged 18 and under carried out by YouGov found:

• 32% of parents said that they have positive experience of PE. These parents were more likely to say their children enjoyed PE at school than those who didn’t have positive experience of PE (63% vs 35%)
• These parents also
  • Encourage their children to be active and play sport (78% vs 52%)
  • Would be more included to choose a school which prioritise PE (22% vs 8%)
  • Would be prepared to speak to school to encourage them to provide more PE or school sport (34% vs 18%)

To sign up for the charity’s annual National School Sport Week campaign and receive free resources visit www.youthsporttrust.org/join-us/national-school-sport-week

7 schools from across Cambridgeshire competed to become 2021/22 county champions and gain the opportunity to represent the county at the regional finals later this year.

The schools were initially split into two pools. From the first whistle the quality of football on show was fantastic, resulting in plenty of tight matches.

The final saw Bury CofE Primary School play Milton CofE Primary School after they narrowly pipped Middleton Primary School and Westfield Junior School in their groups respectively.

The final was an exciting encounter with Milton taking the lead (1-0) early in the match. Bury managed to pull a goal back (1-1), almost snatching the lead soon after if it wasn’t for an exceptional save from the Milton goalkeeper.

The match continued to be end to end with neither team able to find the decisive goal, the match ending 1-1 after normal time. Extra time to follow.

Possession and control of the game continued to switch between the evenly matched teams, until Milton with 30 seconds left on the clock broke through centre field with the Milton striker calmly finishing past the Bury goalkeeper. With little time left on the clock, Bury had time to restart the match before the full-time whistle was blown.

In the third-place play-off Westfield Junior School came out winners against Middleton Primary School in what was another competitive match.

Doug Finlayson, Partnership Manager from the Hunts School Sports Partnership said, “Thank you to all schools who participated, it was lovely to see the girls playing with smiles on their faces. The standard of Football was amazing, the matches were exciting and I’m sure nervy for many of the school staff and spectators at times. Finally thank you to the young referees from St Ives Town Football Club Education Programme and congratulations to Milton CofE Primary School, we all wish them good luck in the regional finals”.

The day was started with a recorded welcome video from our Partnership Manager Claire McDonnell, followed by a short video from a special guest, former professional tennis player Jade Windley. Jade proudly represented Great Britain throughout her career and won 19 professional titles as well as achieving her lifelong dream of competing in the main draw of the Championships, Wimbledon. Jade encouraged all the youngsters taking part to give all the activities a go and give it their best. The children were then able to join in a high energy Olympic themed ‘this or that’ warm up video with the brothers from Tanzii TV.

We provided resource cards for 7 sporting activities including, Boccia, standing long jump, throwing, cricket, target throw, golf and netball. We also arranged for the children to learn a dance routine presented via video by professional street dancer, Junior Russell which focused on friendship, celebration, coming together and having fun. Schools were also given some cross curriculum ideas to break up the day, ranging from designing their own mascot to learning about the history of the Olympic or Paralympic games.

We have heard lots of positive feedback from the day and although we were not able to all come together in one place it has been great to hear how schools have enjoyed being part of a bigger event. One school commented “we have missed playing with other schools so it was also a great opportunity to feel part of something bigger than our school”. When we asked for feedback from schools one school replied ” the children loved everything and want to do it again!”

We know that Covid-19 has had an impact on children’s activity levels resulting in a decline in both their physical and mental wellbeing. With that in mind, the purpose of the week was to provide a new and positive experience and to get as many children as possible active throughout the week, having fun and boosting confidence at the same time.  

Skipping is a simple but fun activity which really gets your heart beating and can be great for general fitness and wellbeing. It is also something that doesn’t require much equipment or space and is therefore accessible to all and can be done within COVID guidelines.  

The Skipping Week involved children challenging themselves by taking on different skipping activities and skills challenges to try and complete either a bronze, silver or gold level award with the focus all on self-belief, determination and fun! 

The week also coincided with  National Skipping Day (Friday 23rd April) where schools in the South Cambs School Sport Partnership were challenged to see how many children and staff they could get skipping on one day in an attempt to set a record which we will then look to beat year on year. The numbers for this are still coming in but we have already had over 3700 children plus 165 staff from 21 schools recorded as skipping on the day which is fantastic, and we hope to hit at least 4000 when all of the numbers are in.  

In order to add some extra excitement to the week and to help inspire the children five local schools (Petersfield, The Meadow, Melbourn, Thriplow & Coton) were honoured to have a visit from SkipBeatz and 5x world record holder Pete Thompson who delivered a whole school assembly  where he gave a demo of his world records and talked about how he got into skipping and the impact it has had on his fitness and mental health before leading workshops with every class in each school. Teaching over 1000 children to skip during the week!  Coton Primary School were one of the Schools Pete visited, one of the staff commented afterwards “All the children had a wonderful time and are inspired to improve their personal bests. It was lovely to hear their positive comments. They loved the skipping ninja!”

We are hoping that the interest generated by the week will encourage skipping in schools as a regular activity during lunchtimes and as movement breaks to try and help as many children as possible achieve the Chief Medical officer’s target of 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Some of the feedback from schools who took part in the week shows this may well be the case for their pupils: “It has proved so popular this week that we will discussing doing it as an ongoing regular activity break” Histon & Impington Junior School, “The children really enjoyed the skipping week and many of them were asking to use the ropes both at break and lunchtimes which is great.” University of Cambridge Primary.

If you would like to find out more about yoga sessions for your school please email jpashley@combertonvc.org 

Some schools ran their own intra school bubble competitions and then sent in their chosen entries to be judged. Dances had to be a maximum of 4 minutes long and some excellent footage was sent in to the South Cambs Schools Sports Partnership judging panel! We wanted all children to enjoy the dance competition and have a positive experience and we certainly felt this was the case watching through the videos.

 

“Thank you for organising this virtual Dance Competition, our whole school has thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. The 3 classes we picked to enter were very excited about receiving their certificates today.” Histon & Impington Junior School

 

“Thank you very much for this fantastic news, we are all so glad that the dance made you smile. The children and the class teacher are overjoyed with the result! Once again thank for organising these brilliant virtual competitions, our kids are really enjoying them and so am I!” Linton Heights Junior School

The winners from each School Sports Partnership area will be invited to perform at the opening ceremony of a ‘live’ Partnership competition this year and will also be judged by the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough School Games Organising Committee to determine the County winners.

The Results of the SCSSP dance competition are:

KS1

Guilden Morden Primary School (Winners)

Bassingbourn Primary (Runners Up)

KS2

Linton Heights, Year 5 Class (Winners)

Histon & Impington Junior School, Group 3 (Runners Up)

Spirit of the Games Award – University of Cambridge Year 4 Nurture Group

Well done to everyone who took part! Everyone who joined in with the virtual event will have received a Participation Certificate already, and first place finishers in each age category will receive a Winners Certificate.

1. Start your lessons with, “Show Me What You Know.” This sets up your diagnostic assessment at the start of the lesson and gets children active straight away instead of lengthy questioning.

2. Ask pupils to answer questions physically. When asking pupils questions, if possible get them to show you the answer, for example, “How do you think you pass accurately using a chest pass?” Showing the answers promotes higher levels of activity!

3. Think about who needs to see a demonstration. Use demonstrations to support learning but always consider which learners need to see it. We should not just demonstrate to everyone unless they all need to see it. Use your demonstrations as a powerful tool to support the learning when intervention is necessary.

4. Don’t plan times in your PE lessons. Learning takes however long it needs to take to be understood and achieved. Plan in sequence and move on to the next part of the sequence when the pupils are ready.

5. Take time to read through the sequence of learning (unit) before you start teaching. This will enable you to know where learning is going and how to support the specific needs of your pupils every step of the way.

6. Consider what the purpose of your lesson is. Is it clear to the pupils in your class? High quality PE lessons have a clear purpose that runs throughout the learning. You can then focus your questioning, feedback and assessment in line with the purpose of the lesson.

7. Use ‘why’ questions – they are very powerful and can drive high quality learning outcomes. Embedding ‘why’ questions into PE lessons can help learning to accelerate, as pupils understand what they are doing and the purpose of it.

8. Give specific and purposeful feedback. This scaffolds the next steps and reiterates the success outcomes of your lesson. Praise is essential, but adding in the detail makes a huge impact on learning.

9. Ensure all your PE lessons have physical, cognitive, social and emotional success outcomes. These are essential to ensure the development of the whole child and to enable mastery learning. Take time to then focus on the development of life skills specific to the needs of your pupils. For example, if they often give up, take time to go off plan and teach and develop life skills such as resilience.

10. Assess how active your pupils are in your lessons. One way of doing this is to actually time yourself. Every time the class is static, start a stop watch. Pause it when the pupils move again. Ask yourself at the end of the lesson whether they were active enough.

Complete P.E. is an interactive primary Physical Education resource, written by Primary School PE Specialist Teachers (QTS), designed to support the implementation of a high quality Physical Education curriculum.

The After School Sport Club will be led by Athlete Mentors from different backgrounds, abilities and sports. Every day at 5pm until 18 December, children and young people can join in with the live broadcast for free on the YST YouTube channel or use the link below to search for any they may have missed.

Join in the conversation on social using #YSTAfterSchool and tagging @YouthSportTrust across all social media channels. You might need items from around your home for some sessions, but there are ideas given ahead of each club to adapt if you don’t have these items or time allowed within the session to do this.

The different daily themes are below:

• Adventure Monday – This might involve getting children to do floor, wall climbing and map reading all within their living room
• Tuesday Play – Imaginative play utilising resources in the house to create games and activities to get active
• Wild Wednesday – Some high tempo competitive activities involving personal challenges
• Thinking Thursday – Introducing cognitive challenges for children through movement. Active noughts and crosses and introducing an element of competition – whether that be against themselves, the clock, their siblings or remotely with friends
• Fun Friday – A chance for children to let loose and have some fun. Dancing and doing what makes them feel good.

Our annual Cross Country competitions are usually the highlight of this term for us, mainly as we are able to bring so many children together at once so to not be able to run them was a real disappointment for us. However to still be able to have an event where so many children could come together whilst being apart was fantastic. It was great to hear so many positive stories back from schools:

“I just wanted to say how well they (the virtual run and challenges) have been received by children, staff and parents. It has been truly amazing to see the personal achievements made and the very rosy cheeked children coming in from their sessions. The children have grown in their love of running!!” Histon and Impington Junior School

 

“Squirells (Year 1/2) from Castle Camps did some activities from the sheet like shuttle runs etc. They had great fun all cheering each other on.”

 

“Thank you for the opportunity and the organisation for the Friendship Run. We participated as a whole school and the children completed the booklet as well as keeping class miles. We had records of some classes running over 62 miles. We also organised a virtual run for all classes to run at the same time online and we did a mile as staff members.” University of Cambridge Primary School

 

“It has been inspiring watching our children take part in their Friendship Mile activities this week whilst embracing the Spirit of the Games values of determination and self-belief and we celebrated these achievements in assembly today.” Meldreth

Whilst the main focus of this event was participation there was also a timed mile for those children who are motivated by a bit of competition. The challenge was to see how fast you can run 1 mile. There were a few schools where they did not complete a timed mile within school but pupils were motivated enough to compete in this challenge themselves out of school, which is fantastic! Well done to Isabelle (yr6) from Girton Glebe, Willem (yr4) from Meldreth, William (yr5) and Isabelle (yr2) both from Pendragon, we were really impressed with your determination and commitment to take part in the competition.

Schools have been given certificates to award within school for their own fastest runners in each year group but we have also collated the results across our partnership in order to identify the overall year group winners, these results are detailed below. For those children who came first, second or third in their category and year group there are medals and certificates being sent out now. At the time of writing this we are still eagerly awaiting the results for the county competition to find out who will be the fastest runners across Cambridgeshire & Peterborough.