Issue 18 Spring 2014 WELCOME. Welcome to the HSSP spring newsletter for 2014 – a rather wet one! A belated Happy New Sporting Year to yourselves and your pupils and parents. Many thanks for your school and pupils continued support of P.E. and School Sport in 2013 and of the many teacher training programmes, coaching, volunteering, playing and competitive opportunities we offer your schools. Our primaries are currently delighted with the news that the government has extended the grant offer of the Primary P.E. Premium funding until to summer 2016, (initially it was for 2 years only). So this ring fenced funding £9000 approx. per academic year for every Primary School, and an Ofsted priority, will last for 3 academic years. Furthermore, the current government have promised, to further extend this same amount every year for every Primary School until 2020 as part of the Olympic legacy, if they get elected. The HSSP staff are busy visiting many primary schools offering advice and support to Head Teachers and P.E. Co-ordinators on how to action plan and improve: their P.E. curriculum and quality of teaching and learning for staff and pupils, the health and physical activity levels of less active pupils and sports club and competition opportunities for all pupils. We have 39 out of a possible 45 schools signed up to our services this year and we plan to continue our school sport services for primaries in the future. We are currently reviewing our pricing structure to ensure that we can continue to exist financially beyond summer 2016, as we receive no government funding to help contribute towards the salaries of SSCo’s. So we are reliant upon providing a good service to Primary Schools to gain income and any other grants we may be lucky enough to obtain. We will continue to keep prices at an affordable level and to try and keep the HSSP self-funding/sustainable for the longer term. We always welcome Primary School feedback/comments and ideas regarding our service and what we can offer and how we can improve, and hope to consult with HSSP Primary P.E. Co-ordinators and Primary Head Teachers between March and May/June 2014, asking them which services they require as from September 2014 onwards for the academic year ahead, to help us plan for staff and funding purposes. If your school would like to hire one of our SSCo’s on a regular basis (half day per week one whole day per week on the team teaching package) we would need to know this service requirement and hire in extra staff to cater for this specific demand, well before the end of May 2014. Please keep us in touch with your annual plans and arrange to meet Claire Moore anytime in March to early June 2014. We are planning a HSSP Networking afternoon (including workshops on P.E. curriculum mapping, how to teach outstanding P.E. lessons and how to set up Change4Life clubs for physically inactive children) to help update and train Primary P.E. Co-ordinators and Teaching Assistants on Thursday 13th March 2014. The afternoon, at Medway Park, is free of charge to those primary schools already signed up to the HSSP, we just need you to complete the booking form in advance and send it to myself. We are half way through the year and several primary and secondary inter-school Festivals locally have taken place and some schools have gone on to represent HSSP/Medway at the Kent School Games finals already (2013-2014 is the Kent School Games year) – see lots of school team photos later in the newsletter. CLAIRE MOORE - PDM and SGO THREE NEW COMMUNITY SATELLITE SPORTS CLUBS - OPEN TO ALL AGED 8 YEARS PLUS Thanks to the funding and support of Sport England there will be 3 new satellite sports clubs/playing opportunities for young people in the Rainham area of Medway – Kent starting in January 2014. The three new sports clubs are open to secondary aged children (and latter stages of primary aged children aged 8 years plus). They are as follows: BADMINTON FRIDAY EVENINGS HOWARD SCHOOL £2.00 Head Coach: Satellite Sports Club 4.30 - 5.30pm (term time only) (main sports hall), per session Ian Coleman (linked to Medway Started in January 2014 Derwent Way, Rainham, per person and Junior Badminton club) Weekly until July 2014 Gillingham, Kent ME8 0BX Hilary Athawes HANDBALL THURSDAY EVENINGS HOWARD SCHOOL £2.00 Head Coach: Satellite Sports Club 4.30pm - 5.30pm (term time only) (main sports hall), per session James Murphy (linked to Medway Dragons Started in January 2014 Derwent Way, Rainham, per person Handball Club) Weekly until July 2014 Gillingham, Kent ME8 0BX TABLE TENNIS WEDNESDAY EVENINGS RAINHAM MARK GRAMMAR SCHOOL £2.00 Head Coach: Satellite Sports Club 4.30pm - 5.30pm (term time only) (gymnasium), per session Phil Thomas (linked to Howard and Started in January 2014 Pump Lane, Rainham, per person Chatham Table Tennis Club) Weekly until July 2014 Gillingham, Kent ME8 7AJ All three sports clubs are open to any participants, irrespective of which school they attend and whatever ability level they are at currently. As the qualified sports coaches in charge each evening will be keen to assist children to learn more about the sport and how to play and improve their skills and techniques and possibly play competitively. Each of the new satellite sports clubs are linked to a Club Mark club locally and so if some participants wish to play more often and possibly join a local club then there is an opportunity to do this also. CLAIRE MOORE - PDM and SGO Page 1: Welcome and Update. Page 3: Leadership Training for Primary and Secondary Schools. Three New Community Satellite Sports Clubs. SSG Basketball Festival. Page 2: Laura Arnold - National Schools Champion at High Jump. Page 4: Local and Kent School Games finalists and winners. Schools Handball Festival. Medway Secondary SSG Sports Hall Althetics Festival. Page 1 LAURA ARNOLD – ENGLAND U15 GIRLS NATIONAL HIGH JUMP CHAMPION Laura, a student at Rainham School for Girls, achieved national success at the England U15 track and field Championships in summer 2013. Winning gold in the high jump competition, she saw off a very strong field by clearing every height at the first attempt until she reached 1.65m which she cleared on the third and final attempt, to claim the title of England Schools Champion. Laura, as well as being a member of the Medway and Maidstone Athletics Club, also trains at Lee Valley in London, with Carol Jackson, a national high jump coach who also works with Olympic bronze medalist Robbie Grabbaz. Along with her high jump success, Laura is a member of the Kent pentathlon squad and reached the national finals of the English Schools Combined Events Championships and is currently ranked in the top 12 in the country for pentathlon. GAIL HALLS - SSCo Laura Arnold in action! The medal Ceremony HANDBALL SCHOOLS FESTIVAL - Autumn 2013 A new Schools (year 6 teams from Primary School’s and year 7 from Secondary Schools) Handball Festival was organised by the HSSP in partnership with the Kent Handball Development Officer - Tom Middleton. This very new sports festival included coaching and a friendly competition at the Howard School sports hall, with a view to inviting children to come and play at the new Community Handball Club on a Monday night at Medway Park - called Medway Dragons Handball Club and the new satellite handball club held at the Howard School on a Thursday after-school and Brompton Academy satellite handball club. 10 school teams participated including: Barnsole Primary, Robert Napier, Howard School and Brompton Academy. Robert Napier Girls and Howard Boys won their respective categories. Many thanks go to organisers, coaches and volunteer referees from the University of Kent at Canterbury who made this event possible for young people. CLAIRE MOORE - HSSP MEDWAY SECONDARY SCHOOL SPORTS HALL ATHLETICS EVENT 6th February 2014 The Medway Secondary School Games sports hall athletics event was held at the Howard School on Thursday 6th February 2014. Ten school teams (boys and girls from years 7 and 8) participated in a range of indoor athletic events. The final results were as follows: Girls Rainham Mark Grammar girls and boys teams qualified as winners and represented Medway in the Kent School Games Sports Hall Athletics finals School Points Positions at Medway Park on 12th February 2014. The girls year 8 team came fifth Rainham Mark Grammar 229 1st and the boys year 8 team came third across the whole of Kent – Fort Pitt Grammar 224 2nd many congratulations to them all. Rainham Girls 221 3rd Thomas Aveling 201 4th CLAIRE MOORE PDM and SGO Walderslade Girls 190 5th BORA 149 6th Strood Academy 129 7th Robert Napier 125 8th Boys School Points Positions Rainham Mark Grammar 216 1st Howard School 212 2nd Greenacre 208 3rd Thomas Aveling 195 4th BORA 192 5th Robert Napier 183 6th Strood Academy 148 7th Page 2 LEADERSHIP IS THRIVING AT RAINHAM GIRLS SCHOOL AND AT MANY HSSP PRIMARIES Young Leaders and Sports Leaders awards have been very popular again this year. Young Leaders courses have been run at Halling, Miers Court and Parkwood where pupils have developed their skills using the “SOCCER” principle - safety, organisation, communication, co-operation, enthusiasm and responsibility. Some of the students at Rainham Girls have already gained the Leadership Award and are now working towards their level 1 Sports Leaders award. So far they have helped at the Medway Tri Golf Festival and the HSSP indoor sports hall athletics festival.