Blackburn and Darwen School Games

During the February half term 56 Year 5/6 children from across Blackburn & Darwen attended a Gifted and Talented week at St Bede’s High School. The camp was aimed at children who, upon recognition from their teachers, were seen as Gifted and Talented in P.E. and sport. The camp ran from 9 until 12 each day and was a great way for children to enhance their already high level abilities in a range of sports.

 

On Monday the children turned up looking very shy and nervous about the week ahead. It didn’t take them long to get talking to new friends and the activities soon made them comfortable. The first morning consisted of two sessions, in the sports hall with Mr Mercer was tennis and in the gym with Mr Keogh it was Dodgeball. By 12 ‘o’ clock the children had made new friends and ready for a fun filled rest of the week. On Tuesday it was basketball in the sports hall and in the gym it was table tennis, as St Bede’s is one of the best performing schools is the country for table tennis, we thought we would give them a taster of why the school has such a high reputation in this sport, this session was run by Mr Bentley from St Bede’s. Wednesday was another action packed day with West Pennine Netball Club, along with some of their young members, coming along to teach the children some new netball skills. Mr Bentley delivered a cricket session in the gym and half way through the week the children had really settled in, made some new friends and enjoyed 6 different sports in 3 days. Thursday it was time to brave the cold. We were lucky enough to have a UEFA B licensed coach, Zuber Patel, to come in and deliver a football session out on our 3G pitch. The group were split in to 2 groups, half with Zuber and the other half with Mr Keogh, who is also and FA qualified coach. The 3 hours soon went by and the children had another great morning. The final morning came and there was no time to wind down, we had the Ribble Valley Acrobatic Academy come in and deliver a fantastic gymnastics session and in the sports hall held a badminton session. At the end of today each child received a certificate and a reward for their hard work throughout the week.

 

We would like to thank all of the children for attending the camp this week, we hope you had fun, made some new friends and picked up some new skills along the way.

 

"It was fantastic to see so many talented children engaged in physical activity and we hope you continue to impress your teachers in school. It is great to reward those who are Gifted & Talented in PE, it was also good to give those who attended an insight into life at a secondary school. I would like to thank the Primary schools who subsidised the course utilising their Sports Premium funding and the coaches who delivered quality and enjoyable sessions throughout the week. Hopefully those involved enjoyed the new sports and activities they tried enough to get involved with the clubs who helped deliver the sessions in the future." Andrew Mercer, SGO.