A SECOND South Tyneside school has been given funding to organise an Olympic Games event for children in the borough.
St Wilfrid’s RC College in South Shields will host the event at the town’s Temple Park Centre in John Reid Road on March 29.
The Olympics’ organising committee has handed more than £6,500 to the college for the sports day, which will involve children from the college’s six feeder primary schools.
It comes just two weeks after Epinay Business and Enterprise School in Clervaux Terrace, Jarrow, was awarded funding to organise an Olympics day for children with special educational needs.
Helen Nuttall, PE teacher at St Wilfrid’s, Temple Park Road, South Shields, said: “We are delighted we have been successful with our funding bid, and we are one of a small number of schools to get funding out of more than 500 across the country which applied.
“It is an achievement but we are now focused on making it a memorable sporting occasion for children in the borough.”
The college has been given the freedom to plan the day in its own style, and Mrs Nuttall said it will be a badminton festival, which will include a range of other sporting activities.
Securing the funding is another success story for St Wilfrid’s, which was awarded Sports Academy Status in January, by the national charity Sports Leaders UK, which recognises sporting achievement.
It means the college’s teenage pupils, who have become young sports leaders, will be involved with the Olympics event to offer coaching and support to the primary-aged competitors.
The grant has come as part of the Olympics’ Plan your 2012 programme, a funding scheme which offers schools the chance to join the London 2012 Get Set network, a reward and recognition initiative aimed at sharing the passion of the world’s biggest sporting event.
Lord Coe, chairman of the Olympic organising committee, said: “Participating gives schools a fantastic opportunity to take the lead in supporting other schools and their local community, enabling them to make the most of London 2012.”
The Olympics event will involve South Shields schools St Gregory’s RC Primary, at Harton House Road East, St Bede’s RC Primary School, at Claypath Lane, and St Peter & St Paul’s RC Primary, at Olive Street, Tyne Dock.
Also involved will be St Bede’s RC Primary School, Harold Street, Jarrow, St Mary’s RC Primary School, Ayr Drive, Jarrow, and St Oswald’s C of E Primary, at St Oswalds, Hebburn.
Twitter: @shieldsgazjoe
Comments