Sports Week 2023

With another busy week of activities planned for Prae Wood's annual Sports Week, the focus was on seeing how active each class could be across the week.  With children expected to be active for at least 60 minutes every day, with 30 of these active minutes taking place in school, each class selected their own way to monitor their active minutes as they participated in activities including boxing, inline skating, Roundnet and BMXing.

Monday saw the return of Chris from Fit Kidz with all classes in KS2 participating in a 30 minute fitness circuit using equipment such as battle ropes, kettle bells and Bosu balls.  EYFS were introduced to some rugby skills by Miss Mallard whilst KS1 didn't appear to sit still all day with skipping, yoga, dance and fun activities on the playground and field.  Elm class achieved a total of 192 active minutes on just Monday alone.

PE teacher for the day, Mr Wilson, supported Mrs Paine and the Sports Ambassadors on Tuesday to run a speed stacking festival for Years 1 to 6.  Years 1 to 3 were timed completing the 3-3-3 formation whilst the remaining year groups performed the more challenging 3-6-3.  Well done to the Green and Red house colour teams who were the overall festival winners.  Meanwhile, Nursery, Reception and Year 1 were learning a Street Dance routine with Dani from SASA School of Performing Arts and Year 5 donned knee pads, wrist guards and helmets to try out inline skating with Danny and Charlie on the MUGA.  Fortunately, the weather didn't prevent Year 5 enjoying their workshops however it did curtail the tricks Danny was able to perform for Years 1, 2 and 5 in the end of the day assembly.  

Years 2 to 5 were introduced to a new sport on Wednesday, Roundnet, by Nicky from Zerobounds.  Roundnet is a team game which uses a small trampoline like net and a soft ball and is said to be the fastest growing game this decade.  It definitely got the children (and adults) moving and is a great activity to help develop hand/eye coordination.  Meanwhile, Year 6 were stretching their comfort zone as they performed tricks on the BMX bikes with Mike, a former World Halfpipe Champion.   The mood was more relaxed in EYFS with Redwood turned into a Yoga studio.  Wednesday also saw our final Daily Mile Colour Challenge run of the year and we were impressed by the improvements made by all year groups as they pushed themselves to run a little harder and further during the 8 minute timed sessions.  Well done to the Green house colour team who returned to the top of the table with an average of 6.24 laps per runner in 8 minutes (approximately 1200 metres) across Years 1 to 6.

Thursday saw EYFS Sports Day taking place in the morning and circle group circuits in the afternoon.  We hope those of you who joined us for Sports Day enjoyed the new carousel set up with the children rotating around different activities to test their balance, agility and coordination before finishing with a sprint race on the track.  On the playground, Year 1 were trying out Boccia, a Paralympic sport similar to Boule, whilst Years 3 and 4 took part in boxing workshops with Theo from Challenge Sport and Education and Year 2 participated in a basketball taster session with our after school club provider.  In the afternoon, everyone from Reception through to Year 6 joined together in their circle groups to take part in a carousel of activities organised by the Year 6 circle group leaders.  It was great to see the whole school alive with activity and everyone's active minutes exceeded the daily target.  Acacia class reported a total of 189 active minutes on Thursday.

Once again, the sun shone for the finale to the week - Sports Day at Westminster Lodge.  Everyone was contributing points towards their colour teams total in events ranging from long jump to the sack race with the hope of beating the green team who were winners in both 2021 and 2022.  The Orange and Red teams came close however once again the Sports Day shield was presented to the Green colour team in the final celebration assembly of the year. CONGRATULATIONS, GREEN TEAM!!

It certainly was an active week!  We hope the week has encouraged our pupils to be more active and has perhaps introduced them to new sport or activity to explore.