Sport at St Piran’s

Due to the Covid pandemic, fixtures and external events weren’t able to happen. We turned this to our advantage and adapted by using the time to enable us to give the children more variety in sports that they could participate in. The girls played football, both boys and girls played basketball and the boys practised some hockey. It was great to see them all exploring these new activities and the joy that they got from doing them. All our boys and girls rose to the challenge with a positive attitude to the changing circumstances and it was wonderful to give them an opportunity to explore different sports. Each and every one stepped up with great enthusiasm and the effort every child has put into training has been outstanding. The games teachers have been thrilled with the progress that they have made and the skills that they have refined. We welcomed two new national coaches for hockey and tennis who enriched our sport provision in the Christmas Term and have been a welcome addition to our teaching team.

The children enjoyed playing matches against their peers, in mixed ability groups and boys v girls. It was great to see how they could adapt to playing with different people and the encouragement that they all gave each other was great. We were able to use the pool at the start of the Christmas Term and offer pupils of all ages swimming lessons which rewarded us with achievements across all levels - from Ducklings Awards in Early Years to Speed Awards in Upper School. Swimming does not come easily to all pupils, but it is often these pupils who have made the most progress. We were amazed by the children attending extra lessons and swim squads and their energy, enthusiasm and hard work. Of course, there is always time for some fun in the pool too!

While most of the children had to find new ways to keep fit at home during lockdown, the Easter Term provided an excellent opportunity for Nursery children to have some additional games lessons alongside their normal PE lesson while they were the only pupils in the school! Our Sponsored Challenge kept everyone on their toes, raising money for Thames Hospice and Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity as we clocked up kilometres to walk, run and cycle our way to South Africa, all virtually.

The Summer Term saw the start of some cricket fixtures and all boys and girls from Years 3-6 participated in a fixture, which was wonderful to see. We had some good results, but the highlight was the joy on the children’s faces to be out playing again. They demonstrated a high standard of play and had a good understanding of the game.