PRIZEGIVING 2022

A Celebratio of Friendship

We marked the end of the summer term in 2022 with another school Prizegiving ceremony. Our guest of honour was Paralympian Olivia Breen, who had joined us in person for our first ever summer Prizegiving in 2019. This time Olivia joined us on Zoom from her base at the training centre where she was preparing for the Commonwealth Games.

Olivia talked to staf and pupils about her incredible journey to becoming a paralympic champion and the importance of friendship to her success. She spoke about the very unusual experiences she had in Japan for the paralympics that took place under strict covid measures. Despite the lack of crowds and atmosphere in the venues, Olivia felt that the teams in the athletes’ village were closer and more supportive than ever.

Olivia was selected to be Team Leader of the Wales Team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the games turned out to be an enormous success for her. She won gold in the women’s T37/38 100m - a personal first - and then went on to receive the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year award.

Olivia has cerebral palsy and a hearing impairment and came to GOSH as a child. She feels strongly about sharing her story with other young people who live with long-term illness or disability and it was a pleasure for us that she could give awards to our pupils to mark their own achievements in our school Sports’ Day.