PE Major Award Winner 2018/19
The Priory School
Congratulations to The Priory School in Hitchin who have won the EdufundUK P.E. Major Award 2018/9.
Their £10,000 award will furnish them with a completely new long jump pit for their sports field. They have some highly successful athletics teams in the district leagues including students that compete at county and English School’s standards but the lack of their own functional long jump pit has obviously been a hinderance despite the pupils’ enthusiasm to train (Priory’s Y8 team managed to come 2nd overall in a recent District Athletics competition without long- and triple-jump facilities – imagine what they will do with the new pit!).
It’s not just Priory’s elite athletes who will benefit from this award of course. As Helen Foy, Head of PE wrote in her application, “Students enjoy athletics lessons and make progress in them. They learn about self-regulation, discipline, personal goal setting and training methods through this area of activity.” Local feeder primary schools will also be able to use the facility during their transition clubs and sports days, ably supported by Priory’s sports leaders programme.
Other local schools have benefitted from refurbishments in recent years and Helen argued that she wants her pupils to have the same opportunities. The school has a fairly high proportion of Pupil Premium students who often have less chance of accessing sports facilities outside school. Giving them a ‘level playing field’ will help close the opportunity gap and develop their raw talent and enthusiasm. Helen also highlighted the motivational and well-being aspects of having full athletics facilities for SEND pupils, developing their core skills and self-esteem by having opportunities to find their strengths and interests from the full range of events.
Maths and science classes will also benefit from the new pit, adding it to their practical lessons in e.g. angles, trigonometry and aerodynamics, enlivening the subjects and making them relevant to students’ lives.
Helen finished her well-argued and passionate application with the following:
“The way in which students approach PE lessons and extracurricular activities is second to none. They have an ingrained enthusiasm and desire to please in both lessons and extracurricular activities. If we were successful in this bid it would make a fundamental difference to students at the school and the opportunities that they have.”
We wish The Priory School all the best of luck with their new pit and can’t wait to update this item with pictures of the new facility.