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Lumley Infant and Nursery School
Lumley Infants try something new! Delivering a variety of activities during Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week

Focus

• To enable children at the school to ‘try something different’ and sample as many sports as possible.

Who took part?

• Around 90 children from foundation stage (Reception), Year 1 (aged 5-6) and Year 2 (aged 6-7).

What happened?

• A full week of activity was planned featuring a range of exciting sports, including: athletics, gymnastics, dance, cheerleading, skipping, karate, tennis, Tri Golf and cricket. Coaches came into the school to facilitate the sessions.
• The children watched the Lloyds TSB NSSW video during an assembly led by staff, encouraging them to try an activity that they had never tried before. The children then chose their activities for each day.
• Each day had six activities, three in the morning and three in the afternoon. For example, Monday morning was multi-skills, cricket (with free coaching from Durham County Cricket Club) and dance. In the afternoon, orienteering, outdoor games and outdoor and adventurous activities took place.
• Every morning, the children came together in the hall to do Wake Up and Shake Up warm up activities.
• On the Friday, each child was given a medal that said, ‘I tried something new Lumley Infant School 2009’. The teachers had also observed, during the week, the children in each sport that they felt showed particular enthusiasm (possibly children who sometimes do not enjoy PE) or those who helped others and worked as a team. Two or three children per sport were rewarded with a special achievement award.

What was the impact?

• The children were enthused by the variety of different sports on offer and they really stepped up to the challenge. For example, we had never previously run hockey sessions (with hockey sticks) with reception due to the fact that we were not sure if they could handle the difficulty. However, many children showed fantastic ability.
• The staff enjoyed the experience, as lots of warm up games and different skills were observed and used within sessions.
• One comment made by a pupil really proved to us how worthwhile the week was; "I am so proud...I could cry". A really special moment for us all!