Cottingham CofE Primary School has achieved a School Games Gold Award Mark for the 2021/22 academic year.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust, to reward and recognise schools’ engagement in School Games and to celebrate keeping young people active.
Sport and physical activity are vital parts of the curriculum at Cottingham CofE Primary School, which follows the ‘Real PE’ scheme of work and has a sports crew leading lunchtime and intra school sporting competitions. They also provide two hours of physical activity a week and a ‘daily mile’ for the children, along with after school physical activity and weekly yoga/wellbeing sessions.
This year, the school has formed a partnership with Northampton Town FC and has taken part in a number of sports competitions. They won the Corby, Oundle and Thrapston schools KS2 SEN goalball and Y5/6 netball competitions, came third in the Corby, Oundle and Thrapston schools Y5/6 Commonwealth athletics tournament, fourth in the Northants Sports Games Y5/6 netball competition, sixth in the Northants Sports Games KS2 goalball competition, and participated in the recent TATA ‘Kids of Steel’ triathlon event in Corby.
During their participation as ‘Jamaica’ in the recent Corby, Oundle and Thrapston Commonwealth athletics tournament, the school even had a Tweet shared by none other than Olympic sprint legend Usain Bolt!
Cottingham School Head Teacher Ashley Scott said: “We are delighted that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year. We are also extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of physical activity and school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who have made our events possible.
“We use the School Games to give all our young people positive experiences and encourage them to try out new activities, both at school and in our wider community. We believe in the power of physical activity and school sport, and we are committed to providing opportunities to those young people that need it most, either as a participant, leader, official or volunteer.”
The school has also invested in an astro pitch on the school playground and new climbing apparatus.