Abacus Primary School Games2Inspire 2022
This was a fabulous day in Wickford, Essex. Abacus is a comparatively new school and it has facilities to match: a lovely hall, a large grass play area, an AstroTurf 5-a-side pitch and a large tarmac playground. The latter provided a great area for us to play our inclusive games.
We started with an assembly to Key Stage 2 – years 3, 4, 5 and 6, nearly 240 pupils. I persuaded the lovely head, Heidi Blakeley, to allocate more than the 15 minutes and as there were more than 10 minutes of questions, this proved prescient!
Out on the playground in perfect weather, Patrick and I led each year group, with two form entry, in boccia, goalball, sitting volleyball and target games. Patrick is our ‘super volunteer’ and an expert at delivering Goalball, the Paralympic sport designed for visually impaired athletes.
Abacus have a wonderful semi-covered area with artificial grass covered steps creating the perfect boccia auditorium. Led by class teachers, the pupils caught on to the tactics and were most competitive in this Paralympic sport created for cerebral palsy athletes.
I love the fact that target games, a remarkably simple use of a target and bean bags engages the children so much. Strangely a significant number are more accurate with their ‘wrong’ hand than they are with the ‘right’ one. Virtually all are rubbish with their feet, which only emphasises how amazing disabled athletes can be. There was one lad whose first throw with his foot landed in the centre and I thought it a fluke; but his second landed on top of his first! Throwing backwards creates mirth. My favourite though is when each team (of three) selects one player to throw, and he or she faces the wrong way. The other team members advise the player how to throw, correcting each throw of three. This teaches communication, trust, listening and directional skills.
The children consistently vote sitting volleyball their favourite. The key is to change the ball to suit the children’s abilities.
Already we are discussing a repeat visit, one I am really looking forward to.
A few days after the event, we received this feedback from a mum of one of the children that had participated in the Games2Inspire:
I just wanted to send a huge thank you to John. He attended my 8 year old daughter’s primary school today and she has not stopped talking about it. She keeps saying that he is such a lovely man and she was so inspired that she thought about what he had spoken about in every lesson she did today and tried her absolute best. We’ve also just come home from her best ever swimming lesson. Isabelle lacks confidence in her abilities, both in school and in the water, and she really took on board John’s message. I teach in the same school but wasn’t working today and I’m really gutted to have missed it. However, I’m looking forward to hearing all about it from my pupils tomorrow! My husband is a Year 6 teacher at Ashingdon Primary Academy and has had the pleasure of a visit from John in the past. He has since reframed his approach to John’s ‘practice makes progress’ and this is something we have spoken about lots at home, so it was great for Isabelle to hear it spoken about from the man himself!!
Once again, a huge thank you to John and the team at Power2Inspire.
Inspired? Then Get Involved!
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