The world of sport opportunities is expanding for children at St Gregory’s Catholic Primary in Margate.
Head Teacher Dave Walker has helped pioneer school sports during his long career and is a staunch advocate of offering a wide range of sporting activities to children.
He said: “This is an investment in sport and all the benefits sport can bring, but it’s also an investment in opportunity for pupils.
“Each primary school in the country receives a large amount of ring-fenced funding from the government – the PE and Sport Premium – to support primary PE, activity and school sport.
“We are fortunate in Thanet that there are a huge number of local groups who give up time and effort for young people.
“Unfortunately, it’s a necessity that these groups charge in order to cover their basic costs and this does put them out of reach for some of our families, especially for those who have no access to transport.
“If we can do things at school that mean children don’t have to travel and/or pay for sessions then this can only be a good thing.
“At St Gregory’s we are fortunate to have big fields and grounds and a large forest school so ideally we’d like to host as many events as possible for the local schools community.”
Mr Walker is keen to link with other schools in the area. He said: “We would love to hear from any local groups who have community programmes in sports, music or drama.”
Meanwhile the St Gregory’s sporting success story continues. The school is celebrating its highest ever number of competitors in the annual Quex cross country event; smart new kit has been bought for all school teams; St Gregory’s competed in the recent Super Saturday football events and girls football competitions; while on the playing fields new pitches have been marked out and new goals have been erected.
After school sports has expanded to run every day and at lunch, with new sports coaches starting in the coming term to add to the quality of provision.
St Gregory’s is also linked to the Thanet Wanderers Schools Programme, with coach Mario Garcia working with Year 2 classes in curriculum PE lessons to introduce rugby skills to pupils.
Assistant Head Teacher Clare Sellwood said: “Children have been so enthusiastic for Mario’s rugby coaching. It has been incredibly engaging, active and enjoyable – a really worthwhile experience.”