National School Sport Week

Posted at 12:16 pm on 7th July, 2021

Since young people returned to school, FGS in partnership with the YST and other sports organisations have promoted an active recovery – harnessing the power of physical activity and sport to assist young people to reconnect and recover.

With the announcement that the National School Sport Week (NSSW), is back running under the theme of Together Again. FGS wanted to encourage as many students and staff, to join in together and participate in fun physical activities.

At FGS our NSSW involved hosting YST athlete mentor - Charlotte Hartley; former professional hockey player who won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and gold at the 2000 Sydney Junior Olympics. Charlotte was able to talk with students, pass on her knowledge about the positive impact of sport and encourage participation to find a sport which provides an outlet for them, both now and for their future health.

Students from across the whole school were able to participate in outdoor sports including hockey, athletics and football. With particular emphasis on ‘Together Again’ in year groups; year 9’s considered their future GCSE PE pathways and our ‘Game of Our Own’ (GOOO) activators led football skill activities; bringing together their learning to the whole school community. The activators also contributed to the YST GOOO reflections webinar, providing feedback on this national programme.

Miss Belinda Cashin, Sports Project Manager commented, ‘Over the past twelve months we’ve all adapted to change and in allowing this year’s national school sports week to take place, has meant working collaboratively to achieve the best outcomes for all our learners. Harnessing the power of physical activity to reconnect and recover as a whole school community enables us all to grow and move forward.’ 

Youth Sport Trust Chief Executive Ali Oliver said:

‘We were so happy to announce the launch of this year’s National School Sport Week and to have the support of FGS.

Sports days don’t have to be about being the best, strongest or quickest, they are a celebration of bringing us together and learning key skills like communication, empathy, teamwork and resilience.

To support every child to recover from the effects of the pandemic, National School Sport Week has been a truly collective national effort with schools, sporting organisations, and families up and down the country playing their part. Sport has such a crucial role to play in promoting young people’s wellbeing and we can’t wait to see young people, families and friends come together again.’

This year, National School Sport Week is partnering with the Together campaign to bring the themes to life for young people through sport.

About National School Sport Week 

Children’s charity the Youth Sport Trust started the annual National School Sport Week campaign in 2008 and it has run every year since. Last year the campaign was repositioned as National School Sport Week at Home and, with many young people not in school, families were invited to take part at home for the first time. With the help of Sky Sports, it reached 2 million people. National School Sport Week is run in association with European School Sports Day, which this year will take place on 24 September.

Head of PE, Hollie Callaghan provided our overall NSSW results and wished to add massive thank you to everyone for pulling together and supporting their form and year groups, over this week of activities. It really was a great week where we all harnessed the power of physical activity to show resilience, reconnect and recover. The points from all activities across, all the year groups have been collated and verified and the overall House results were: