London 2012 Olympics

Newlands’ Girls Go to International Paralympic Day Celebrations in Trafalgar Square

On Thursday 8th September, a small group of 5 Year 9 students along with Miss Exworth and Mrs White, travelled to Trafalgar Square to arrive by 7:00am to join in the celebrations for International Paralympic Day 2011. This is the first time that this event has been held in this country and we were unsure as to what to expect. We had been there for 5 minutes and Lord Coe walked right past us and we knew then it was going to be an exciting day!  The students were all given t-shirts and directed to the Upper Terrace in Trafalgar Square, where a running track had been laid out, to take part in a press shoot with Lord Coe, Oscar Pistorious, Ellie Simmonds, Mandeville the Mascot and many more world class Paralympians, and dignitaries. The girls were slightly overwhelmed as they were surrounded by hundreds of cameras, as the event was being covered by press from all over the world.

We had a fantastic day, learning about different Paralympic events, meeting and talking to a huge variety of athletes from different sports and countries, collecting autographs, being filmed for Channel 4’s ‘That Paralympic Show’ (to be screened this Saturday), being interviewed by crews from Chinese and Ukrainian TV Stations, watching a world record breaking seated volleyball rally and watching countless demonstrations of different Paralympic sports. It really was a remarkable day that I think we will all remember for a long time to come.

Don’t forget, Paralympic tickets are now on sale until 26th September. Visit www.tickets.London2012.com for your chance to visit olympic venues, support our Paralympic team, and get your tickets for the Paralympic Games in London 2012.

Young Ambassadors 2010/11

Introducing Ella Campbell and Hannah Moore – Newlands Young Ambassadors 2010/11 (pictured here on the left, with our platinum Young Ambassadors, Katie Taylor and Katie Stevenson, and the head of our Olympic Group, Lauren Martin.)

Our Young Ambassadors have been very busy this term, attending conferences and meetings to learn all about their new role. In September they attended a regional conference at The Brit Oval, where they met other Young Ambassadors from all over the region, met Olympians and Paralympians and were inspired by their stories, and learned a variety of different ways to engage young people in physical activity.

On 8th October they attended the Berkshire Young Ambassadors conference at Dorney Lake where the focus was on learning how to be a better Young ambassador and hearing a wide variety of examples of how experienced Young Ambassadors have helped to get young people involved in getting excited about the Olympics and engaging them in new activities.

Katie and Katie, our platinums, delivered one of these session to the entire group of 140 Young ambassadors!!
Follow the link to see the video to get a real flavour of the day!

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news/article-18155-video-student-ambassadors-to-promote-olympic-spirit/

This morning, 20th October 2010, our new Young Ambassadors, Ella and Hannah, took a Year 7 assembly based on the Olympic and Paralympic Values. They showed a video, and introduced the Olympic Passport that pupils have in their planners, whilst also demonstrating how the Year 7 pupils can live the values in their everyday lives.

At the beginning of November, we were informed that our application to join the ‘Get Set Network’ had been accepted! In order to achieve this we had to inform the network of what we were doing at Newlands to spread the Olympic message and how we were sharing with others information about the Olympic values. We told them all about our Olympic Group and how it had been set up, we told them about the Bejiing to London Challenge, and how the first leg of this had been achieved on our Olympic Bike Day and we also told them about our plans for our young ambassadors to hold Olympic Days in our family of 5 primary schools.

As a result of being accepted into the network, we are now able to access the Olympic logo to use on our website, newsletters and paperwork.  This is the first time that the logo has been released for schools use and is only allowed to be used by schools that have demonstrated a real commitment to the Olympic values and spirit. In order for a company to access the Olympic logo to use on their paperwork and advertising, the minimum amount of sponsorship they would have to pay is £10 million!!

We now have to maintain our commitment to spreading the Olympic word so look out for more exciting and innovative Olympic ideas coming your way soon.

17/05/10 To see the work we have been doing to promote the London 2012 Olympics and its values at Newlands which is featured as a case study on the 'Get Set' Website ....link

NEWLANDS GO TO THE WACKY RACES

On Friday 19th March we combined fundraising for Sport Relief with the third leg of our Olympic Challenge. Over the next two years in the build up to London 2012 we are aiming to travel from Beijiing to London over 10 'event' days. Each involves a different type of exercise to cover a set number of miles. We have completed the first two legs by cycling and rowing our way from Beijiing to Khudayar in Kazakhstan and now hope to continue on to Karabulak. in Russia.

This event comprised 'wacky races' such as egg and spoon, sack races and three legged races to cover as much distance as possible and pupils donated £1.50 to come in non-uniform with a sporty and stripy theme. During curriculum time there was a total of 750 pupils involved throughout the day, with more coming to participate at break and lunchtime.

In total we covered a solid 90 miles, which although not as far as previous events, this is a brilliant total when you consider it was completed through egg and spoon, sack races and three legged races amongst others!!! We are still in Kazakhstan but no longer near its border; we're now in Koyankoz, Kazakhstan. On estimate the next step is from Koyankoz to Taldyozek (mid area of Kazakhstan). Keep your fingers crossed for a lovely summer as we are aiming to swim the next leg!!

OLYMPIC CHALLENGE 2 - ROWING DAY

On Thursday 17th December 373 pupils took part in the 2nd leg of our Olympic Challenge. Our overall aim is to cover the approximate 5000 miles from Beijing to London over our designated 10 event days. We began this with a cycling challenge in the summer term and on this second day used indoor rowing. We borrowed rowing machines from the local leisure centre and another school so that we had 10 rowers in total.

Throughout the day we kept all 10 rowers moving and managed to cover a total of 370 miles which has now taken our overall total up to 1860 miles. It was a fantastic day with so many pupils trying indoor rowing for the first time. We are now looking forward to our next day in March which will tie in with sport relief and which will involve traditional sports day activities such as sack racing…...watch this space!!!

ALL SAINTS OLYMPIC DAY

Follow the link to see the video on The Maidenhead Advertiser’s website
http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news/article-15189-video-olympic-day-for-all-saints-pupils/#WatchVideo

On Tuesday 3rd March myself and our 2 Young Ambassadors, Katie S and Katie T, supported by our level 2 sports leaders, held an Olympic Day at one of our family primary schools, All saints Junior School. The day was organised by us and John McKrell, the PLT at All Saints, and involved the entire school being off timetable for the day and taking part in a variety of cross curricular activities all based around an Olympic Theme. The day started with Katie S and I leading an assembly to the whole school (Katie T conveniently had a GCSE Science Module!!) about the Olympic Values, and then each year group went off to undertake one of the four planned activity sessions.

There was the Poetry Grand Slam (thanks Get Set!), a Skeleton Battle, an activity of each class teachers choice, and a 2012 whole school obstacle Challenge. The idea of this was that each year group came outside one at a time (it was freezing!!) and took part in an obstacle circuit with the aim of each pupils score combining to make 2012 circuits by the end of the day. The circuit consisted of skipping, hurdles, ladders, tennis ball balance, agility run and basketball dribble.

It was looking quite tight towards the end of the day but the year 4’s really rose to the challenge as the last group to go, and we completed the challenge with about 10 minutes to spare! During break and lunch, we ran a 2 minute and 12 second skipping challenge, where any interested pupils had a go at completing as many skips as possible within that time. There were prizes for the best boy and girl in each year group. At the end of the day the whole school came back together for another assembly, where each class shared their experience of the day and presented some of the work they had been doing. These included raps with an olympic value theme, posters advertising London 2012, gold medals designed by pupils, a skeleton dance and some clay models of athletes.

All Saints completely embraced the whole day and every child wore their PE kit for the day, as did all the staff and the head!! Everyone had a brilliant day, learned all about the Olympics and the Olympic and Paralympic values, got loads of exercise and had a whole day of fun.

John has already said he would like an Olympic Day each year in the run up to London 2012.
We have Olympic Days organised at 3 of our other primary schools, and we can’t wait!

CONFERENCE CRAZEE!

In April last year we set up the Newlands Girls School Olympic Committee with the aim of raising awareness of London 2012 and the Olympic Values within school and the wider local community.  The committee was made up of six year 8 pupils with the idea being that these pupils will still be at school during 2012 so they can see through all the projects that they start.  This group went to the SSAT Olympic conference in May and were truly inspired to spread the word!!  They got their first opportunity to do this in July when the Committee ran their own 2 hour conference to the rest of their year group in July.  They were very nervous about standing up in front of their peers, but they were well prepared and the session was fantastic, thoroughly enjoyed by all- even the committee!

BEIJING TO LONDON - IN 3 YEARS

Over the next three years, in the build up to London 2012 Newlands Girls School will be ‘travelling’ from Beijing to London over 10 ‘event’ days. Each of these days will involve a different type of exercise to cover a set number of miles. The aim for the first event day on Monday 20th July this year was to cycle from Beijing to Linhe – a distance of 500 miles!

Students and staff from all year groups took turns to cycle around our school field and the distance was collated. Students were encouraged to bring their bikes and store them in the Sports Hall and pupils dressed up in the colours of China.      

Pupils participated during lesson time and at lunchtime and a staggering 1500 was cycled. This was huge progress towards our target of 5070 miles, which is probably a good thing as one of the future event days planned is egg and spoon relays, sack races and wheelbarrow relays!!

Our next event day is planned for December when we will be rowing as far as we can. If we are lucky we may just make it out of china!!

To register on the 'get set' website (all up to date news on London 2012 - please register!!)

1.                   Go to http://getset.london2012.com/en/home

2.                   At top right of home page under pink tabs click on 'register'

4.                   Click 'pupil registration' in box on left

5.                   Enter invitation code 7111-white (Newlands Only).  You can get this from your SSCo.

6.                   Fill in details and submit.