Whitwick St John the Baptist
Church of England Primary School
Whitwick win 'Primary School of the Year (NWLDC Let's Get Moving Awards)
13 November 2023
Wee are thrilled to announce that Whitwick St John have won 'Primary School of the Year' at the ⭐ NWLDC Let's Get Moving Awards 2023⭐
Whitwick St John had also been shortlisted for the ‘Let’s Get Moving School of the Year’, ‘Primary School Team of the Year’ and Everyone Active Activ8 Award’.
Deputy Headteacher, Lee Swales, said, 'As a school, health and well-being are one of the schools key drivers. We believe that all children should be enthused, enjoy physical activity, and live health lifestyles. Through our engaging and progressive P.E curriculum, children learn the core skills needed to success in sport. The school games values of passion, self-belief, respect, honesty, determination and teamwork underpin all of our sporting work with the children. We feel this award acknowledge the hard work from the children as well as the staff who dedicate so many voluntary hours to provide a wide range of extra-curricular activities.'
Let’s Get Moving School 'Primary School of the Year' Award
The 'Primary School of the Year' Award is for primary schools that have achieved and can demonstrate sporting success or increasing participation in sport and physical activity and creating sport for all across the school.
As a school, Whitwick St John were successful in winning due to its’ strong and active P.E. programme that ensures children develop the fundamental skills needed for sport whilst also developing the spirit of the games values of Passion, Self-Belief, Respect, Honesty, Determination and Teamwork. The school has a well-established ‘active lunchtimes’ which flourished last year, with well over twenty children acting as Year 5/6 ‘Play Coaches’ running games and activities for other children across the whole school.
The school has high levels of engagement with the school sports partnership on all levels (festivals, developmental competitions and performance competitions). The school has entered 23 competitions last year, which meant 42 teams represented the school across a wide range of sports. NWLSSP data shows that over the course of the year, 259 children were entered into the competitions and 53 children entered separate competitions including the Kirby Shield, Rose Bowl and Saffron Lane athletics event.
As well as increased participation levels, the school has had an outstanding year of sporting success. The Year 5/6 Girls’ Football Team won the Level 2 NWLSSP Excel Tournament and went on to represent NWL in the county competition. The Year 4-5 Girls’ Football Team won the Rose Bowl event and the Year 4-5 Mixed Football Team won their Rose Bowl events. The Year 5-6 Tag Rugby Team won the Coalville NWLSSP Excel event and the Year 5-6 Girls’ Table Tennis team won the NWLSSP Excel Tournament and went onto represent NWL in the county event. The Year 5-6 Quick Sticks Hockey Team won the Coalville Level 2 NWLSSP event and the Year 1-2 Key Steps 1 Gymnastic team won the NWLSSP event meaning they represented NWL at the county event which they also won becoming county champions! Finally, the school’s standout performance of the year was the Year 4 - 5 Badminton team who won two rounds of NWL competitions to qualify for the county final and then followed it up by winning the Leicestershire County competition for the second year in a row.