STOKE School Sport Partnerships - Sport Across Staffordshire

newsletter 

STOKE 

School Sport Partnerships 

School Sport Partnership 

overview 

Welcome to the Spring edition of Stoke 

up Sport which will give a flavour of what 

has been happening in the two sport 

partnerships over the last few months. A 

very successful SSP Conference was held 

in September at Fenton Manor, where 

the mood was very up beat in 

anticipation of the Olympic year ahead. 

Over 80% of schools have since 

completed the registration for the Get 

Set network, which is one of the best 

responses in the West Midland region. 

The School Games programme is well 

under way and the Level 3 games will 

take place on our doorstep this year on 

July 3rd at Keele University. This will 

provide a tremendous opportunity for 

our young leaders to be involved in a 

County wide event. Meanwhile a 

comprehensive guide outlining how to 

run your level 1 School Games will be 

available Immediately after half term - so 

plan your day and be ahead of the game. 

The two SSPs have been allocated 18 

Primary change4life Clubs which will start 

after Easter; there will be more schools 

involved as the programme expands in 

the near future. Many exciting events are 

planned over the next few months - so 

just refer to the updated events calendar 

for more information or contact:- 

Helen Moors (South SSP) 

hmoors@sgfl.org.uk 

Nigel Edwards (North SSP) 

nedwards@sgfl.org.uk 

Stoke Stoke Up Up Sport! 

Sport! 

Spring 2012 

Great exposure for the STARS Squad 

A film has been successfully produced to promote the North and 

South Stoke SSPs STARs squad. The film was produced by the 

Reporter’s Academy from Manchester and it now appears on their 

youtube site as well as the youtube site for the Stoke SSPs. The film 

features 6 students, namely Jack Buckley and Morgan Coops 

(Trentham High), Rebecca Martin (Sandon BEC), Aaron Lymer, 

Ashlie Scarlett and Beth Johnson (Holden Lane High School). As the 

film showcases young, local, elite athletes it is an ideal film to inspire 

other students from the Stoke-on-Trent area either during an 

assembly or PHSE session – just follow the link from our website to 

view (www.stokessps.org). 

The film is now being shown on the large BBC screens across the 

country in 23 major city centres (see list below). The film has raised 

the profile of the squad and as a consequence the YST invited 7 

STARS squad members to attend a National Performance Camp for 

elite athletes at Telford on Feb 9th (including students from 

Trentham High, St Joseph’s College, the Sixth Form College, Holden 

Lane and Haywood High School). The students had a workshop 

with Guin Batten (Silver Olympic medallist) and they were lucky 

enough to have a Q & A session with Olympic Gold medallist Jason 

Gardener. There was also time to attend the opening key note 

address at the conference and to explore the NGB trade stands. 

Screen Sites, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, 

Coventry, Derby, Derry, Dover, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, 

Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Plymouth, 

Portsmouth, Swansea, Swindon, London and Woolwich. 

The film is now being adapted so that it can hopefully be shown on 

the screen during a Premier League home game at the Britannia 

Stadium sometime in April. 

Your contacts in the High Schools; 

South Stoke SSP: John Maxwell, Sandon BEC, Anthony Walton, Discovery Academy, Jane Yorke, Trentham High 

School, Derek Yeomans, Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthew’s Academy, Ian Brailsford, Thistley Hough High School, 

Kate Rowson, St Thomas More and Dan Brierley, St Joseph’s College. 

North Stoke SSP: Nigel Edwards, Holden Lane Sports College, Liz Garrity, Co-op Academy , Debbie Fowler, St 

Peter’s Academy, Tracy Matthias, Birches Head High School, Rob Adlington, Haywood High School, Mandy 

Rowlinson, Horizon Ormiston Academy and Mark Pearson, St Margaret Ward.

newsletter 



OSSMA LEAGUE IS A RESOUNDING SUCCESS 

To date there have been three sets of fixtures in the OSSMA 

League. I’m sure there’s a great deal more excitement and 

anticipation from the boys and girls taking part than any 

happenings in its smaller brother; ‘The Champions League’! 

Nine Primary Schools have been involved in intensive competition 

over the past few weeks with a number of fixtures still to go. All 

taking part on OSSMA’s state of the Art 3G playing surface. 

Excitement is heightened amongst the competitors when the 

floodlights come on, making them feel they are involved in something 

really special. Officiating all the games have been Key Stage 4 

pupils from the Academy. Their performances have received a great 

deal more positive feedback than is heard by football pundits on TV, 

regarding Premiership refs! 

Clarice Cliff are the early leaders, however, in the words of a wise 

football pundit, “It’s a marathon not a sprint.” Other schools who may 

yet take the title are Blurton, Sutherland, Heron Cross, Alexandra 

Juniors, St Paul’s, Belgrave and St Bartholomew’s Academy, Glebe, 

Newstead and Christchurch. 

I 

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Stoke Stoke Stoke Up Up Sport! 


OSSMA AGILITY CHALLENGE 

The Agility Challenge Competition was open to all Primary schools in the 

OSSMA area and took place in the Academy gym on Wednesday, 16th 

November. Four schools, Blurton, Newstead, Belgrave St Bartholomew’s 

Academy and St. Paul’s took part, bringing anything from one to three teams. 

The activities involved were; the Balance Test, the Standing Long Jump, Speed 

Bounce, Target Throw, High Stepper, Chest Push and 10 x10m Shuttle Run. 

The overall winners were Newstead, with Ben Wood from Belgrave and 

St Bartholomew’s Academy being the highest individual point’s scorer. Many 

thanks go to the Young Leaders who did an outstanding job, both judging and 

encouraging the younger pupils. 

Keep on Running 

Children from Sandon Primary 

are very keen on running - they 

take their cross country very 

seriously and are lucky to have 

a large field to practice in. The 

school now run an after school 

running club which is proving to 

be extremely popular. Some 

children started off by only 

being able to walk but with 

fitness levels improving the 

pace is now picking up. 

Olympic Athlete visits Belgrave St Bartholomew’s Academy 

On 18 th October 2011, Laura Samuel, an Olympic triple jumper, visited Belgrave St Bartholomew’s Academy to take 

part in a sponsored fitness event. The whole school took part in a fitness circuit where they had to do press-ups, star 

jumps and leg drives – even the teachers had a go! Laura encouraged and supported the children whilst they were 

doing their exercises. The children then enjoyed an assembly where Laura demonstrated how she does the triple 

jump and showed off her medals. Over £600 in sponsorship money was raised by the children, which is being put 

towards new sports equipment for the school.

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Premier League4Sport Young Team 

Managers Course 

A dozen Tony Pulis’ of the future took 

their first steps on the ladder towards 

being the boss by attending a Young 

Team Managers Course at Villa Park. 

The youngsters from Holden Lane, 

Margaret Ward, Trentham High 

School and the City of Stoke-on-Trent 

Sixth Form College were inspired to 

become team managers by handling 

typical real life scenarios. All of the 

attendees were current participants at 

Stoke City Premier League 4 Sport 

sessions and now plan to be deployed 

in the role of team manager at inter 

house school competitions. 

‘The course was really useful because 

it allowed us to understand the 

differences between the role of a 

coach and a manager,” said attendee 

Charleigh Smith. ‘I think most of us 

were surprised at how many decisions 

a manager has to actually make and 

how good they have to be at 

communicating to be a success.” 

Following the course the youngsters 

played out the part of Premier League 

player by walking down the player’s 

tunnel to music during a tour of the 

stadium. 

More Bikeability at Thistley Hough High School 

Each year Thistley Hough High School offers the opportunity for year 7 

students to learn about cycle safety, receive a full day’s bike training and 

gain a nationally recognised cycle qualification. This year November 1st 

16 year 7 students took part in this training; although it was a cold day the 

students were all very well behaved and got on with the course without 

any fuss. Many of our students were able to display an already high 

standard of cycle awareness and bike safety. By the end of the full days 

training all of our students had passed part of their test at school and 

been out on the local roads for two hours. The cycling instructors 

commented on how well everybody had listened during their training and 

been able to put their theory into practice and display some excellent 

cycling skills. At the end of the day all 16 students had passed their level 2 

Bikeabilty qualification. 

This year the South Stoke Partnership have provided bikeability training 

for over 150 secondary students. 

DETERMINATION 



Primary Links with Discovery Academy 

Over the term The Discovery Academy has 

been making links with different primary 

schools to help to run events and to extend 

their PE provision. 

• Gladstone - Rowing 

• Sandford Hill Primary - Rowing 

• Belgrave - Trampolining 

• Kingsland Primary - Dance & Rowing 

• Kemball Special School - Dance 

Safe Cycling at Discovery Academy 

During intervention week year 7 students 

participated in the bikeability training. The 

training was to help make them safer 

cyclists on the road and to give them the 

necessary skills to fix and maintain a safe 

bicycle. All 25 students passed their Level 2 

R 

E 

S 

P 

E 

C 

T 

D i s c o v e r y D a n c e L e a d e r s 

O v e r t h e l a s t 4 w e e k s t h e Y e a r 1 1 D a n c e 

L e a d e r s h a v e b e e n w o r k i n g w i t h K e m b a l l 

S p e ci a l S c h o o l a n d K i n g sl a n d P ri m a r y . 

T h e y h a v e b e e n p r a c ti c i n g t h e s ki l l s t h e y 

h a v e l e a r n t o v e r t h e d u r a t i o n o f t h e i r 

d a n ce c o u r s e a n d t h e y a r e h e l p i n g 

p re p a r e t h e c h i l d r e n f o r D a n c e 2 0 1 2 . 

Discovery Get Set for 2012 

The Get Set network is a special community 

of schools and colleges which: Demonstrate 

a commitment to the Olympic Values 

(friendship, excellence and respect) and the 

Paralympic Values (inspiration, 

determination, courage and equality). The 

Discovery Academy applied to be part of the 

Network and was successful in its 

application. The Academy can now work 

together with other schools in the Network 

sharing ideas and practices as well as being 

eligible to receive Olympic Tickets for some 

of the events.

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Year 8 Stoke City Olympic Tour. 

Thistley Hough High School has been lucky 

enough to team up with Stoke City FC to help to 

offer our students the opportunity to learn in a 

whole new way. Stoke City FC offered the year 

8 students the unique opportunity to get 

involved in London 2012 by taking part in an 

Olympics Inspired visit to the Britannia Stadium. 

The trip consisted of a behind the scenes 

stadium experience, an Olympic values workshop 

and a 2012 inspired practical coaching 

session delivered by Stoke City’s county wide 

community programme. Students were given a 

country to represent during the day and each 

section of the day gave students the opportunity 

to score points for their country. Students 

began with an Olympic inspired workshop 

based around the core values of the Olympics; 

respect, equality, friendship, excellence, 

courage, determination, inspiration. Points were 

available in a question of sport style quiz for 

Olympic and sporting knowledge based around 

the Olympic values. Although some very 

interesting answers were given to some of the 

more historical questions the knowledge shown 

by Danielle Miller, Nathan Harley, and Anne- 

Marie Simcock was excellent. 

Next students embarked on a behind the scenes 

tour of the Britannia Stadium, visiting the Stanley 

Matthews Museum, corporate boxes, journalist 

gantries, sitting in the home dugout before 

finishing up in the home dressing room. 

Following the tour we moved up to the Stoke 

City Academy Dome for some sporting activity. 

As we were on an Olympic themed day we took 

part in some indoor athletics events with 

students aiming to score more points for their 

teams. Throughout the events the coaches were 

very impressed with the ability and competitive 

sprit of the young people from Thistley Hough 

High School, with Danielle Marshall and Megan 

Blurton setting the longest jumps of the day with 

a massive 1.84 meters each. After the field 

events scores were very close and there was all 

to play for going into the final four relays. Once 

the points were added there was one clear winner, 

and each member of the winning team were 

awarded medals for their outstanding effort 

throughout the day. 



Thistley Hough High School 

Year 9 South Area Partnership Games 

In the lead up to London 2012 the partnership games events give 

the opportunity for our young sports people the opportunity to try 

new sports and compete against other schools from across the 

South Partnership. 28 Thistley Hough High School students took 

part in activities including Volleyball, Kwik Cricket, Badminton and 

Handball. Students had the opportunity to receive coaching in 

each sport before competing against the other schools in each 

event, with the points from all events being added to give the 

overall winner. Thistley Hough High School managed to come 

fourth overall with special recognition given for outstanding effort 

and participating in the spirit of the Olympic values going to 

Louisa Vuibau, Zainab Baig, Emily Robertson & Alison Gardner. 

FRIENDSHIP 

EXCELLENCE 

The Partnership Promotes Handball 

For the last few years the South Stoke SSP has run a 

Partnership Games for Y7, 8 and 9. The games give an 

opportunity for students who do not normally play for a team to 

represent their school. Thirty students (fifteen boys and fifteen 

girls) are invited to attend from eight secondary schools and they 

all take part in two activities. A range of activities are offered and 

usually a short coaching session is run prior to a competition. As 

the number of participants is high there is a great atmosphere 

and the students feel that they have been a part of a big event. A 

trophy is awarded for the winners of each activity. Certificates 

are also given to those participants who are nominated by the 

coaches for displaying one or more of the Olympic and 

Paralympic values. Where possible the Partnership introduces 

an activity that the students wouldn’t normally get the opportunity 

to get involved in – and this time handball was included in the 

programme. Liam McCarthy from the England Handball 

Association delivered the sessions and it was an excellent CPD 

opportunity for the staff accompanying the students. From the 

quotes below it is obvious that the students thoroughly enjoyed 

the experience. 

“It was nice to try something new” and “I didn’t expect it to be as 

fun as it was – it was faster and more exciting and I would like to 

do it again”. The Partnership has since purchased a set of 

resources and equipment and will look to introduce handball in to 

the Partnership schools.

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Trentham High School 

TRENTHAM TRAMPOLINING SUCCESSES 

Trampolining at Trentham is very popular 

with the students. Two after school classes 

run every Tuesday for both the High School 

and Primary feeder schools. Pupils are 

coached by Kate, a level 3 coach from Stoke 

Elite Trampoline Club, both clubs are 

extremely well attended. Recently, students 

have been practicing hard for the West 

Midlands Schools Regional Competition 

which was held in Birmingham. The Under 11 

Girls Novice team won the competition with 

the Under 13 Girls Novice team coming third. 

There were a number of individual successes 

with four students qualifying to go through to 

the zonal championships which will be held in 

Shrewsbury in January. We wish them well. 

Trentham High School has a strong club link 

with Stoke Elite Trampoline Club which is 

based at Trentham. Students are 

encouraged to join the club which runs 

sessions for a variety of abilities and age 

groups. 

COURAGE 

BADMINTON SUCCESS AT TRENTHAM HIGH 

SCHOOL 

Students at Trentham High School have done 

extremely well in both city and national 

competitions. The U14 boys and girls and 

U16 boys and girls have all been crowned 

City champions after winning their respective 

competitions. In the Center Parcs national 

competition, again all four teams progressed 

to the county competition at Fenton Manor in 

January. All teams got through to the finals, 

the U16 Boys and Girls narrowly losing with 

the U14 Boys and Girls winning their finals 

with a clean sweep of games won. They now 

go through to the Regional finals which take 

place in Birmingham in March. This has been 

a fantastic effort from all those concerned and 

we wish the U14 Boys and Girls teams the 

very best of luck in their forthcoming 

competitions. Well done! 



SPORTS LEADERS IN ACTION 

Trentham High School sports leaders have been involved in a 

number of leadership courses organized through the South Stoke 

Partnership. Students have attended nationally recognized courses 

for officials and young leaders in table tennis, badminton, tag rugby 

and trampolining. In both table tennis and badminton students have 

then given up their time to help officiate at level 2 competitions. In 

future, they will have the opportunity to officiate in level 3 

competitions when the county finals of the table tennis and badminton 

take place after Christmas. The students doing trampolining and 

tag rugby will have the opportunity to help officiate and organize 

competitions in these two sports in the New Year and help out with 

the coaching of younger pupils. 

GOLFING GIRLS 

Trentham Park Golf Club received some 

money from the County Golf Sportivate 

fund. Trentham was asked if they would like 

to provide some of their students for this 

activity. A group of girls have been going to 

the club every week after school and 

learning all about golf, the golfing 

terminology, the rules, the different clubs 

and what they are for and of course how to 

play. 

The girls have been putting, chipping and driving with a good deal 

of success, they have surprised themselves and are thoroughly 

enjoying the sessions, they don’t want to come in and have been 

playing in the dark… fore! We are hoping that some have enjoyed 

it enough to want to continue and join the club. 

Children at Priory Primary School and 

Ash Green Primary have also been 

getting to grips with playing golf. The tri 

-golf equipment provides an ideal 

introduction to the game as the 

children get almost immediate success. 

The brightly coloured putters and 

chippers get the children playing both 

the short and long aspects of the 

game. Hopefully the children will put 

their skills to good use in the 

Partnership golf competition later in the 

year at Moddershall Cricket Club. 

Trampoline update. The hard work has all paid off with 

five students now going through to the National finals 

which take place in Bristol in March. This is a fantastic 

effort as the club has only been going for three years, 

we wish them well in the finals and hope they come 

back with even more medals!

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More from Trentham FITZY FRENZY! 

Fitzy has been very busy this term with the KS1 pupils from both Ash 

Green and Priory Primary schools. He appeared at both schools when 

they held their Fitzy Activity Days. All pupils took part in some Fitzy 

heptathlon activities, a Fitzy game and made a fruit smoothie using 

different and unusual fruits for Fitzy to taste. Everyone had fun and 

enjoyed the day. 

Fitzy was in action again when all Year 2 pupils from Ash Green Primary 

School came to Trentham High School to take part in a Fitzy Festival. 

They had to complete twelve different activities related to running, 

jumping, throwing and striking. These were all run by Year 8 leaders from 

the High School. All worked extremely hard, Fitzy was so pleased that he 

gave them all a sticker and awarded special certificates to the winning 

team. 

TRENTHAM PUPIL REWARDED 

A Year 7 student at Trentham High School was rewarded for his enthusiasm, 

dedication and willingness at the Premier League 4 Sport Volleyball Club held at 

Trentham High. He was nominated by staff and chosen by Stoke City to be one of 

the mascots for the game against Dynamo Kiev. Chris had a fantastic time, he met 

some of the players, was shown around the ground and in the changing rooms, 

played a game inside the dome and was escorted out onto the pitch by one of the 

Dynamo Kiev players. He was even on TV! Chris also met Gordon Banks before the 

game and was able to have his picture taken with him. It just proves that hard work, 

dedication and enthusiasm do have their rewards. Thanks to Premier League 4 Sport 

and Stoke City for making this an evening that Chris will not forget. 

FRISBEE FUN 

All Year 5 and 6 pupils at Ash Green and Priory Primary schools have had the 

opportunity to take part in a different activity, frisbee. Jane Yorke ran some intra 

competitions and then both schools came together at Trentham High School to take 

part in a Frisbee Festival. There were a lot of red faces at the end proving that all 

pupils had tried hard and had enjoyed the afternoon. 

EQUALITY 

Paddling Prodigy Powers to Pole Position 

Talented canoeist Paul Sunderland and STARS squad member from 

Trentham High School has his sights firmly set on a place in the GB 

Junior kayak team after a string of fantastic achievements. Having 

attended the National Talent Orientation Camp at Loughborough 

University in December, the current J14 (Under 14 years) National 

Junior K1 champion represented the England team at the Pan Celtic 

Race Series 2011 and won the K1 Men’s J14 in all 3 races! He was 

the ‘Fastest J14 Man’ at the National Inter-clubs Championships 2011 

and was awarded ‘Most Advanced Under 16 Canoeist 2011’, despite 

being only 14. His outstanding performances at senior level have 

earned him promotion to the Men’s K1 Premier Division (kayak), the 

first of only two J14 (under 14s) to be promoted in 2011, and he 

recently competed against Olympic hopefuls Campbell Walsh and Hue 

Swetnam. The Partnership would like to wish him luck in his quest to 

become J16 K1 National Junior Champion in his first year at Under 16. 

Diary Date 

Gymnastic CPD hosted at Priory Primary on March 22nd. 

Course tutor is Mike Weinstock who will be running an 

AfPE course covering core skills . 

International Success for Jack 

Congratulations to Jack Buckley from Trentham High School (Year 8), 

another STARS squad member, who represented England’s U13 team 

at the Danish Junior Cup Badminton tournament in October.

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St Thomas Aquinas Excel at Sportshall Athletics 



Sportshall athletics gives children an opportunity to show off their talents and keep fit. A few weeks before 

Christmas, St Thomas Aquinas entered the Stoke South schools Sportshall athletics competition. All of the children 

who represented St Thomas Aquinas took part in a wide range of Sportshall athletics that they had been practising 

over the past few weeks. The children won lots of their individual events and managed to win the competition overall 

and go forward to compete in the county finals. 

On the 9 th January St Thomas Aquinas Primary School took part in a Sportshall Athletics County Finals competition 

at Fenton Manor Leisure Centre. Each school that entered was trying to win the title ‘The Sportshall Athletics 

Champions 2012’. Everyone who represented the school put 110% into their events and tried their hardest. After all 

the events had been completed and no one else had anything left to do it was time to hear the results. Out of all 11 

schools St Thomas Aquinas came 6 th . The children were pleased with the results as they didn’t think that they would 

do that well because St Thomas Aquinas are a small school and they entered the big schools competition. 

And Fitzy went too…..Not wanting Fitzy 

to feel left out the Y2 children from St 

Augustine’s took Fitzy with them when 

they went on the Olympic tour at 

Britannia Stadium. When no one was 

looking Fitzy even managed to get on to 

the pitch. If you have any photos of Fitzy 

at exciting venues please let us have a 

copy. 

Adistars leadership training for Y10 students will take place in 

February and April. 3 students have been invited from each 

High school and the training will be designed so that the 

students are capable of leading level 2 activities in Primary 

schools and at Partnership and City events. These students 

have already shown their commitment to leadership and 

volunteering, having already helped run level 1 events. 

Students will also be offered the opportunity to complete sport 

specific courses such as High 5 netball which will be run at the 

end of March. 

Diary Date: The South Stoke Leadership Awards evening 

will take place at Britannia Stadium on June 27th 

Visit the Wenlock 

Olympian 

Society website 

for free 

educational 

resources for 

KS1 and KS2 

Chris Cannon, from the Wenlock 

Olympian Society, is going to deliver 

an Olympic workshop at the primary 

update meeting in February. The 

society have developed some 

fantastic free resources based on the 

life of William Penny Brookes and the 

history of the Much Wenlock Games - 

it will be a fascinating afternoon. To 

access the resources go to the Society 

website and look under Education. 

A South Stoke Y8 Leaders course took place 

in January at Stoke College. 4 leaders from 7 

secondary schools took part in two workshops 

designed to equip the students with the skills 

and confidence to support level1 competition in 

their own High School and to help organise 

Fitzy festivals for KS1 children in local primary 

schools. 2 leaders from Stoke College helped 

to mentor the young leaders and gave them 

invaluable advice during the morning. 

Fabulous Dance support from Sixth Form College Students 

The Sixth Form College answered a plea for help when they 

arranged for their dance students to go in to 8 Primary 

schools who were struggling to put their choreography 

together for Dance 2012. The response from the Primary 

schools has been very positive and they all have high praise 

for the students who have helped them in their hour of 

need. The students have provided a fresh approach and 

have established good relationships with the children. The 

students will also be taking part in Dance event. The 

Performing Arts Department are keen to get involved in 

future projects and will definitely be involved in Dance 

2013.

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Premier League 4 Sport 

Olympic Tours 

Stoke City FC are offering young people a unique 

opportunity to get involved in London 2012 by taking 

part in an Olympics Inspired visit to the Britannia 

Stadium. The trip will consist of a behind the scenes 

stadium experience, an Olympic values workshop 

and a 2012 inspired practical coaching session in 

one of the Olympic sports delivered by Stoke City’s 

county wide community programme. 

The cost of the session will be £3 per pupil for a 

morning session (9.30am-12.30pm), or £5 per child 

for the whole day (9.30-3.00pm). The tours can cater 

from anything from 20-60 pupils from year groups 3- 

13. 

If you would like to book an Olympic Tour please 

contact Rich Adams on 07765240695, or 

richard.adams@stokecityfc.com. 

St Matthew’s CE(A) Primary School are gearing up for 

the Olympic Games and have produced an Olympic 

notice board. Each week seven children will be 

nominated by staff for displaying each of the Olympic 

and Paralympic values and their names will be displayed 

on the board. An Olympic Assembly was used to launch 

the scheme. Other schools have run Olympic themed 

competitions; Trentham High school are currently 

running a ‘What the Olympics means to me’ competition. 

Students have been asked to write a poem or piece of 

prose and the winners will either take part in the 

Olympic Torch event or the school visit to the Olympic 

Park. 



Premier League 4 Sport 

The Premier League 4 Sport scheme gives young 

people between the ages of 11 and 19 access to a 

wider variety of sporting opportunities that may not 

have been previously available to them. PL4Sport 

involves Premier League clubs acting as a hub 

which links community sports facilities, and in turn 

links to local secondary schools, creating satellite 

sports centres which provide young people with a 

gateway into the community sports network. 

The programme offers opportunities in the Olympic 

sports of badminton, table tennis, volleyball and 

hockey and involves Stoke City Football Club 

working with sports clubs in North Staffordshire to 

provide coaching leadership and competitive 

opportunities. Since the programme began in 2009 

it has provided over 5,000 young people the chance 

to take part in Olympic disciplines. 

Currently in South Stoke there are volleyball, 

hockey and table tennis clubs at Trentham High 

School and badminton taking place at Sandon 

Business and Enterprise College. Recently key 

stage 3 and 4 boys and girls from Sandon 

competed in an inter satellite badminton 

competition involving Blythe Bridge, Sir Thomas 

Boughey and Ormiston Horizon Academy. The 

boys, who are regulars at satellite sessions at 

Sandon on a Monday night, were just pipped to 

victory by Sir Thomas Boughey who recently 

represented Stoke City in the National Badminton 

Finals at Milton Keynes. 

For more information about Premier League 4 

Sport, please contact programme coordinator 

Rich Adams on 01782 592179.

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Leadership Thriving at Birches Head 

Birches Head Sports Leaders have been 

working very hard in the local primary 

schools providing several successful, 

sustainable clubs this term. Carmountside 

Primary School and Hamilton Infant School 

have greatly benefited, seeing an increase in 

the confidence of many of their pupils as a 

result of this. Year 9 leaders have shown 

great commitment running both a High 5’s 

Netball and Cricket Club for the students. 

These clubs where very popular with a 

massive turnout of 35 pupils each week. 

Emillie Corden, Rosie Harding and Hayleigh 

Rathbone have worked very hard and every 

deserve great credit. The year 10 leaders 

have also had great success in Hamilton 

Infant School running a Fitzy club, which has 

greatly increased the confidence of all the 

students who attended and helped to 

engage students who would not normally 

attend a sports club after school. These 

leaders also deserve great credit for their 

dedication and hard work; the leaders are 

Molly Adamson, Laura-Jo Simcock, Lauren 

Dyche and Michaela Cobby. 

Leaders are: Rosie Harding, Emillie Corden 

and Hayleigh Rathbone 

Reminder 

Is your school signed up to 

yourschoolgames.com ? 

Inter house competition at Haywood 

During the last week of each term pupils at 

Haywood Engineering College participate in 

a week’s worth of your games competitions. 

The Physical Education Department 

along with School Sport organising committee 

members run competitions. The events 

are related to the Olympics and the Olympic 

values. 

During the week before Christmas students 

from year 7, 8, 9 and 10, took part in the 

Olympic sport of Handball. All students 

enjoyed the chance to play and learn the 

Olympic sport. A well done to all students 

and School Sport organising committee 

members that took part, over 800 students 

participated. 

Stoke Stoke Up Up Stoke! 

Stoke! 

Get Set Olympic inspired Assemblies 

Co-operative Academy is part of the Get 

Set 2012 initiative and is pledging to 

deliver Olympic assemblies to partner 

Primary schools and to inform and 

enthuse children about the forthcoming 

Olympics locally. In January, the first Get 

Set assembly was delivered at 

Summerbank Primary School by Lewis 

Brown, Charlotte Kelsall, Dale Willatt and 

Amy Pearce who are all Year 8 

Co-operative Young Leaders. 

ATHLETICS SUCCESS FOR 

HANLEY ST LUKES 

Hanley St Lukes took part in Indoor 

Athletics competitions last term against 

different schools in the North Stoke area 

and managed to win through to the 

County Finals that were held at Fenton 

Manor in January. There were eleven 

schools taking part from all over the 

county, including teams from Lichfield 

and Tamworth. The standard of athletics 

was amazing and there were some really 

talented children. Hanley St Lukes 

managed to achieve 9 th place in the 

competition, an improvement on the last 

two years of qualifying. Aidan Crowder 

came first in the soft javelin throw and 

Jazz Douglas achieved 2 nd in the standing 

long jump. Our team did best in the field 

events where our position was 6 th . We 

had great success in the relays where our 

boy’s 4x1 and 1x1 team were the fastest. 

A real achievement! Well done to 

Hanley St Lukes’ successful Athletics team 

Coop Young 

leaders at 

Mill Hill 

Primary 

School 

CO-OPERATIVE ACADEMY 

MULTI SKILLS FESTIVALS 

The Young Sports Leaders take control! 

The year 7 8 & 9 leaders hosted their 

first festival at The Co-operative 

academy at Brownhills. It was a great 

success with four schools attending 

including, John Baskeyfield , Mill Hill, 

Summerbank Primary schools. The 

Sports leaders planned, delivered and 

scored all of the agility challenge event. 

The winning team were Mill Hill and 

Summerbank runners up. All participants 

went away with certificates and smiles! 

The Year 5 class at Mill Hill have also 

undertaken an Olympic Festival held at 

The Co-operative Academy at Brownhills 

as part of The Get Set 2012 programme 

where leaders have been delivering 

Olympic themed lessons for numeracy, 

literacy, geography and then Science/PE 

are delivered in the gym at 

The Academy. 

LEADERS LEADING THE WAY! 

An outstanding group of Co-operative 

Academy students are having a great 

impact in many local schools. 

They have great potential as instructors 

or leaders in a wide variety of fields. In 

recent months they have devoted time 

to training and delivering in primary 

schools and developed their confidence, 

self esteem, co-operation and 

communication skills. They plan and 

prepare their own lessons, create 

worksheets, power points and resources 

to deliver high quality lessons in the 

partner primary schools. The benefits to 

the primary pupils are far 

reaching; learning about the 2012 

Olympics via cross curricular lessons in 

numeracy, literacy, geography and 

science. 

I’ve enjoyed learning about the Olympics 

and forgot I was learning geography and 

English. It’s the best thing I’ve ever 

done!” 

Jordan Year 5 Mill Hill Primary School 

“It was great getting a silver medal for 

my efforts in the geography lesson.” 

Jack Yr5 Mill Hill Primary School

newsletter 

Partnership latest…. 

HAYWOOD ENGINEERING COLLEGE 

UPDATE 

Well done to the Year 8 Football team on 

getting to the 3 rd round of the English 

Schools. Thomas Wilshaw, Jake Firkins, 

Drew Miller, Josh Horsley, Edward Selman, 

Jordan Brookes, Ryan Machin, 

Bottom Right: Arjun Rathoor, Tan Hussain, 

Phil Jackson, Kaash Buttery, Jason Bithell, 

Akash Vigneswaren and Jaycee Roberts. 

Community Potteries and District 

Table Tennis Club 

The community club has established itself as 

an excellent extracurricular club, here at 

Haywood Engineering College. The club is 

open to Haywood pupils and other pupils in 

other surrounding high schools. The club 

allows pupils to improve their table tennis 

skills and to play within the u16’s Potteries 

and District league. 

Friday night’s 5-7pm 

Stoke Stoke Up Up Stoke! 

Stoke! 

National Dates for your 

Diary 2012: 

World Olympic Day: 

Saturday 23rd June 

National School Sport Week: 

Mon 25th to Fri 29th June 

World Sport Day: 

Monday 25th June 

PARTNERSHIP WORKS IN 

GIRLS FOOTBALL 

Stoke City FC, Staffordshire FA, Nike, 

Premier League, Stoke College and 

Holden Lane all joined forces this year to 

develop a pioneering programme of 

football coaching and competition for 

Year 3 & 4 girls in all Holden Lane cluster 

Primary schools. Each school has received 

continuous coaching at their own site and 

every term a festival of football runs at 

Holden Lane with officials being provided 

by Stoke College & Holden Lane’s newly 

qualified referees. 

Local Leading & Volunteering dates for your Diary 2012 

North Stoke SSP Leadership Academy Presentation Evening Tuesday 26th June Port Vale FC-6.30-8pm 

The 10 th Stoke TOP Link Festival Wednesday 27 th June Northwood Stadium-1-3pm 

STANLEY MATTHEWS FOUNDATION 

PENALTY SHOOT OUT 

YOUNGSTERS GIVING BACK TO SPORT 

AND CHARITY 

Hundreds youngsters from across 

Stoke-on-Trent were offered the chance 

to appear at Stoke City’s Britannia 

Stadium in exchange for donating £1 to 

the Sir Stanley Matthews Foundation 

charity. Year 9 Frazer Booth managed to 

win the Year 9 penalty shoot out 

competition and will appear at the 

re-arranged final at the Arsenal home 

game in April . 

Senior sports leaders did a great job in 

refereeing and scoring. 

Primary school and High 

school winners with 

Foundation officials 

South Stoke SSP Leadership Academy Presentation Evening Wednesday 27th June Stoke City FC-6.30-8pm

newsletter 


18 Holden Lane sports leaders shining the Olympic torch at Fitzy 

Fitzy joins in the ladder relays 

FITZY SKILLS FOR KEY STAGE 1 

Fitzy Multi skills festivals for Key Stage 1 

pupils are an important feature of the 

Holden Lane cluster of schools sporting 

calendar with no less than 5 events running 

this year. 20 Senior sports leaders have 

trained to deliver fun circuits of exercise 

which include stations such as crossing the 

river and the obstacle course. 

NEW CHANGE4LIFE CLUBS 

Three Holden Lane cluster Primary schools 

will shortly receive an equipment bag, 

resources and sports leader support to run 

an exciting new after school sports club for 

Years 3 & 4s with a real accent on health. 

Watch this space to see how the 3 schools 

get on. 

SWIMMING GALA SUCCESS 

The January cluster Swimming Gala saw all 

8 Holden Lane cluster Primary schools 

competing and Councillor Debra Gratton 

and Stoke North MP Joan Walley were 

present to celebrate the completion of the 

re-furbishment of Holden Lane pool. 

Hillside won the girls event and Greenways 

the Boys races. 

Milton Primary Newford Primary 

Sneyd Green Primary Ball Green Primary 

Stoke Stoke Up Up Stoke! Stoke! 

Stoke! 

OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST SWIMMER 

DUNCAN GOODHEW VISITS STOKE 

The whole of Hillside Primary School 

along with pupils and staff from 12 other 

Stoke schools were treated to a visit from 

1980 Moscow Olympian Duncan 

Goodhew who showed off his 100 metres 

Breaststroke gold medal. Duncan talked 

to a packed assembly in the school hall 

about the importance of working hard 

towards your dreams and goals and 

about bringing alive the Olympic values in 

sport, school and in life. 

Hillside Head Holden Lane sports leaders 

Ball Green Primary St Marys RC Primary 

HOLDEN LANE GETS SET FOR THE OLYMPICS 

STARS squad members Beth Johnson, 

Ashlie Scarlett and Aaron Lymer with the 

Get Set 

network plaque 

TORCH BEARER Year 7 Jack Pickin has been 

nominated for his outstanding commitment to 

sport and school generally to carry the Olympic 

torch when it travels through Stoke in May. 

Good luck Jack! 

SAVE THE DATE 

Holden Lane Community 

Olympic Games 

Tuesday 26th June 2012 

9.30am-12 noon Primary Schools activities; 

1-3pm High school 

240 Primary children, Holden Lane Years 7 to 10, 

30 sports leaders & parents 

Opening and closing ceremonies 

Athletics, Dance, Cricket, Swimming, Cheerleading, Welly 

throwing, Netball, Tennis, Football, Wheelchair Basketball, 

Marquees & charity funding raising 

Guest of Honour: Craig Heap, International gymnast 

LEADING THE WAY 

NATIONAL VOLUNTEERING 

Year 10s top leaders Josh Billington, 

Shannon Staples & Beth Johnson along 

with former students Jordan Leach, 

Holly Teece & Abigail Potts are all 

travelling to London in May to volunteer 

at the national Sainsbury’s School 

Games. Training first at the Excel Arena, 

they will spend Wednesday 9th May in 

the Olympic Park assisting in the running 

of the school equivalent of the 

Olympics. 

MacKenzie Jones from Year 10 racked 

up 62 hours of school based 

volunteering from September to 

December 2011. On hand to give over 

his award are top leaders and former 

Holden Lane students Abigail Potts and 

Jordan Leach. Mackensie has 

successfully applied to be an Adistars 

Ambassador along with Alice Shone, 

James Bourne and Aaron Batley and will 

run coaching sessions at Primary 

schools, town, city and county sports 

events. 

Sainsbury's TOP Activity 

National Recognition Award winner 

Last October at the School Sport Conference, 

the Sainsbury's TOP Activity Recognition 

Award was presented to Holden 

Lane Sports College for engaging the 

highest number of parents through the 

Sainsbury's TOP Activity programme. 

Year 11 Jess Leigh and TA Sharon Reece, 

children & parents in a TOP Activity session at 

Holden Lane Primary School in 

November 2011

newsletter 

STOKE Stoke Stoke Up Up Stoke 

Stoke 


HILLSIDE SCHOOL GAMES DAY PILOT IS A FLYING SUCCESS! 

Hillside Primary School in Baddeley Green was recently the host for a pilot running of an 

Olympic style School Games Day. Incorporating a grand and very colourful opening and 

closing ceremony, the day started with the Hillside Street Dance Crew show and then a 

carousel of activities including Cricket, Dance, Athletics, Football and Fitzy skills for Key 

Stage 1 pupils. Lunchtime started with a healthy meal in the classroom before watching 

Taekwondo and New Age Kurling demonstrations. This fantastically successful day was 

filmed to share with other Stoke schools and finished with an impromptu Dance display 

and awards of Olympic value certificates to the best boy and in each of the day’s 

activities. 

Fitzy Javelin session for Year 1s Stoke TKA Taewondo club demonstration 

Flag waving at closing ceremony Dance leaders choreograph Year 4s 

Twenty Holden Lane top 

performers in sport & 

school have been selected 

to be part of the Sky Sports 

Living for Sport squad. They 

have been specially chosen 

as a reward for their 

positive attitude to school 

life at Holden Lane. 

Olympic 400 metre runner 

Daniel Caines is our SSL4S 

athlete mentor who has 

visited the school twice to 

share his journey to success 

and share the key 

principles to succeeding. 

The squad will continue 

develop their biographies, 

deliver an assembly and 

organise a school 

competition. 

Date for your Diary 

Staffs/Stoke County School Games 

(Level 3) 

Tuesday 3rd July 2012 

at Keele University 

FOCUS ON SNEYD GREEN 

SPORT 

Sneyd Green Primary School 

organised a week of activities 

with the theme of Health and 

Holden Lane sports leaders 

joined in by running of circuit of 

fun activities for Year 3&4s. 

Sports leaders multi skills sessions 

Intra school competition & Issac Potts, KS1 x-country winner 

INTRA SCHOOL COMPETITION 

Children at Sneyd Green Primary 

school compete each term in intra 

school competitions. These are 

connected to the work they have 

been doing during their PE lessons. 

This term, key stage 1 have had 

football competitions, year 3/4 

have played benchball, and year 

5/6 did a fitness test. Each winning 

phase gets a trophy. 

COMPETITION FOR ALL 

The long established Partnership 

Games for youngsters who don’t 

normally take part in after school 

sport and represent their school, 

takes place every term at Fenton 

Manor. North Stoke teams have 

competed well in the events which 

feature different activities such as 

martial arts, dance, hockey, cricket 

and golf. 

Photos from recent Partnership Games 

PREMIER LEAGUE 4 SPORT 

The Premier League 4 Sport programme 

continues to give Holden 

Lane youngsters high quality coaching 

and sporting opportunities. This year 

saw the introduction of Hockey to the 

national programme and Stoke City 

FCs striker Cameron Jerome was on 

hand at the Clayton Wood training 

ground to launch the project. Sessions 

led by Leek Hockey club national 

league player continue to run on 

Tuesdays at the astro pitch. 

NORTH STOKE STARS SQUAD 

Holden Lane national standard sports 

people continue to benefit from the 

STARs programme; meeting international 

athletes and raising their own 

profile. 

Beth Johnson, Dan Beeston and Lorna Greatbatch 

meet Olympic rower Guin Batten

newsletter 


STOP PRESS 

Stoke SSPs Annual Conference 

at Fenton Manor Sports 

Complex. 

Wednesday 26th September 2012 



Newly revised website - 

see our website www.stokessps.org 

Big thanks to website host Kent House www.kenthouse.com 

Fitzy Olympic update. This year Fitzy will be training and 

competing in a Heptathlon. All information will be available to 

Schools by March. The activities will be simple to do and 

differentiated equipment can be used to ensure that all 

children can take part in the event. A scoring system will be 

provided along with stickers and a certificate template. 

Olympic Gold medal winner Jason Gardener has provided a 

quote to help inspire the children “take part and have fun— 

use Fitzy’s tips to help you get better”. Jason is also happy to 

feature in the story to help promote the concept of training. 

Fitzy dates for your diary. 

South and North Stoke Fitzy festivals at Fenton Manor on May 29th 

Infant school Olympics at Northwood stadium on June 22nd 

Fitzy medals were presented to 

the Y2 Fitzy leaders at Crescent 

Academy in January after they 

had completed their Playground 

Leaders training. The children 

came up with some fantastic 

ideas for games and organised 

their games with the other 

children with ease. The children 

gained a lot of confidence and 

really improved their 

communication skills. The 

leaders are now active on the 

playground, working with 

reception and Y1 children. Fitzy meets Jason Gardener 

Kemball School were invited to try out the new football facility at Orminston Sir Stanley Matthews 

Academy by Mr G. Jones and Derek Yeomans . We have booked 2 dates to use the excellent football 

facility for our small group of enthusiastic footballers. Everybody came with kit and accessories for warmth 

to have a very good fun session. We even did a short game to round off the session. 

Nigel Holloway Kemball School 

Students from Kemball School also attended the Premier Sport event at Belgrave and St Bartholomew’s 

Academy where they got the opportunity to meet with Olympic medallist Duncan Goodhew. Duncan gave 

an inspirational assembly to KS2 children at the school and several other local schools were invited to 

bring along a small group of children. The children had obviously done their homework and had lots of 

questions to ask Duncan which he gladly took the time to answer. All the children had the opportunity to 

see and touch the Olympic Gold medal and many left with an autographed card from Duncan. Definitely a 

day to remember. 

Nigel Edwards (nedwards@sgfl.org.uk): North Stoke School Sport Partnership; Holden Lane Sports College, Milton Road, Stoke-on-Trent 

Helen Moors (hmoors@sgfl.org.uk): South Stoke School Sport Partnership; Trentham High School, Allerton Road, Stoke-on-Trent

STOKE School Sport Partnerships - Sport Across Staffordshire

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