MAXIMISING OUR POTENTIAL IN SPORT

Maximising our Potential

SPORT & OUTDOOR ED

We spoke to Mr Giles, who joined Shebbear College in November 2020 as the Head of Sport and Outdoor Education, about how he plans to take the department forward over the next few years.

‡ What is your background?

In my early years I took part in many sports, playing county level hockey and rugby, competing at many national schools athletics competitions representing the South West and was lucky enough to compete for Great Britain U16s Rowing. After leaving school I moved to New Zealand for a year out and ended up staying for 2 years to play rugby. On returning to England I achieved a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering at Loughborough University where I began my coaching career, working with senior mens and womens teams as well as Premiership academies and coach education programmes with the RFU.

I started my teaching career at Uppingham School while coaching the 1st XV and Midlands U18s. I then moved down to Eastbourne College where I took on the role of Director of Rugby, Head of Athletics, Head of Sports Scholarship programme and teacher of Maths before moving to Dubai to take up the role of Director of Rugby and High Performance Sport at Dubai English Speaking College, the leading sports school in the UAE. While working in Dubai I began working with World Rugby and am now a Trainer specialising in Coaching and Strength Conditioning, delivering courses across Asia. I also continued with my Rugby 7s coaching with the UAE Senior Mens 7s team in the Asia 7s Championship, competing against teams such as Japan and Hong Kong. ‡ Why did you decide to come and work at Shebbear?

Shebbear College represents the values my family and I hold dear, with a focus on developing creativity, curiosity and resilience in the pupils and our children. Shebbear has huge potential and it did not take long in looking at the College to see how incredible the pupils and staff were. I am excited about making some positive changes while enhancing the outstanding work of the current staff and student community.

‡ What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I love spending time with my family; although I spend a lot of time outside and coaching sport in school I usually end up dragging my family outside and do even more outdoor education based fun activities. I love learning, so I often have a book on the go that challenges my current perceptions (I would strongly recommend James Kerr’s Legacy, a personal favourite).

‡ In the time that you have been here, what has struck you most about the school and the pupils?

In my first few weeks at Shebbear I was astounded with the way in which the stronger sportsmen and women support the less confident athletes; encouraging them and helping them improve. This is such a rare quality and I believe this is a product of the small year groups, in which the pupils aid the development of others. I have never seen this at this level before, and it was completely unprompted. This is clearly a superb attribute that is unique to Shebbear College and is something that is extremely hard to coach.

‡ Both Sport and Outdoor Education have always been a big part of life at Shebbear College, what are your plans to develop these two areas over the next few years?

Shebbear College has a huge amount of potential. We have recently redesigned the sport and activities provision, providing a more structured approach to sports on a termly basis.We aim to provide at least one sport per term for girls and boys with three mixed sports in the Trinity Term. This is in addition to an activity programme designed to support these core areas, while providing pre-season training and opportunities to sample other sports . We aim to cover in excess of 10 sports-based activities each term as well as Outdoor Education, Ten Tors and D of E activities.

We are in the process of launching an elite sports development programme, designed to support and challenge our aspirational athletes and sports scholars. I am extremely excited about encouraging pupils to continue to enjoy sport, whilst at the same time developing the right mindset that can be developed and nurtured.

We are introducing a skills based curriculum in Outdoor Education, focusing on providing our pupils with the skills to maximise their enjoyment of the outdoors while excelling in challenging environments. The plan is for every pupil to take part in OE activities, either during scheduled lessons or co-curricular clubs, and we’re also looking at integrating the subject into regular curriculum lessons, getting outdoors when we can. There is a huge amount of interest in Sport and Outdoor Education from our pupils and many take part in sports synonymous with the area such as shooting and equestrian. I am planning to give them an input into the sports and activities we provide outside of lessons so that they have the opportunity to take part in things that they are passionate about.

‡ In your opinion, what are the key factors in developing successful sports teams and individuals at school?

Not everyone wants to compete for their country or be a professional athlete and so understanding that each sports session is differentiated to the individual needs of the pupil is fundamental in planning a sports programme. I hope to be able to provide platforms for all pupils to shine and find a sport or activity that enables them to engage and enjoy something that perhaps they never thought they would.

Sport is not only about talent, but mindset; developing the right character attributes such as resilience, confidence and intrinsic enjoyment of sport are skills that develop higher level athletes who are able to cope on the rocky road to success. Providing opportunities where athletes are challenged in a supportive way and given the opportunity to fail safely is a fundamental aspect of an individual’s development journey. Talent is often a big part of success, however it can also breed bad habits in relying on areas of strength while denying areas of weakness. Challenging talented athletes and ensuring they are developing holistically is something I am passionate about, as these are often the athletes that achieve greatness.

‡ We talk a lot to our pupils about the link between physical activity and mental health - what are your thoughts on this and how do you plan to develop this area?

The growing body of evidence linking the physiological response from exercise and mental health is now undeniable. At Shebbear College we have an incredible opportunity to our pupils’ healthy relationship with the outdoors; with 85 acres of sports fields and countryside we have endless opportunities to get outdoors and exercise.

Many of you have probably read about the story of ‘Prospect Lane’ on our social media and website but we just had to include it in our magazine as it really was something very special.

Our wonderful Maintenance Team spent every weekend in October and November at school, working in their own time on a secret plan to build a magical Christmas feature for our pupils at the end of a term where blended learning, wearing masks, social distancing and hand gel have become the norm.

The fantastic team, Mark, Matt, Mike and Steve, built a secret Christmas Grotto at the school last year, transforming the old changing rooms which were being used as a storage area. They decided to go one step further for 2020, creating a version of Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley, complete with magical shops with hand carved signs - including ‘Lovett’s Sweets’, ‘Drakes’ potion shop and ‘Kirby & Jenkins’ dressmakers - leading into a fairy tale snow scene and a festive Father Christmas’ grotto.

And the verdict from our pupils - well you can see for yourselves from the photos!