Overview

SPORT

Overview 2020-2021

This has been a year like no other and one that nobody expected. With the ongoing challenges of Covid-19, we were unable to educate our students through sport, take fixtures for the College or run training sessions. On a personal level we were unable to play for our own sports teams, we could not go and see live sport with our family and friends, or even watch our beloved teams playing on the TV. All the things that we get so much joy from were cancelled.

When lockdown returned in Lent term, we had a big job to do as a department – keep our community active. We talk every day to students and staff about the benefits of sport and physical activity so now, more than ever, we had to continue to do this and make the most of the situation we were presented with. Ensuring that we kept our students, parents and staff active was our main priority. We wanted to do this in a way that meant anybody, irrelevant of circumstance, could access some sort of sport or activity. We therefore decided that during our curriculum lessons, we would focus on strength and conditioning; something that every student could engage with and benefit from, with a focus on staying healthy. It also meant that for our club or competitive athletes, they were still developing and challenging themselves physically – something that would be extremely important to ensure that they would return to competitive sport almost 18 months later, having made some physical progress. We managed a full six-week block of this, looking at various different fundamental movement patterns and kept this engaging by integrating fitness challenges and high energy workouts that really challenged our students. We also incorporated some science into our lessons, looking at various different health and skill-related fitness components during subsequent lockdowns. Each week would have a theme, such as strength, coordination or speed, and lessons would be tailored around each of those, with fun ‘beat the teacher’ challenges included. Social media also became a big part of our day – everything that we did was posted online to keep our community engaged. We produced a series of ‘Life of a Student Athlete’ videos, a 15-minute-long video with inspirational messages from athletes all over the world, as well as running a virtual Strava competition which saw the College community collectively walk, run or cycle over 12,000 km. Students, parents and staff all engaged extremely well, and we were proud of everyone’s efforts in really difficult times. Upon returning to the College, we were presented with a number of unexpected

hurdles. Trying to run a full sports programme with continued restrictions meant the cancelling of fixtures and limitations to all our sessions. Despite this, we were able to run a reduced Saturday morning programme, which saw over 300 students turn up each week to play hockey and rugby. Internal competitions and creative sessions allowed students to become re-integrated with sport and each other, and get back to doing what they love – play sport! Alongside this and our emphasis on re-socialisation and enjoyment in the curriculum, it was fantastic to be back. A few months on and we have enjoyed being able to provide netball, hockey, rugby, football, cricket and swimming to our students. The re-introduction of fixtures has been welcomed and we have loved seeing our students playing competitive sport again. Our Forder programme continues to thrive with hundreds of students getting involved in some form of sporting activity across the course of each week. Now more than ever, we are aware of the huge impact that sport and physical activity has on both our bodies and minds; our students’ awareness of this is ever present and every single one of them has made the most of the opportunities presented to them. Looking ahead there are changes on the horizon. At St Dunstan’s, we have been taking steps towards a more inclusive approach to sporting provision for the last six years, and afternoon Games is the final hurdle. We all remember Games lessons from our own school days, with those who are fortunate enough to represent teams benefitting from resources and expertise, whilst the rest are left to fend for themselves. Sports would be dictated by gender – in the winter, boys played rugby whilst girls played netball. Boys played cricket in the summer whilst the girls would play rounders. The sporting landscape has quite rightly changed, and schools have a responsibility to lead the way; gender cannot be a barrier to any child getting access to a sport they love. Our curriculum will be prioritising sport for all, for every child, regardless of ability and gender, and with everyone benefitting from the same opportunities. This is to ensure positive early experiences for the many, and not the just the few, leading to lifelong participation in sport and physical activity for all. It is important to emphasise that our competitive frameworks will remain very much in place; fixtures, tournaments, cup matches and pre-seasons will all carry on as normal and we believe, with these changes, will go from strength to strength. Finally, we wish our Year 13 and 11 leavers all the very best for their future endeavours and thank you for all your commitment and hard work in Sport throughout your journey at the College. We look forward to having you back for our Old Dunstonians sports fixtures and events, and hearing about all of your sporting journeys beyond the College walls. We would also like to say a sad goodbye and big thank you to Mr Armstrong, who leaves us this year after 9 years of service to the College. He will leave a huge whole in the community and will be greatly missed by all staff and students. We wish him the best of luck for the future.

Miss R L Watkins

Director of Sport