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Cambridgeshire Business Awards 2017 FINALISTS!

We’ve been nominated and are extremely excited to have reached the finals of the SME Cambridgeshire Business Awards for Regus Cambridge of the Year 2017.

 

We’re looking forward to attending the awards on the 5th of April and will keep you posted on how we get on!

Free Lusum Rugby balls for schools

The unique brand Lusum is dedicated to supporting sports at grass roots level. By avoiding big sponsorship deals, they’re able to provide high quality balls while keeping the costs as low as possible, so schools and small clubs can stretch their equipment budgets efficiently without having to compromise on quality.

The offer is available to the first 250 schools, and it’s really easy to sign up. Just visit their web page below, click the ‘sign up’ button, complete the short form and they’ll send the balls. Each school will receive Lusum rugby balls worth £75, absolutely free.

Click here to claim yours now!

Sports Ball Shop offer full support to teachers and coaches with a vast range of sports equipment as well as resources, guides and carefully selected coaching packs.

PE; Physical Education or Public Embarrassment?

I was stunned by a mum of three children from South Africa who had been living in Melbourne, Australia for the past 10 years, when she asked me the following question;

Are PE teachers in the UK really as bad as the reputation they have to the rest of the world?

Perhaps I’m oblivious to this notion that other countries have about PE teachers over here being unenthusiastic, insensitive and sometimes likened to an emotionless drill sergeant. I was utterly taken a back and surprised by this suggestion at first, but on reflection, typical PE and games lessons in a British state school doesn’t exactly bring warming and joyful memories flooding back…

Any person that had to partake in primary school PE lessons before the millennium will distinctly remember the terrifying sinking feeling when you go out to your peg in the cloakroom and you have forgotten your PE kit. The polo shirt, little navy blue or black shorts and those plimsolls, those plimsolls! Not there, peg empty. This can only mean one thing, PE in your pants! That vivid memory alone is enough to make a grown adult cringe and squirm. To think about the unadulterated embarrassment, they felt having to run around the freezing school hall in nothing but their vest and underwear!

Aside from indoor PE, there was also the dreaded outdoor games; come rain or shine. Playing hockey outside in the middle of winter was nothing far from torture for the knuckles. Football on a waterlogged field which made running for a tackle like wading through treacle. Some schools were even “lucky” enough to have their own outdoor swimming pool so lessons were right there on the doorstep. Sounds ideal, right? Not when your class is scheduled for swimming lessons at the beginning of term in October! You were given no option but to learn quick, so you could constantly keep moving to ensure the blood was flowing properly to your extremities and they didn’t fall off in the icy water!

Its little wonder that many adults look back on their days of PE and wince a little. The thought of that one dreaded hour a week where you were subjected to partnering up with a kid in your class who wasn’t even your friend or forced to take part in a sport that you had little to no interest in. Is it possible that these irrational fears of PE, sport and exercise are subconsciously being handed over to our offspring like a hand-me-down of low self-esteem and poor coordination?

A poll of more than 1,250 adults found that almost a third (29.3%) of them stated that PE was their unhappiest experience of primary and secondary school, with women more likely to have bad memories than men. Are any of these adults that felt this way likely to let their children sit out from a PE lesson at the slightest whimper that they might not really enjoy it? Is it because they are projecting their own bad experiences onto their child? Is it possible that in that moment, when they have been confronted by their hopeless child, they are transported back to their childhood school days where they were standing in their pants wishing the ground would open up and swallow them, so they didn’t have to take part in PE without their kit that day? It’s very possible.

In a rational state of mind, parents now are fully aware the PE lessons are just not how they used to be. However, if they have an illogical fear of exercise and PE it’s extremely dangerous to passively let this leak into the minds of the children. Potentially creating them to uphold negative feelings and connotations towards physical activity, which may affect their confidence, teamwork and participation skills.

While of course it’s the school’s responsibility to ensure there is appropriate time, space and equipment for the PE lesson and its down to the teacher to teach it well, it also falls upon the parents to encourage and excite their children for PE day. Instead of igniting the fire of fear in their minds when it comes to wearing those plimsolls for a couple of hours a week, working with someone that isn’t their best friend and running around in the fresh, crisp air after sitting in a classroom for most of the day, instil confidence in them that they will have fun and enjoy it. If they see their Mum or Dad eager about playing sport or popping out to do some exercise, don’t you think they will want to be just like their very own superhero!?

 

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We don’t have a literacy problem

A head teacher I spoke to recently was unable to take time out to develop his PE curriculum beyond the minimum requirements. To describe this fellow as a sports enthusiast would be an understatement. Yet he struggled.

The reason? Numeracy and literacy.

Child Running
Physical activity helps kids develop their brains

What’s the link, you may ask. There is one, it’s strong, researched, and not the link you expected.

This hard-working head’s problem was that OFSTED (and HMI) were making demands on his time and on the school to put pressure on teachers to improve the numeracy and literacy of the children.

Actually, numeracy and literacy are irrelevant if you are not physically healthy. But the immediate pressure is to respond to OFSTED, rather than focus on the long-term success of the children. So, here are a few questions for you:

  • Have you ever come across a primary school child that would prefer to walk rather than run?
  • Did natural selection and the growing up process design children to feel better when they sit in a classroom than to run around?
  • It is possible to improve pupil test results without spending yet more time on numeracy and literacy?

But first, tell me what you think:

 

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There are a whole range of academic studies on the study of “Active Education”, which demonstrate a link between physical activity and academic performance. It’s an extremely strong positive link in case you were wondering.

The research is quite astonishing.

For example the University of Illinois demonstrated that children who walked on a treadmill for 20 minutes not only responded significantly better to test questions in the areas of reading, spelling and arithmetic immediately afterwards, but they also were found to complete learning tasks faster (1). There are countless such studies, one summary of which can be found at here.

So the answer?

To get OFSTED off his back at short notice, my friend should get his pupils to exercise (star jumps, leg drives, spotty dogs, anything really) for 20 minutes immediately before they do their test. In fact, if he just got every class to start with 5 minutes of 1-minute-on-1-minute-off rapid running on the spot, he might never need to worry about his pupils revising for their SATs.

It’s so simple.

Want to find out more? My next article will explain why this works, and give you a few tips. Click on the button below to get it sent straight to you.

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Michael Ledzion

 

PS: Congratulations to St Monica’s primary school that kick-off every morning with 5 minutes of vigorous dancing “Wake and Shake”. Parents invited. Awesome.

Great Athletes teams up with The Invictus Games Foundation!

The Invictus Games are an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women (serving and veterans). The Games share the same passion as Great Athletes, that the power of sport is immeasurable. They know that it develops confidence, social skills and teamwork.

Rose Hall, Operations Director of the Invictus Games Foundation commented; “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Great Athletes. Invictus Games competitors have some great stories to tell and experiences to share and it’s fantastic that young people across the UK will get to hear about them first-hand.”

Michael Ledzion, Chief Sportivater of Great Athletes, said, “Invictus Games competitors are truly outstanding role models for everyone in our society. We know that developing a growth mindset has a massive influence on success in life, so we are truly delighted to partner with the Invictus Games Foundation to bring this message to primary school children across the country through Great Athletes events.”

Congratulations to our winners!

We’re thrilled that hundreds of school pupils will benefit from new PE equipment after the Great Athletes and East Anglian Daily Times token collect. More than 130 schools took part in the campaign to win a share of £20,000 to buy new equipment and keep their children active and healthy.  After over 1 million tokens were counted, Eyke Primary School was announced as the winner, winning £5,000. Wood Ley Primary School in Stowmarket finished second, winning £3,000 and Occold Primary School near Eye took third place to receive £2,000.

GB Hurdler Serita Solomon visited Eyke Primary School to announce they had won the competition and did a fantastic Q&A with the children as well as giving some of the school’s budding hurdlers some of her top tips! Mrs Scurrell the Head Teacher said “We were very excited to find out we were the winners, and it is down to the fantastic support that we had from our parents and friends in the community. We don’t have any concrete plans yet on how to spend it, but we will make sure that sport continues to be one of our areas of focus because we believe that physical exercise is just as important as academic excellence”.

Davies Sports team up with Great Athletes!

Davies Sports share the same passion with Great Athletes to improve physical health through more sports in schools, knowing that it develops confidence, social skills and teamwork, as well as significantly improving academic results. Davies Sports will be supplying the equipment voucher to the schools that raise money for PE Equipment through the Great Athletes scheme, as well as offering a 10% discount on future orders for 12 months after the event.

Beth Tarry, Marketing Manager for Davies Sports commented; “Fun and engaging physical activity in school is often the first step to a lifelong love of sport. That’s why we’re thrilled to be working with Great Athletes who not only provide inspiring events but also help schools fundraise to create a lasting legacy.  We’re proud that our equipment will play a part in developing social skills, academic achievement and get children more active.”

Michael Ledzion, Chief Sportivater of Great Athletes, said, “We’re delighted to be partnering with Davies Sports: together we’ll greatly enhance the value that schools receive from taking part in a Great Athletes event. More sports equipment for more schools to encourage more physical activity and continue the 2012 legacy. It’s all part of our ambition to put physical health on a par with academic excellence in schools – because it’s healthy, and improves children’s academic results.”

Playforce teams up with Great Athletes!

Great Athletes run GB & Olympic athlete-led physical activity events to inspire children to do more physical activity, raise money for PE equipment in schools (almost £2m to date), and support GB and Olympic athletes financially.

Great Athletes visit over 1,300 Primary Schools each year across the UK, inspiring over 350,000 children and giving them direct access to extraordinary GB Olympic & Paralympic athletes.

Playforce is a perfect partner for Great Athletes; the year-round partnership will include an inter-school fitness challenge for staff, opportunities to win prizes including equipment, priority booking for Playforce customers when signing up to a Great Athletes event, and co-created content.

Emily Northin, Head of Inside Sales and Marketing at Playforce commented; “Playforce has always championed the need to embed fun, physical activity into the school day from an early age in order to instil healthy behaviours for life. So, when we met Great Athletes we were delighted that they shared this same passion. We’re really excited about the ways in which we can work together over the next 12 months, support schools in inspiring children to be physically active and ultimately make a positive difference to the health of children across the UK.”

Michael Ledzion, Chief Sportivater of Great Athletes, said, “We just love the way Playforce makes playgrounds that excite kids to get active, so we’re working together to put physical activity at the heart of the primary school curriculum. We think it’s as important to be physically active and healthy as it is to be good at numeracy and literacy: We know that more physically active children achieve better academically in school. Working with Playforce will help us deliver that vital message, and achieve a lasting legacy for all our children.”

Hannah Hanley, Senior Account Manager at brandmeetsbrand, added; “We’re delighted to have secured Playforce as an official sponsor of Great Athletes, adding to their portfolio of existing partner brands which all have a lovely synergy with Sports for School’s audiences, and offer them real value.”

Win a share of £20,000 for PE Equipment at your school

Today, Great Athletes and The East Anglian Daily Times have launched a new competition offering infant and primary schools the chance to win a share of £20,000 worth of sports equipment. Tokens will be printed in the EADT. Tokens printed between Monday and Friday will be worth 10 points and tokens printed on Saturday will be worth 25 points.A competition spokesman said: “Sport and physical education is fundamental to both the health and early development of children and by participating in this fantastic promotion your school could receive a legacy that lasts for many years.” Every school that collects 1,000 points will receive a FREE starter sports pack worth over £100.

So far, over 100 schools in Suffolk and North-East Essex have registered to take part in the competition. David Brook, PE Coordinator of Sir Robert Hitcham’s Primary School said, “We really value sports in our school and are constantly looking for new ways to improve the provision for our children. It would make a huge difference. Our budget is so tight and it would enable us to purchase sports equipment normally out of our reach.”

Schools will have until the end of April to collect their tokens.

Below are the schools that have registered to take part. If your son, daughter or grandchildren attend any of the schools on the list below then please start collecting your tokens from 29th February 2016.

Abbot’s Hall Community Primary School
Acton C E V C Primary School
All Saints CofE Primary School
Ardleigh St Marys C of E Primary School
Bacton Community Primary School
Barningham C E V C Primary School
Bedfield CEVCP School
Belchamp St Paul CofE Primary School
Benhall St Mary’s CofE VC Primary School
Bentley CofE VC Primary School
Bramford CofE VC Primary School
Brooklands Primary School
Bucklesham Primary School
Bures C of E Voluntary Controlled Primary School
Castle Hill Infant School
Cedars Park Community Primary School
Cedarwood County Primary School
Charsfield CEVCP School
Chelmondiston CofE VC Primary School
Chilton Community Primary School
Clare Community Primary School
Claydon Primary School
Colneis County Junior School
Copdock Primary School
Crawford’s CEVC Primary School
Creeting St Mary CofE VA Primary School
Dale Hall Community Primary School
De Vere Primary School
Dennington CEVC Primary School
Earl Soham Community Primary School
East Bergholt CofE VC Primary School
Easton Primary School
Elmsett CofE VC Primary School
Exning Primary School
Eyke CofE VC Primary School
Fairfield Infant School
Feering C of E Controlled Primary School
Freemans Community Primary School
Frinton on Sea Primary School
Glemsford Community Primary School
Gorseland Primary School
Gosfield Community Primary School
Grange Community Primary School
Great Finborough CofE VC Primary School
Great Whelnetham CofE VC Primary School
Hadleigh Community Primary School
Halifax Primary School
Handford Hall Primary School
Hardwick Primary School
Heath Primary School, Kesgrave
Helmingham Community Primary School
Hillside Community Primary School
Hintlesham & Chattisham CofE VCP School
Holbrook Primary School
Honington C E V C P School
Howard Primary School
Hoxne St Edmund’s Primary School (also Mendham)
Ickworth Park Primary School
Kedington Primary School
Kelsale Cevc Primary School
Kersey CEVC Primary School
Kingsfleet Primary School
Kirby Primary Academy
Langer Primary Academy
Lavenham Community Primary School
Long Melford CofE VC Primary School
Mellis School
Melton Primary School
Mendham Primary School (Also Hoxne St Edmunds)
Mendlesham Community Primary School
Milldene Primary School
Mistley Norman C of E Primary School
Monkwick Junior School
Morland Primary School
Nacton CofE VC Primary School
Norton First School
Occold Primary School
Old Buckenham Hall
Otley Primary School
Paddocks Primary School
Pot Kiln Primary School
Ranelagh Primary School
Sandlings Primary School
Saxmundham Primary School
Sebert Wood Community Primary School
Shotley Community Primary School
Sidegate Primary School
Sir Robert Hitcham CEVAP School – Framlingham
Sir Robert Hitcham’s CEVAP School – Debenahm
Snape Primary School
Sprites Primary School
St Edmundsbury Church of England Primary School
St James C of E Aided Primary School
St Joseph’s College Prep School
St Lawrence Church of England Primary School
St Mary’s CofE VA Primary School, Woodbridge
St Matthew’s CofE VA Primary School, Ipswich
St Pancras Catholic Primary School, Ipswich
St Peter’s C of E Voluntary Controlled Primary School
Stradbroke Primary School
Stratford St Mary Primary School
Tattingstone CofE VC Primary School
The Oaks Community Primary School
Thomas Wolsey Primary School
Trinity CofE VA Primary School
Two Village Church of England V C Primary School
Waldringfield Primary School
Walsham-le-willows C E V C P School
Whatfield CofE VC Primary School
Whitehouse Community Primary School
Whitton Community Primary School
Willow Brook Primary School & Nursery
Witnesham Primary School
Wix & Wrabness Primary School
Worlingworth C E V C Primary Schoo

For more information, click here

GB Wheelchair Rugby Player Stuart Robinson inspires children at Witton-le-Wear Primary School

Stuart Robinson visited Witton-le-Wear Primary School on Friday 12th February to run a fun fitness session with the children and motivate them with his awe-inspiring story. Stuart was a RAF corporal and was serving in Afghanistan when his vehicle was hit by a Taliban bomb. In order to survive, he had to have both legs amputated but this has certainly not held him back! Stuart went on to win Gold with Great Britain in The Invictus Games and is currently working hard in the hope of competing for Team GB at Rio in the Summer. Acting head teacher Sharon Walker said: “We’ve learnt a lot about Stuart and I hope that the pupils are inspired to get active and try sport and also see that with a bit of perseverance and determination anything is possible.” Find out more here.