Primary School Sports Personality

SFSS Primary School Sports Personality Award 23/24

Effie was awarded with the Sports Personality of the Year award at the Sheffield Federation For School Sports 129th Awards Presentation on Thursday December 14th 2023. It was a night celebrating all that is excellent in school sport throughout Sheffield.

Effie is someone who has continued to develop personally and influence others around her as she has moved through Hunter's Bar Junior School. Even though her first year here at HBJ was impacted by the pandemic (as well as all her sporting endeavours outside school) she has really become part of the sporting thread of Hunters Bar Juniors. Her main sport is Football where she captains the girls Y5/6 team but is also a vital part of the Boys Y5/6 team. She plays Football for Evo U11s (on Saturdays) and Porter U11s (on Sundays) and is the only female player for both of these boys football teams. As well as this she swims confidently and horse rides when time allows. She has represented the school in a variety of sports. At the time of writing this she has joined other Y6 pupils to pick a Sports Hall Athletics team based on the data we collected from testing in our PE lessons - in which she will also be participating.

In April (2023) Effie along with 4 other girls took part in the "Sheffield Primary Girls Football Coach Academy" at EIS. The girls were all nominated by their Y5 teachers at the time as pupils who would benefit greatly from external leadership training. The leadership training consisted of theory and practical elements with the ultimate aim being to provide young leaders with their first steps into football leadership and for them to return to school to deliver Girls Euro based activities to peers. Effie took this in her stride and along with Mr Hewson (one of our TA3s) has implemented a rota system for Football, Basketball and Netball activities on our school M.U.G.A ensuring all years and pupils get a chance to participate and have fun.

A polite and conscientious girl Effie has taken her positive attitude to Hunter's Bar Infant school pupils. Along with three other girls (some of which also took part in the Sheffield Primary Girls Football Coach Academy) she has taken on a leadership role running lunchtime sessions for pupils in the infant school. Giving up their Monday lunchtimes, they have taken fun activities and games to play, helping to maintain the relationship between the two schools and also develop the confidence and skills of the infant pupils. This started directly after her training in April 2023 and has also continued during this academic year. This ability has also been noticed by her coaches at Evo Soccer who have asked her to help with the Soccer Eds (younger age group) training when she is rarely not involved in matches on Saturdays.

At the end of the 2022/23 academic year Effie along with a friend helped Mr. Adebola write a proposal to make football more inclusive to our female pupils. Through this application Hunter's Bar Juniors were successful in winning a girls football kit with the inclusion of Nike hijabs through the Premier League Primary Stars initiative! They not only helped in writing the proposal considering pupils from a Muslim background who are now coming into the age where they may be following the teachings of the Quran but also in picking and designing the kit keeping in with our Primary school colours of Blue and Green, which were approved by the headteacher Mr. Watson. As a result of this, in this academic year, Effie along with with the other girls who are assisting in the infant school, have written another proposal to develop the uniform for our Play Leaders. They have researched shirts from Kitlocker and presented this information to Mr. Watson. The idea was well received and discussions have taken place from this to have Andy Staley (Points Learning Network) come into school to help further develop the Leadership training the Play Leaders receive.

Her latest endeavour has seen her using her links at Evo and Porter to collect old football kits and boots for Kit Aid (a charity set up by, Derrick Williams MBE). The charity recycles peoples once loved football kits and distributes them to underprivileged children and adults in some of the world’s poorest countries. Effie's collection and contribution has just been sent off to Africa (November 2023) and was well received by the charity and I'm sure will be loved by the children and adults it's going to benefit. A shy and quiet girl Effie has at times struggled academically in the classroom but her sporting ability is something that has always shone through. Within this her confidence in herself continues to develop and she is someone who has helped in developing the confidence of other pupils either through her new found leadership skills, her caring attitude towards others or through her ability in sporting situations highlighting her importance to the sporting teams of Hunter's Bar.