What a successful 2021-22

The following blog gives a summary of all of Whitehall Junior School's successes in sport for 2021-22.

Whitehall Junior School has achieved Gold School Games Award for 2021-2022.

The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward and recognise school’s engagement (provision and uptake) in the School Games against a national benchmark and to celebrate keeping young people active, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.

We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of physical activity and school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our events possible. We are committed to using the School Games to try and engage those young people who haven’t previously been active or represented our school and to try and ensure that all our students have a positive experience and want to try out new activities beyond school too in our community. We believe in the power of physical activity and school sport as a school and give opportunities to those young people that need it most either as a participant, leader, official or volunteer.

As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas linked to the five School Games outcomes and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.

School Sports Funding 2021 - 2022

At Whitehall Junior School, we view leading healthy and active lifestyles as a priority for our children and their families. The sports funding we receive each year enables us to successfully provide a diverse range of opportunities for our children to be healthy and active. Each year, we review our spending and evaluate the effectiveness of our sports provision. This analysis is then used to widen and enhance the opportunities we provide to ensure our children continue to live healthily and actively as well as learning new strategies to be healthy. The year 2021-2022 has been an extremely difficult year due to previous school closures as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite these difficulties, our school spent the funding on: promoting healthy, active lifestyles; increasing numbers of children who participate in out of hours sports clubs when in school; using external providers to deliver adventure activities and the use of sport coaches to provide children with leadership opportunities within sport and active lunchtimes. Please see the 2021-2022 school sports funding report for a full breakdown of our expenditures for this academic year.  We feel the money has been used accordingly in order to support the school to make sustainable improvements to the provision of PE and sport for the benefit of all our children.

Commonwealth Games 2022

At Whitehall Junior School, we are using the power and inspiration of the 2022 Commonwealth Games to inspire our pupils in the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and developing a life-long love of sport.  We are achieving this through assemblies, PE lessons, intra-school competitions and through extra-curricular activities through referencing the following ethos these games provide:

- Motto: Games for everyone.

- Humanity, equality and destiny in everything we do.

- Kind hearts and never quitters.

- Friendly games.

PE Lessons

At Whitehall Junior School, we view Physical Education as an extremely important part of the National Curriculum. All children are timetabled with two hours of PE every week. These sessions include both indoor and outdoor PE lessons. Throughout the academic year, children complete three dance and three gymnastics units through indoor sessions. Outdoor PE lessons provide children with the opportunity to take part in a range of invasive team games and individual sports. Our PE lessons teach the children the skills needed be successful in a range of sports. Every PE unit provides the children with the opportunity to practise the skills learnt in competitive scenarios. Our inclusive PE curriculum allows all children to develop communication, teamwork and leadership skills in a healthy competitive environment.

Daily Mile

This year Whitehall Junior School continued with Daily Mile to further promote leading a healthy lifestyle. In addition to this, 54% of or pupils walk to and home from school daily.

Sports Coaches

Sports coaches are a vital part of Physical Education and sport at Whitehall Junior School. Following on from the successes last year, we have continued to work with Super Star Sports coaches this year. They are deployed in a range of capacities to ensure children receive high quality teaching in both active play lunchtimes and extra-curricular sports clubs.  The sports clubs at Whitehall Junior School are delivered by fully qualified coaches. On a weekly basis, the coaches provide regular training sessions for a wide range of sports and physical activities. We have had great feedback from the children who are currently attending these clubs and it has been great to see them benefit from these wider opportunities. Our sports coaches are also utilised during lunchtimes. Every child has the opportunity to be physically active by taking part in games led by our coaches at lunchtime (as well as 72% of our pupils now having been trained as sports leaders during these sessions this academic year).

Squad Training

As well as the clubs ran by external sports coaches, a number of Whitehall staff also give up their free time to deliver squad training sessions. From these squad training sessions, children have the opportunity to represent Whitehall a range of inter-school competitions. These competitions consist of leagues where matches take place on a weekly basis and knock-out tournaments. During this year, the following squad training sessions have taken place: football, netball, cross county, sports hall athletics, rugby, rounders and athletics club.

Extra-Curricular Clubs

Between the squad training run by Whitehall staff and the clubs delivered by our external coaches, we successfully provided our children with a huge range of opportunities to be active, enjoy sport and learn new skills. We have had 650 particpiants in our extra-curricular clubs this academic year.

Swimming

At Whitehall, we see swimming not only as a great way to stay healthy and active, but as a fundamental life skill. To help prepare children for life outside the classroom, we have continued to provide Year 5 children with regular intensive swimming lessons throughout the year. By enabling these pupils to complete three lots of intensive swimming lessons throughout an academic year, we hope to see an increase in the number of children who can swim 25m by the time they leave in Year 6.

2021-2022 End of KS2 swimming statistics:

What percentage of   your current Year 6 cohort swim competently, confidently and proficiently   over a distance of at least 25 metres?  N.B. Even though your   children may swim in another year please report on their attainment on   leaving primary school.

65%

What percentage of   your current Year 6 cohort use a range of strokes effectively [for example,   front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]?

84%

What percentage of   your current Year 6 cohort perform safe self-rescue in different water-based   situations?

94%

Intra-school (level 1) competitions

Despite the difficulties posed by COVID-19, we have exploited intra-school competitions through:

- PE lessons

- Play leaders at lunchtime

- Trained pupil sports leaders leading play leader tasks at play and lunchtimes

- Whole school intra-sports competitions

- Sports day

- Activities during Health and Fitness Week

Health and Fitness Week and Sports Day

This year’s Health and Fitness Week took place throughout the week beginning Monday 27th June.

Please see below an outline of the activities that were planned for Health and Fitness Week.

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, is an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that is scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August 2022.

The Commonwealth Games’ aim is to unite the Commonwealth family through sport. They reflect The Commonwealth Games Federation’s core values of humanity, equality and destiny. The spirit of the Commonwealth Games is friendship and fair play, and they’re often referred to as the ‘friendly games’ because they bring together members of all the nations to compete on a level playing field.

Whitehall used the inspiration of the 2022 Commonwealth Games to unite Whitehall through sport during Health and Fitness Week.

Our motto for the week was:

Games for Everyone

Our Values were:

Humanity, equality and destiny in everything we do

Kind hearts and never quitters

Friendly Games

Each day throughout Health and Fitness Week, children had a lesson on the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games to learn about the motto, values and mascot involved, which inspired Whitehall’s Health and Fitness week motto of ‘Games for Everyone’.

Sports Day

This year’s Sports Day took place on Monday 27th June. The schedule for the day was as follows:

9.30am – 10.50am: Years 3, 4 and 6 Round Robin activities involving running, jumping and throwing tasks.

11.00-12.15pm: Whole school races.

1.30pm – 2.50pm: Year 5 Round Robin activities involving running, jumping and throwing tasks.

Fitness competition

This was a class and year group intra-school competition. Each class was timetabled a session time to complete three circuits of six activities (shuttle runs (5 metres apart), sit ups, lunges, step ups, skipping and star jumps). They were active for 30 seconds on a station then they had a 30 seconds rest before moving onto the next activity of the circuit; they had a 3 minute rest before starting the next round of their circuit. The children had their own recording sheet to write their totals for each station during each circuit. Once they completed their three circuits, these totals were collected to identify the two winners from each class and the class winner per year group.

Intra-House competition

Each class were timetabled a session time to complete an intra-house competition. This involved the class completing three different games (corner football, corner handball and dodgeball, 20 minutes for each game). During each of these games, the children worked together to earn valuable points for their house. These points were collected to see which house (Colne, Chiltern, Frays, Mill) were the winners.

A-Life Workshops

Health and Fitness Week is not just about physical activity, at Whitehall we know that we need to educate our children on all the additional things that they can do to lead a healthy lifestyle. We booked A-Life for four days during this week to work with each class on the following:

Year 3 = Healthy Workshop

Years 4, 5 and 6 = Mental Health Workshop

Inter-school (level 2) competitions

Netball Training and League

Miss Costa was delighted with the number of pupils who were committed to attend our weekly netball training sessions on a Wednesday evening after school. This year saw an improvement in pupils' basic skills as well as their knowledge of the game. It was wonderful to see the improvements everyone made as well as the enthusiasm you all showed for this sport. Each week you were set new challenges and it was wonderful to see the determination you all showed to improve further. Those who represented the school in netball league matches this academic year played extremely well and Whitehall finished sixth place in the league table.

Football Training and League

Mr Jones was overwhelmed by the number of pupils who were committed to attend our weekly football training sessions on a Monday evening after school. He was delighted with the enthusiasm and determination by all who attended to further develop in their spatial awareness and specific skill development. Those who represented the school in football league matches this year showed fantastic sportsmanship throughout and improved their performances as the league progressed.

Girls' Netball Rally

On Saturday 26th February, we took two teams to take part in the District Girls' Netball Rally which was held at Ryefield School. Both teams played well throughout the group matches of the competition but unfortunately, neither team progresses to the quarter finals. All sixteen girls who played did very well and we are very proud of all of their performances and great sportsmanship in their matches! Thank you to all the parents who came and supported us during this competition.

Mixed Netball Rally

On Saturday 5th March, we took two teams to take part in the District Mixed Netball Rally which was held at Ryefield School. Both teams played very well throughout the group matches of the competition but unfortunately, only our A team progressed to the quarter-finals. Their quarter-final match was against Hermitage A, who were a very good team. Unfortunately, our team lost their quarter-final match and did not progress onto the semi-final stage of the competition. All sixteen players performed very well and we are very proud of all of their achievements during the competition and great sportsmanship!

Cross Country Competition

Congratulations to our cross country athletes, all of whom completed the tough course of 2000m at Vyners' playing fields last night. Great sporting values were shown by all and an excellent group of parent supporters helped all to reach the finish line! A special mention goes to Christie who came in an amazing second place and received a silver medal.

Quad Kids Athletics

On Wednesday 25th May, ten pupils took part in this year's Quad Kids Athletics Competition at Hillingdon Athletics Track. The event required each pupil to compete in the following four disciplines: 600M run, 75M sprint, standing long jump and vortex howler throw. All of our pupils performed brilliantly in all of their events and did well to accumulate as many points as they could for our team's overall score. Out of seventeen teams, we achieved eighth place - well done Whitehall!

Years 5 and 6 Tag Rugby Competition

Whitehall Junior School hosted this year's District Tag Rugby Competition on Thursday 9th June. In addition to hosting this event, we also had two teams representing our school. Both teams played exceptionally well in their group matches; 'Whitehall B Team' won one of their matches and drew in another and 'Whitehall A Team' won three of their matches and drew in the other. Unfortunately, only 'Whitehall A Team' progressed to the semi-finals stage of the competition, where they played 'Hermitage A Team'. It was a tough semi-final and Whitehall lost this match and 'Hermitage A Team' went on to win the tournament by beating 'Oak Farm A Team' in the final. It was an event that was enjoyed by all and congratulations to 'Whitehall A Team' for coming away with bronze medals!

Rounders Competition

Whitehall Junior School took three teams to compete in this year's rounders tournament at Ryefield School on Wednesday 22nd June. All three teams played exceptionally well in their group matches; unfortunately, only 'Whitehall B Team' progressed to the quarter-final stage of the competition, where they played 'Oak Farm B'. It was a tough quarter-final and Whitehall lost this match therefore, they did not progress to the semi-finals. It was an event that was enjoyed by all and congratulations to all thirty pupils for representing our school in this competition.

Sports Day

On Monday 27th June, Whitehall Junior School had their Sports Day and it was amazing to have parents involved in this event again this year! Our Sports day combined a number of athletics events with some healthy competition to decide which house team would win the Sports Day trophy this year. Despite the showers throughout the day, all of our children persevered through the weather and worked hard to earn valuable points for their house team. Not only did the children work hard to achieve their best, so did the wealth of parents who volunteered to run in several parent races - thank you for your great sportsmanship and for helping to make the day extra special for all of the children. Also, thank you to all of the parents who remained with us at lunch time for a picnic on the school field; it was lovely to see so many of you join us for lunch and I know that the children enjoyed having parents stay for lunch time too. The final results were tight but Chiltern were the overall winners of Sports Day 2022 - congratulations, Chiltern House! We are very much looking forward to the rest of Health and Fitness Week and we are certainly living up to our motto of 'Games For All'.

Large Schools District Sports

On Monday 11th July, Whitehall Junior School took 28 pupils from Years 3-6 to represent our school in this year's District Sports competition, competing against eight other schools at Hillingdon Athletics Track.  Our pupils took part in either a track event, a field event or a relay race; all pupils performed amazingly throughout this competition and they modelled fantastic sportsmanship throughout.  Whitehall Junior School were awarded with nine medals in total in the following disciplines:

Year 4 girls' tennis ball throw, gold medal.

Year 5 boys' 70M sprint, silver medal.

Year 5 boys' standing triple jump, gold medal.

Year 5 girls' standing triple jump, bronze medal.

Year 5 boys' vortex howler throw, bronze medal.

Year 5 6 x 66.66M relay, silver medal.

Year 6 boys' 80M sprint, bronze medal.

Year 6 girls' 600M race, gold medal.

Year 6 girls' standing long jump, silver medal.

Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus pandemic/staff absence/lack of uptake by schools to participate/unavailability of venue, we were unable to compete in the following inter-school competitions which we would normally participate in:

- Packham Football tournament

- Key Steps Gymnastics Competition

- Sportshall Athletics

- Boys’ netball rally

- Swimming gala

Annual Sports’ Celebration Assembly

Congratulations to the vast numbers of pupils who were awarded with a medal today for representing the school in one or more inter-school competitions this academic year. We were overwhelmed with the sheer numbers of medals given out during this assembly! As always, we selected two pupils to be awarded with ‘sports people of the year’ trophy. Rye and Christie were this year’s worthy winners showing how they met all of the Olympic and Commonwealth values.