Cordwalles pupils rewarded for rising to PE challenge

​The world’s top athletes will be going for gold at the Rio Olympics later this summer, and with that in mind the youngsters of Cordwalles Junior School in Camberley have already laid down a marker after they were awarded a Silver School Games award by the Youth Sport Trust.

​The award rounds off an impressive 12 months for the school, which has decided to place sport and PE at the heart of its educational programme – with spectacular results.

“A year ago just the minimum amount of PE was being taught so the school decided to take action about that,” said Cordwalles’s PE leader Sam Alley-Mohindra.

“Now all children have an hour of PE per week, as well as being part of the Gugafit programme, and everyone jogs, walks or runs a mile twice a week. In addition to that we have eight different PE-related extra-curricular clubs each week.

“The whole school, pupils and staff, have bought into the new programme and it’s done wonders for the school. Teachers have received training on tag rugby, football skills training, orienteering and gymnastics, and in the course of this year, Cordwalles has entered teams into 12 different sporting festivals.”

It is this whole-hearted approach that earned Cordwalles, a member of the GLF Schools Group, its silver status, bypassing the bronze level because of what has been achieved so far.

“The playground used to be dominated by football but now you see all kinds of sports being played. As a school we’re really proud of what we’ve done because it’s been such a team effort,” added Ms Alley-Mohindra.

“We have Year Five pupils who are receiving training from Active Surrey to become Sports Crew leaders, which means they’ll be working with the younger pupils, and hopefully it can become a self-perpetuating thing, which the children grow into as they get older. Achieving silver status is something that’s making a difference to life in the school now, and hopefully will do for a long time to come. It’s an award we can all share.”