Five primary schools 'try something new' at Maidenhead sports festival

Desborough College hosted a fun and rewarding sports festival to encourage younger students on Thursday (May 10). 

Over 80 Year 5 and 6 pupils from 5 different schools in Maidenhead took part in the festival as part of the School Sport Partnership’s annual event programme, designed to give children a taster of Touch Rugby, a non-contact introduction to the sport.

This was a participation-focused festival, with no winners and no losers, and all pupils received a certificate in recognition of taking part.

Partnership Development Manager from the School Sport Partnership Emma Fitzgerald said: “We enjoyed seeing the children try something new, it gave the children lots of success which I feel is crucial if we are to encourage children to get more active on a regular basis. The key is enjoyment!"

The schools that took part were St. Mary’s, Holy Trinity Cookham, Furze Platt Junior, St. Lukes, and Oldfield.

One school will be invited to go onto the Berkshire School Games on July 9 at Braywick Leisure Centre to represent Ascot & Maidenhead School Sport Partnership.

Desborough College provided the younger students with a team of Year 9 and 10 sports leadership students to run warm-up and skills activities and umpire the Super 6 games in an encouraging way.

The game the children played, Super 6’s, is an introductory version of Touch Rugby, which incorporates passing, catching and movement on and off the ball, and working as a team.

The difficult aspects of rugby, like passing the ball backward and tackling, were removed so all children experienced playing competitively in a friendly environment.

Sammie Phillips from England Touch Rugby has helped the Ascot & Maidenhead School Sport Partnership to deliver this new opportunity for local schools.

The partnership hopes to raise the profile of the importance of all children completing 60 active minutes every day and broaden the participation profile to get new children involved and active.

In Maidenhead, there is Junior Touch Rugby every Tuesday 5-6pm for children aged 6 to 13 years of age at Maidenhead Rugby Club.

For more information, contact Sammie@in2touch.com