Longbenton High School is preparing to join the Youth Sport Trust and Sky Sports to help young people and families up and down the country engage in a week of virtual sporting challenges.
With young people set to miss out on their main school sport day this summer, the Youth Sport Trust is taking its annual National School Sport Week campaign beyond the school gates to parents and families - reinvented as National School Sport Week at Home.
Taking place from 20 to 26 June, the UK-wide campaign will give families, communities, schools and sports clubs the chance to capture the enjoyment, competition and camaraderie they have been missing out on during weeks of school closures and social distancing.
You will find two documents attached to the ‘school comms’ message.
The first, a Parents’ Guide, provides an overview, timetable and instructions about how the NSSW might be structured for your family. There are some basic guidelines for participation, along with templates to help you and your family prepare for a week of physical activities and challenges.
The second document provides a range of original, exciting ideas, so you can fill your week with a variety of engaging activities. There are 5 different types of challenges:
• Track and field
• Aiming sports
• Team sports
• Adventure sports
• Artistic sports
If you hover your cursor over the activity suggestions, in red lettering, you can access additional videos and documents that explain these fun tasks in more detail. As a family, you can choose which different activities you want to take part in, populate the timetable and maybe even challenge family and friends to take part in some ‘virtual’ competition. The Parents’ Guide provides detailed guidance relating to the social distancing protocols and staying safe during NSSW.
We hope that you all enjoy a week of physical challenges over NSSW, stretching from 20 – 26 June, creating a real sense of community amongst the staff, students and families who will all be participating from our school.
We are always immensely proud of the effort, resilience and determination our students consistently demonstrate in PE lessons, extra-curricular clubs, fixtures and sports days. We hope that the excellent programme of activities that the Youth Sport Trust, in partnership with Sky Sports, have put together will help families re-create some of the many positive experiences that our young people gain from PE and sport at Longbenton High School.
If you want to share your experiences and celebrate your participation on Twitter you can tag school @longbentonhs, the Youth Sport Trust @YouthSportTrust or Sky Sports @SkySports. You can also use the hashtag #NSSWtogether
Paul Quinn, Longbenton High School’s Headteacher said:
“Everyone appreciates the role that physical wellbeing can have on emotional and mental health. During this period of lockdown I have seen many people out relishing their chance for daily exercise, heard of many taking part in a daily exercise regime through somebody like Joe Wicks or taken on challenges such as ‘Couch to 5k’. At a time when participation in team sports has been taken from us, as well as access to gyms and sports centres, it is important to embrace the opportunities for having fun with exercise when they arise. NSSW is a great concept and one that I would love to see many of our school community take part in and enjoy being part of.”
In previous years National School Sport Week has seen thousands of schools join in a week-long celebration of school sport and Physical Education, and their important role enhancing young people’s wellbeing.
This year, Sky Sports has teamed up with the Youth Sport Trust to supercharge the campaign, helping to inspire families across the country to take part. This builds on a long-term relationship between the broadcaster and charity.
Youth Sport Trust Chief Executive Ali Oliver said:
“The Youth Sport Trust is thrilled to see Longbenton High School backing National School Sport Week at Home to ensure no child misses out on their school sports day this summer.
“Right now, young people are missing their friends and missing the sense of connection they get through sport. Sport has such a crucial role to play in promoting young people’s wellbeing and this has never been more apparent than it is now. After weeks of isolation we hope that YST National School Sport Week at Home 2020 can help bring families, communities, schools and sports clubs back together.”
Anyone can register to take part and will receive videos and activity cards to help them plan a series of challenges across the week for their families, neighbours, friends or colleagues.
More information can be found here: https://longbenton.org.uk/parents/newsletters
