A Sporting Round Up

Over the last couple of weeks all the students from Pre-School to Year 6 have taken part in their school Sports Days. Whilst there were some outstanding individual achievements this year, a school Sports Day is so much more. They help to teach students the importance of teamwork, perseverance and resilience in the face of challenges. All the students worked extremely hard all term in preparation for their events and they should all be congratulated for their efforts and performances. Watching classmates, teachers and parents cheer on the participants throughout the events was fantastic to see and helps to show what a special place Gateway is.

House Sport is one of the areas of my job that I am especially passionate about and this year we have had some fantastic House competitions. House sport plays an important role in the holistic development of students by promoting such things as physical fitness, teamwork, social interaction and skill development. We still have one event left to complete, the Year 4 House Swimming Gala and the destination of the overall House Sports Club (House collect points from all the various House events) has yet to be decided. I would like to congratulate the students for all their efforts and endeavours this academic year during the House sports competitions.

On Monday the 19th June six students travelled to Alexander Stadium in Birmingham for the ISA Athletics Finals, where they were representing London North. It was a fantastic occasion with hundreds of students from all over England competing and to have the opportunity to participate at such an event was a wonderful achievement. All the students did brilliantly, with one placing 4th in the U11 Boys Long Jump. However, the stand out performance was in the U9 Girls Rounders Ball Throw where we managed to achieve a Gold medal and we are very proud to say that we now have an ISA National Athletics champion.

One of our final cricketing commitments of the term involved sixteen students from Year 5, who took part in a cricket festival organised by Ballinger Waggoners Cricket Club. The students were split into two teams and both teams played a number of fixtures throughout the day. It was a great opportunity for students to put into practice the skills that they have been developing all term. The boys teams performed especially well managing to remain unbeaten throughout the day and were deservedly crowned the winners of the Boys section of the festival.

It has been an outstanding year in Sport at Gateway and I would like to thank all the members of staff and students for their commitment and efforts on the sports fields this academic year. Students have shown great sportsmanship, displaying respect for their opponents in both defeat and victory. They have shown a great desire to improve and demonstrated outstanding perseverance and resilience when faced with challenges. It has been a pleasure to watch them perform on the sports field and I hope that they all continue to embrace and enjoy representing the school in the future.

Andrew Bradley