London 2012 Games

Committed to making the most of the London 2012 Games

As a school we are committed to promoting the Olympic and Paralympic values through lessons, events, assemblies, and whole school enterprise days. The school shares facilities with Kirklees Leisure Services and together we provide sporting opportunities for the whole of the local community, with a strong focus on developing healthy lifestyles, high levels of participation in sport and nurturing in young people all that is good about sport and the Olympic ideals; qualities which will serve them well throughout their lives.

The school ethos of “Enjoy, Achieve and Celebrate” closely mirrors the 7 Olympic and Paralympic values. It is underpinned by a commitment to excellence for those who have the capacity to be elite athletes and also strong support and encouragement for developing participation by all, as a route to building confidence, self esteem, health and friendship through sport.

A number of very successful activities that have already taken place indicate our commitment towards the London 2012 Games – we have had a whole school cross-curricular Olympic Fortnight, where all curriculum areas organised activities based on the Olympic and Paralympic values; we have a dedicated Leadership Academy, where pupils develop their own coaching and leadership skills whilst offering good quality sporting developments to the younger children in our First and Middle schools; we have a team of Young Ambassadors and Olympic Leaders that work hard to promote the Olympic and Paralympic values through their work; we have organised and delivered an “On the Road to London 2012” Roadshow to pupils in our feeder primary schools, and we have won national competitions as a result of these.

This year we have already committed to hosting a London 2012 Student Leadership Conference and running an 'Enterprise of the Olympic Games' event. The whole school cross-curricular Olympic Fortnight organised for 2008 will be delivered again in the Summer Term 2012. The “On the Road to London 2012” Roadshow will be delivered each year on the run up to London 2012.

In addition, we have selected some new Young Ambassadors and a new Year 10 Olympic Leaders team that will design and deliver an Olympic Challenge afternoon to younger pupils based on team building exercises. This team of students will also be planning a number of 1 hour classroom based lessons to deliver to primary aged children.

We already, and would continue to promote Olympic activities in the school newsletter and the local/regional press. The enthusiasm, level of participation and enjoyment of sport is tangible across the school. Our termly newsletters reflect the wide range of activities that take place and constantly seek opportunities to promote and publicly celebrate these achievements.

We have an incredibly proactive PE Department that works closely with the School Sports Partnership and a very committed School Sports Coordinator to ensure that pupils are fully aware of and involved in a number of Olympic and Paralympic themed activities.

As a PE Department and as a whole school we are fully committed to making the most of the Games over the next few years – we will continue to use student voice and student leadership to promote London 2012 in a variety of ways to students in our own school as well as pupils in our feeder schools. 2012 is a brilliant opportunity for the school, the community and the country and we are committed to making the most of the next three years and building the Olympic values with our young people so that we have a real human legacy for many years ahead.

John McGee
Headteacher
Whitcliffe Mount Business and Enterprise College