Originally published May 11, 2018 in The Courier.
By Ryan Maher
A school in Dundee has become the first in the city to be given the highest award for delivering physical education.
Clepington Primary was presented with a gold School Sport Award on Wednesday by the chief executive of sportscotland, Stewart Harris, for their success in offering a wide range of extracurricular activities.
An independent panel of experts assessed the school’s progress and determined the two hours of physical training offered to pupils each week surpassed the level for a bronze or silver award.
Pictured with children from Clepington Primary are, Stewart Harris sportscotland Chief Executive, Elaine Zwirlein Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services at Dundee City Council, Councillor John Alexander, Paula Cheghall Clepington Primary Head Teacher, Paul Clancy Executive Director of Children and Family Service at Dundee City Council and Joe FitzPatrick Minister for Parliamentary Business.
The primary is now one of 212 in the country to have obtained this standard.
Mr. Harris said: “All the staff and pupils at Clepington Primary should be extremely proud of this fantastic achievement.
“Not only have they put physical education and sport at the heart of their school and local community but they have managed to do so in a way that encourages all pupils to engage in physical activity, whilst having fun at the same time.”
Principal teacher at Clepington Primary, Shona Brownlee, said the school is seeing the rewards from its focus on sports through the pupils.
She said: “The Gold award is recognition of the commitment of staff and enthusiasm of pupils for participation in sport. In addition to the two hours of physical education and extracurricular clubs, we participate in lots of local tournaments and festivals. Children’s achievements outside of school are recognised in school and we regularly organise trips to spectate at elite sporting events. We have extracurricular football, basketball, netball, rugby, hockey, badminton, tennis, ju-jitsu and dance and pupils like the wide variety of opportunities. Staff and pupils are rightly proud of our achievements and I would recommend that other schools do it. Once you have completed the online self-assessment, you may find that many of the requirements are things you are already doing.”
Funded by the National Lottery, the School Sport Award is designed to encourage schools to improve their physical education programmes.
Speaking about the progress of the national initiative, Mr. Harris added: “Sportscotland is committed to building a world-class sporting system for everyone. A crucial part of that is putting young people at the centre of our efforts. Working with our partners in local authorities and governing bodies of sport, we are creating closer links between physical education, school sport and club sport, which benefits young people by providing more and better opportunities to take part in sport.”
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