London 2012 Countdown Begins!

This week we are launching our Olympic & Paralympic Countdown as London 2012 draws nearer! We had a special assembly, led by Miss Francis, and later this week we are welcoming 2 very special visitors to the school.

We were delighted that Peter Norfolk, MBE & OBE, took time out of his very busy schedule to visit us. Peter was the first person ever to win a Paralympic medal for Britain in tennis when he took gold in the quads singles at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. He represented Great Britain again at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning gold in the singles and bronze in doubles with Jamie Burdekin. He is still ranked 2^nd in the world and has high hopes for London 2012. He spent the whole morning talking to all children and answering their questions and was a real inspiration to us all.

In the afternoon we were joined by Peter Hull, MBE who, among many achievements, won three Gold medals (all with World Records) in the Barcelona Paralympics in the 50m backstroke and freestyle and 100m freestyle swimming events. In 1995 he was named Man of the Year, along with Terry Waite and Simon Weston. We are very lucky indeed to be visited by these 2 Paralympic stars and it is an incredible way to start our countdown. Once again he was very generous with his time and he gave a real insight into the life of an athlete.

On the 3^rd October we will be having the first of our ‘London 2012 Countdown Days’. During the day all pupils will work in the house groups alongside pupils from other year groups. They will be doing a variety of activities around the Olympic and Paralympic values and we would ask everyone to have PE kit with them.

There will be a day like this every ½ term so that all children take part in all of the activities during the year.