KS3/KS4 students recently took part in a Paralympic Sports Week in PE. The Paralympic Games focus on values of courage, determination, inspiration, and above all, equality which was the aim for pupils to take away from the experience.
The very first Paralympic Games, held in 1960 in Rome, were primarily for athletes in wheelchairs, today, people with a wide range of physical disabilities can participate in a range of different activities. Therefore pupils took part in either Boccia, Goalball, or Sitting Volleyball.
The activities and rules were introduced in form period to raise awareness and introduce students to some of the rules. They all then took part in a class competition of one or two of the activities. Overall the lessons were a success, the pupils rose to the challenge, experienced new activities, and had to overcome a series of unfamiliar challenges in order to be successful in the activities.
Pupil quotes:
‘it was good to try a new activity that I haven’t played before’
‘I didn’t realise how much skill was involved in order to win’
‘I found it hard to not get up and run after the ball as that is what we are all used to, it was more difficult than I thought’
We plan to have more drop-down weeks in the future with different Paralympic activities. Well done to all involved.
