Tuxford collaboration of schools has had the opportunity to take part in various activities during the spring term, including coaching, tournaments and festivals. The sports leaders have also been very busy planning, organizing and leading these festivals and competitions.

During January Tuxford sports leaders took part in a training session to enable them to officiate the sports hall athletics competitions which were very well attended by the collaboration.

February saw the first boy’s football festival this was requested by the teachers to accommodate the boys who were not selected for the school team but enjoyed playing football as you can imagine this was a huge success and both The junior football organisers and KS2 pupils had a great afternoon one to definitely repeat next year.

I am pleased to report that the 8^th annual dance show took place as usual and as always the standard and variation of performance never ceases to amaze me. This show gives dance leaders the opportunity to lead workshops for the primary school pupils as well as choreographing dances to show on the day. 

March saw the 2nd KS1 gymnastics festival this was a huge success enabling pupils to show off their floor and bench skills to each other in a relaxed atmosphere. Pupils who attend the Tuxford gymnastics club gave their assistance and rewarded good performance.

YEAR 5/6 TAG RUGBY

Well done Haggonfields, St Lukes and Ramsden School for such an excellent display in our annual tag rugby competition at Worksop RUFC.  The event was a huge success thanks to support from Jamie Waddell, Steve Shaw and year 11 Portland student Tom Wilde who refereed the matches.

Congratulations to the top two schools, Priory School narrowly lost by 3 tries to 1 in the last game to overall winners Ryton Park School (below).  Both teams will now represent themselves and Portland in the Bassetlaw championships at East Retford RUFC on Monday 17^th May.

I have been involved within the sport of gymnastics since the age of five and started to help coach at 13. When I went to university there was unfortunately no gymnastics club so I joined the trampoline club in 1999. I began to help coach other students and found that I loved trampolining as much as gymnastics. I coached a few children’s clubs and then when I finished university and came home, I took a part time job in the local leisure centre teaching the two sports. I soon realised that the children I taught were extremely talented and so I created DUKERIES ACADEMY in 2005 so that as a club we could start competing. We began winning titles and medals and became a respected club in the county and region. 

In 2007 we developed elite squads and the girls also qualified to compete on the national circuit and we also qualified for  the British Trampoline Championships. I then began teaching in schools within Bassetlaw . Between Portland, Elizabethan and Tuxford we have around 150 students actively involved in trampolining and gymnastics and compete at Bassetlaw district, county, regional and national events.

We have in two years been rewarded for the hard effort that we all put into training and have gained  many titles, including

National Under 13 girls 2^nd place champion Ellie Hatt

Bassetlaw District champions ( Portland and Elizabethan) Runners up (Tuxford and Elizabethan), Nottinghamshire Key stage 4 champions, (Elizabethan)

Under 13 girls regional champions, zonal 3^rd place, under 15 girls 2^nd place

 Under 13 champions regional 2010. ( Portland)

 Under 15 girls 2010 Elizabethan 1^st, 2^nd and national place 5^th

The highlights of an hectic spring term programme of inter school competition includes the success and participation in the secondary competitions below.

• Badminton - Elizabethan boys and Valley girls took part in the Key Stage 3 county final, with Elizabethan winning the event and then the regional final, to make it to the national final on 25th April. Serlby Park boys and Elizabethan girls made it to the Key Stage 4 county final
• Basketball – Portland KS4 boys and Elizabethan KS3 girls made it through to the County finals where Elizabethan finished runners up and Portland boys are through to the central zone National Schools Basketball competition
• Cross Country - Each school entered the SSP event including Worksop College and Ranby House. Over 200 competitors ran on a very wet , cold and muddy day. All schools had representation in the county final where Bassetlaw gained two team golds, one silver and one bronze as well as two Champion School golds.
• Rowing - Retford Oaks hosted the first ever Nottinghamshire Schools Indoor Rowing Championship, with the host school, St Giles, Portland, Serlby Park and Tuxford being involved. Tuxford then represented Nottinghamshire at the inaugural East Midlands event. Thank you to Concept 2 for supporting the event.
• Rugby Union - Tuxford also made it to the Year 7 county final, finishing 3^rd
• Sports Hall Athletics – From a field of 5 schools, Tuxford narrowly beat Valley, to make it to the county final hosted at Nottingham Trent University.
• Trampoline - The first Bassetlaw Schools Trampoline competition took place in February, with Elizabethan and Tuxford at Key Stage 3 and Elizabethan and Portland at Key Stage 4 making the county final. Elizabethan won the Key Stage 4 event, to go alongside their success in the regional schools competition and finished 6^th in the National Finals. Please read the Focus Coach Article featuring Naomi Johnson, Level 2 Trampoline coach..

There have been other individual and team successes from schools in the partnership, so big congratulations to all the schools, students and staff who have been involved over the last term – well done.  

To finish our topic on the Olympics last term, we held a ‘mini Olympics’. The whole school took part in mixed aged teams. Each team represented a country and had three minutes at each event, trying to gain as many points as possible.

We started with an opening ceremony, where each country paraded into the hall led by their flag bearer and was allocated a starting event. The children were very competitive and had great fun competing in the events, which were: - hurdles, a circuit run, skipping, egg and spoon round the healthy trail, target throw,  step-ups, ‘skiing’ and z-bugs (we pretended the z-bug was the skeleton bob-sleigh).

Y5/6 Indoor Athletics Competition 26.2.10

Again the organisation was excellent. The activities were well thought out and well led by your students and they kept our pupils active and motivated. Our 12 children had a fantastic morning and were thrilled to come 2nd in the competition.

We have since taken part in the Ordsall Rugby Club Fun Run on Sunday March 21st where we won a cup! Also, some of our children now attend an athletics club at Elizabethan High School on a Monday night.

I feel the festivals kick started a desire to be more active and motivated children and staff to get involved in activities after school and outside of school.

Thank you for these opportunities. I know you put a huge amount of effort and time into organising and running these events for us. As a PLT in school I can honestly say they are having a positive effect long after the festivals are over.

We are looking forward to the Y3/4 tennis festival in May.