The Sports Disability Unit in Nottinghamshire was successful in securing funding for a new post, the Disability Performance Pathway Coach, which will run for two years. The appointment was filled by Richard Whitehead, who is a Paralympic Sledge Hockey player, England Cricketer, New York Marathon runner and Midlander of the year.

St Giles has been very fortunate in securing Richard to work with our talented students since January 07 and we were also offered a series of multi skill Net/Wall coaching sessions from Martin Tilling in November 06, prior to Richard starting.

 Martin Tilling worked with KS3 pupils with varying abilities on Thursday afternoons. His aim’s were to improve the a,b,c’s ( agility, balance, co ordination and speed (control) of the children, give a positive experience of sport and to give an early awareness of racket sports. The children enjoyed his approach to sport and had lots of fun whilst increasing their motor skills.

Richard is working with two different age groups at St Giles, KS4 and KS3. The KS4 students have recently completed the Junior Sports Leaders course and Richard is encouraging the continuation of those skill’s learnt and promoting games and athletic skills with a view to continued participation as and when they leave school.

The KS3 group have also looked at multi skills and game specific skills and have really been focussed on the activities he has provided. We have all been very pleased with the way everyone has worked together and the improvement in skill levels observed in the last few weeks.

 This project has certainly been a great opportunity for the pupils at St Giles to improve their games play and physical ability not to mention the improvement in confidence and self esteem.

A residential School of Sport was held during the Easter holidays and I am pleased to say that one our pupils in KS3 who attended has been invited to train with the U12 Notts cricket team.