Wealden Times | WT187 | September 2017 | Education supplement inside

WT Education Supplement
Photos: Freeimages.com/Jean Scheijen, Chutipan Chaitachawang
The Mead School, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
What variety of sports are available? At The Mead we offer a
huge range of sports – from field sports such as tag rugby, football
and hockey to athletics including high and long jump, shot
put, javelin and sprinting. We play netball and do rollerblading
on the school playground and take part in judo, gymnastics,
trampolining and co-ordination and agility exercises in our
school gym. In the summer children enjoy rounders, cricket and
tennis. All children from Reception age go swimming every week
and our Year 6 pupils often achieve their 3000 metres badges –
proof that regular, consistent swimming can really get results.
Is there anything out of the ordinary that pupils can try?
There are many opportunities to try all sorts of different
sports here at The Mead. These include our annual
activity water-sports holidays where the children can try
sailing, kayaking, keel-boating and yachting. Another
favourite is The Mead annual family ski-trip with skiing
and snowboarding on offer. In Year 6 students get
the chance to learn windsurfing at Bewl Water Reservoir.
What proves to be the most popular? All sports are very
popular amongst Mead pupils but perhaps unsurprisingly
football and netball are the favourites. Recently circuits in the
gym has also become very popular with both boys and girls.
Do teams get the chance to travel to fixtures/ matches both
locally and abroad? Our Mead sports teams regularly get
the opportunity to travel to fixtures at local venues and other
independent schools and we make use of the fantastic Bayham
Sports Ground for our larger sporting events. The Mead is an
active member of the Independent Schools Association and our
sports teams participate in the ISA national and regional sports
competitions throughout the school year, with consistent success at
final stages and a recent win at the ISA South U11 Rugby Festival.
How can skills be developed through participating
in sports transfer to other areas of academic life?
Sport gives fundamental life skills. Learning to lose. Learning
to win. Playing as a team and sharing glory and defeat.
Respecting the opposition, the referee, the history, representing
your school with pride. Learning that life is as much about
play as it is work and there is no better feeling than running at
your fastest speed, pushing yourself to your physical limit and
feeling truly alive. Sport builds confidence, resilience, wellbeing
and commitment, traits which can all be transferred with
dramatic impact upon academic progress and achievement.
How do you encourage a healthy and active lifestyle?
The huge range of physical activities on offer at The Mead mean
there’s something for everyone whether it’s a team sport like tagrugby
or something more individual such as trampolining. Our
emphasis is on having fun whilst being active to encourage those
children who don’t see themselves as ‘sporty’ to give activities a try.
This, along with regular opportunities for outside play, fresh air
and exercise along with a healthy nutritious school menu including
lots of fresh fruit and vegetables ensure a very a healthy and active
lifestyle for our Meadites, from Kindergarten up to Year 6.
meadschool.info
Reigate Grammar School, Surrey
What variety of sports are available? Is there anything out
of the ordinary that pupils can try? We offer a wide variety
of sporting opportunities throughout the students’ journeys
at RGS; these vary from traditional sports such as Rugby,
Hockey, Netball, Athletics, Cricket, Swimming, Golf, Tennis
to ‘newer’ sports which include Ultimate Frisbee, Sailing,
Girls’ Cricket, Skiing, Biathlon, Archery and Girls’ Rugby.
What proves to be most popular? Students have loved the
opportunity to explore the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. It is
a fantastic workout and gets students working within a coed,
team environment during competitive matches with a
focus on fair play. Those values are important across all of
our sports. We see it as important to be a school known not
just for being good at sport but also as a school where we
are ‘good sports’ – traditional sporting values matter.
Do teams get the chance to travel to fixtures/matches both
locally and abroad? Students have regular opportunities to
represent the school in weekly fixtures and national competitions.
While we are a co-educational day school we punch well above our
weight and have recently achieved major successes on a National
level. In just the last few months, we were the highest ranked co-ed
day school at the Inter Girls National Schools Athletics Finals,
won one of the Natwest trophy competitions for senior Rugby
and enjoyed similar extensive success across our major sports.
How can skills developed through participating in sports
transfer to other areas of academic life? The RGS community
goes well beyond our shores and as a school we have a wide network
of Old Reigatians across the world. Our current students have the
opportunity to build links across the world through International
Sports Tours which give a fantastic opportunity to play sports in
foreign environments, meet students from different backgrounds
and learn about historical and geographical aspects of the countries
they visit; recent tours include Cricket to Dubai, Rugby to South
Africa, Girls’ Hockey to Holland and Skiing to France. As a school
we have a strong link within the community and this continues
to be apparent through sport with our partnership links with
Rugby, Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Squash, Tennis and Swimming
clubs in the area. For students on an elite sports pathway or for
those who just want to be part of a team, RGS sport is a winner.
How do you encourage a healthy and active lifestyle? We believe in
a multi-sport approach to help students get a wide variety of activities.
We help our students find activities which stay with them beyond
RGS, as they lead a healthy, active, lifestyle based on good nutrition,
sleep and regular physical activity. We use sports psychologists,
nutritionists and a strength and conditioning coach amongst our
team of well qualified sports staff and professional coaches working
as full time Performance Directors. Members of our team include
international athletes, commonwealth games competitors, sportsmen
who have played regularly at Twickenham and a current
netball international – these are just a few of
the experiences and expertise that our
elite coaches have had and which
they use to inspire our students.
reigategrammar.org
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