St Edmund's

It goes without saying that recent times have been difficult in many ways and the currently overused word, resilience, coupled with the thought that it can be learnt in the classroom cannot really be followed through until times like these. However, many St Edmund’s Junior School pupils during this strange half term have risen to the the physical challenges set by Mrs Relf and JS PE. 

Back in Mid-March, a programme of weekly fitness challenges based on our current termly fitness tests were put in place and many of our pupils have taken the opportunity to enhance their overall physical wellbeing. Results have been really impressive, showing that gradual improvement sustained over a period of time has reaped rewards and been a most useful way to get together as a whole family unit. The programme is still in place and can start at any stage but it has been an opportunity for us in the JS PE Department to learn also, as pupils have offered their own additions to this well-oiled programme that was established 12 years ago.

Our video analysis ‘Booth’ and ‘Cricket Fridays’ have given the opportunity for our budding athletes to send through their sporting clips for analysis. From Mountain biking to netball, trampolining to cricket, football to swingball and rowing, all have shown great action from varying camera angles, extreme effort, solid technique but above all, carried out in a mature fashion and sense of fun. Our mantra being, ‘Discipline first, fun second.’

I spoke with Mr Penn this week at length about the use of video analysis in the professional sports world. As someone who used it both as a player and coach, now in teaching, he believes it is an unbelievable aid and something we should look to use more widely in our teaching as we move forward. That said, it is an extremely beneficial tool but one that needs a unique skill of understanding that all sports are complex sequences of movements, all individually affecting the other…complex stuff!

We do not always mention individual performance, as a collective team approach is always encouraged. Sometimes though and quite rightly, we delight in the success of individuals. So, our first half of Summer Term 2020 cyber wall of fame goes to the following for committing wholeheartedly to our programme:

• Evan Gallagher- fitness and fast bowling
• Tabby White- fitness and netball
• Alex Strzeminska-Bowden– improvement in mountainbking
• Freddie Post- football technique
• Cora  Regan-Mears- a sustained and individual approach to fitness for health
• Robert Scholar- trampolining and fast bowling
• Monty White – fitness and trampolining
• Tom Barter- striking a moving ball, hand-eye coordination
• Stella Rogers, Emma Cook, Clara Taylor – netball shooting