The week starting Monday 29th June was the 2009 "National Sports and Healthy School Week" and at Our Lady of Mount Carmel we celebrated with our own "Mini-Olympics"!
What a fabulous week this was - an amazing experience for pupils, parents and staff!!!
The week commenced in style with our Opening Ceremony.
All the Olympiads met in the hall then paraded into the playground with their classmates, each class dressed in national costume and representing a different country. They marched round to their rousing national anthem. The parents were all seated ready and watched in amazement.
The countries were represented as follows:
Nursery & Reception - Ireland
• Year 1 - France
• Year 2 - Mexico
• Year 3 - Italy
• Year 4 - India
• Year 5 - Spain
• Year 6 - China
Several pupils then marched, representing England, with our sports coach Jeff, our SCO Mary Guillfoyle, and pupils from St. Damians who had previously attended our school.
This was followed by wonderful performances from each class/country who performed national dances.
Each country then took their flag to Jeff who erected them for all to see. The Olympic Torch was passed around all the children. Councillor Bill Harrison then declared the games open with the official lighting of the Olympic Flame, all to the rousing chords of "Be Thou My Vision".
The week also saw the launch of our new "COW" scheme - "Cycle Once a Week". Mr. Cow visited all the classes to tell the children about the scheme. Children were able to travel to school on bikes or scooters. They were then rewarded with a "COW" badge. Children were encouraged to dress up their bikes as part of a "best dressed bike" competition - new bike helmets and water bottles were awarded at the end of the week.
On Monday we had a bike maintenance team on hand who were able to make minor repairs to the bikes. The police also joined in, checking that all bikes were roadworthy and stamping security numbers on the bikes. Miss McIntyre provided cycling proficiency training for all Key Stage 2 pupils.
Throughout the week each day started with an International Take Ten session in which pupils from each class were able to teach everyone their national dance. Tameside Sports coaches ran Mini Olympics for all classes and Olympic Certificates were awarded at the end of the week for the best performances. Classroom lessons were based around the "Olympic" theme and provided children with the opportunity to find out about the meaning and history of the Olympics, to research current Olympiads and to gain an insight into the "Olympic Spirit" and what this meant to them.
Mary, the SCO from St Damians School, along with some St Damians pupils, ran a Multi Skills Festival with Key Stage One - thanks so much to all of them!
Sports Day was held on the final day though this was rained off. We were able to hold the event the following week with great success.
The week finished with a closing ceremony on Friday afternoon - again the children arrived in national dress. Prizes were awarded for all the events that had taken place during the week. We were treated to performances from our Cheerleading team - they had recently won the Tameside Primary Schools Cheerleading Competition. Each year then had a "national" celebration in their classroom, savouring healthy foods and soaking in the ambience of their adopted country.
All in all the week was a resounding success. We would like to say a huge thank you to all the children staff and parents who supported the event and gave so generously of their time.
Year 5 are producing a special edition newspaper in which everyone will be able to read about the week. This will serve as a wonderful memoir.
We have two web pages packed with photos for you to enjoy here.
