Building on the success of last November’s primary Swim Panathlon, Panathlon delivered another primary swimming event in Sheffield this week, to cater for the excess demand that has been generated.
Ponds Forge, was again the venue with 6 new teams and 53 children participating, from Sheffield SEN mainstream units.
Pupils from the St Catherines amassed 6 wins across the 11 activities to come out victors on the day.
Malcolm Johnson, St Catherines Swim teachers said, “We at St Catherines give the Sen children lessons on a weekly basis, however we have never been able to put lessons into practice, and this is the first time we have been able to compete in a competition. This has been such an experience for the students. The children and staff involved loved this and now welcome the opportunity to compete later in the year in the North Finals and again, test ourselves and look to improve.”
Norfolk Community Primary finished in second and lead teacher Luke Marsh said, “This event was absolutely fantastic. I could see the children’s confidence increasing all the way through the day, in fact they now want to know when the next time they will be in the pool.”
Parents from Norfolk Primary attended, Sarah Raynes whose son Aharron competed said, “Aharron has just started to get into the water, he is having some one on one lessons but had never actually competed. I thought all he could do was basically a Starfish, but here he was doing races and challenges, this has been fantastic for him.”
Fellow parent Natalie Mitchell said, “Lillie had no confidence in the water, but today she amazed us, the activities made it so inclusive and the all the children surprised us what they could do, today gave children at Norfolk Primary a chance to shine.”
Laura Hall, Teacher of Nethergreen school said, “I can honestly say today was the best event we have ever attended. The gala was so organised, it flowed seamlessly. My School team was full of complex needs children, but they were able to participate in all activities, we have now been to two Panathlon run events and we can’t wait for the next event they put on.”
The leaders, from New College in Pontefract, again provided an expert and professional display of leadership. Amy Green, Head of PE at the College said, “today was great, the children involved had a lot of complex needs, so it challenged my students in ways that they haven’t been challenged before. We look forward to the next event with Panathlon.”
The competition results were as follows:
1st – St Catherines
2nd – Norfolk Community Primary
3rd – St Pats
4th – Nether Edge
5th – Nethergreen
6th – Valley Park
Many thanks to the numerous supporters who attended and also to our sponsors , The Jane Tomlinson Appeal and Links SSP
