A pupil at Alexandra Park School, he is a Panathlon Sports Leader and participant – and in 2024 was the subject of an award-winning documentary.
A year after delighting crowds at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, the Panathlon Joy Garden moved into its permanent home.
Pupils from Rush Green Primary School in Romford were “absolutely ecstatic” to win the first ever England National Primary Ten-Pin Bowling Final.
Ysgol Maes y Felin, from Holywell in Flintshire, were crowned champions at our inaugural Welsh Panathlon National Primary Ten Pin Final.
The iconic London Aquatics Centre hosted our National Primary Swimming Final and National Special School Swimming Final.
In the midst of the excitement and the glory of the Paralympics in Paris, Panathlon are enjoying some huge wins closer to home.
During the week of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the Panathlon Joy Garden was visited by tens of thousands of people and featured several times on prime BBC TV, radio and in national newspapers and magazines.
Malachi Edewor becomes the 16th winner of our prestigious Jack Petchey Foundation Outstanding Achievement award. The pupil at Riverside School in Haringey has global development delay – but his condition has not prevented him being appointed as the school’s Head Boy and achieving remarkable feats in sport.
TV star and Panathlon ambassador Alex Brooker supports over 100 pupils with disabilities and special needs at one of our competitions in Calderdale and confesses, “I wish I’d had this opportunity at school!”
Former Panathlete Erin O’Flaherty is selected for the England Athletics Para Academy training programme – and says it was Panathlon that set her on the path to sporting success.
We launch a new Grand Prix Finals series – with competitive events taking place simultaneously across multiple venues, event managers comparing scores online and regional champions crowned.
The 2023/24 autumn term was officially our biggest ever – with over 20,119 pupils with disabilities and special needs competing in 363 events, plus 2,208 Young Leaders (an 11% year-on-year rise).
Panathlon holds its first ever overseas team competition as 69 pupils gather for a 10-pin bowling event in Belfast.
Paralympic champion Liz Johnson is appointed Chair of the Panathlon Foundation charity, succeeding Andy Sutch who held the post for a decade.
Independent research shows Panathlon’s positive impact reaches deep into schools and communities and drives transformational change for children with disabilities and special needs across England and Wales.
Our annual figures show a stunning 20% increase in participation with a record 62,981 pupils with disabilities and special needs taking part in our sporting programmes in 2022/23.
Arsenal amputee player and former Panathlete, Isaac Addai, returns to volunteer as a leader at one of our competitions in North London – and says he “would not be the player I am today” without the opportunity to compete in sport at school given to him by Panathlon.
Eighty-six pupils from 12 schools had an absolute ball as Panathlon held its first ever competition south of The Valleys.
Panathlon won the ‘Sport for Social Change’ award at the Sports Journalists’ Association’s British Sports Awards at The Brewery in London.
November 2022 was officially Panathlon’s biggest ever month of sporting activity as we staged 142 events in 22 school days across England and Wales.
Panathlon releases its annual participation figures for 2021/22 which show a record 52,476 young people participated in our sporting competitions from 2,078 schools in 758 events across 42 English counties and seven unitary areas of Wales.
Great Britain star Michael McCabe tells us he “may never have become a wheelchair racer” if Panathlon hadn’t given him the opportunity to fall in love with sport” at school.
Panathlon forged a partnership with Greenwood Academies Trust that will open up sporting opportunities to thousands of SEND pupils across its 37 primary, secondary and special academies.
Panathlon joins with multiple partners to serve up tennis sessions for adults with disabilities and special needs at Pocklington Tennis Club in East Yorkshire.
Panathlon records its biggest ever month with an astounding 5081 pupils with disabilities and special needs taking part in our competitions in March.
With lockdowns over, Panathlon participation booms in many areas of the country with our pathway of local, county and regional returning. Cumbria is one of many rapid growth areas.
Our post-Covid ‘blended’ approach of delivering external and in-school activity engages well over 28,000 SEND pupils in its first full term – bucking national trends of declining participation amongst people with disabilities and special needs.
Easing of Covid restrictions enables external competitions to return for the new academic year, running alongside the in-school Virtual programme. A staggering 18,000 pupils enter in the first half-term alone!
New independent research says Panathlon showed ingenuity and agility in swiftly changing its delivery model to get SEND pupils active during the pandemic.
Our end-of-year stats show 45,845 SEND pupils from 583 schools accessed sport and physical activity in 2020/21 despite the ravages of Covid-19 – proof of the astounding success of our Virtual programme.
We build on the success of the in-school ‘virtual’ activity by adding swimming, cricket and tennis to our programme, empowering school staff to adapt and deliver sessions themselves to suit their pupils’ needs.
Panathlon re-launches its multi-skills challenges for students to do in their homes and gardens in order to stay active and engaged during Covid-19 lockdowns and school holidays.
Panathlon and our partners St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation win the ‘Best Partnership with a National Children’s Charity’ prize at The Better Society Awards
Panathlon launches its post-Covid ‘virtual’ in-school competition format, with over 300 schools taking part in its first term
Before the onset of Covid-19 and the closure of all schools, Panathlon was well on course for another record breaking year
Panathlon keeps breaking its own participation records and March 12th saw us stage NINE competitions on a single day
As the partnership between Panathlon and the Jack Petchey Foundation enters its 15th year, funding received from our longest-serving supporter passes the £1million mark
Panathlon delivers its first National Primary Final for Special Schools at the prestigious Stoke Mandeville Stadium
The full extent of Panathlon’s transformational impact on participating schools, competitors and Young Leaders is revealed by new independent research
Panathlon’s impact spread further than ever before in 2018/19 with almost 22,000 young people with disabilities and special needs benefitting from our competitive sport programmes
Panathlon won two prestigious awards in less than 24 hours after collecting accolades from London Sport and the Sport & Recreation Alliance
Panathlon celebrates another landmark moment with the launch of our new competition for Key Stage 3 children, Panathlon Xtend, at the Costello Stadium in Hull
Panathlon celebrated a landmark moment as we staged our first ever competition outside of England, with Ysgol Pendalar of Caernarfon taking the honour of becoming our first ever Welsh Panathlon gold medallists
Panathlon’s first ever National Primary Final brought 17 teams from across the country to the Copper Box Arena in London with Great Barr Academy from Birmingham crowned the inaugural winners
It was another record-breaking year of growth, new milestones and sporting achievements for Panathlon
GB Paralympians Tanni Grey-Thompson, Liz Johnson and Steve Brown attend our showpiece London Final at the Copper Box Arena and marvel at 200 participants coming together from across the capital
Great Arley School from Lancashire win gold at the London 2012 Aquatic Centre in the National U14 Swimming Final– Panathlon’s first ever nationwide pan-disability competition
Four early-season Panathlon Primary Finals up and down the country involved 236 students with disabilities and special needs representing their schools in competitive sport
Our ever-expanding calendar of competitions enabled 13,150 competitors to engage in competitive sport in 2016/17, up from 10,083 last year
