Today Panathlon delivered a new event at Colegrave Primary School in Newham East London, aimed for the students with PMLD.
A total of 13 students all with Profound Multiple Learning Dificulties took part in a range of activities; flight path and parachute popcorn which are in the generic Primary Panathlon programme, along with specially adapted activities. New adaptions such as “Wild Water,” in which students select and pick up objects out of a bucket of water.
Steve Peaty who oversees disability sport in the borough said, “It’s fantastic to do this event today for a number of reasons. It’s very rare for these children to come out of their chairs, and the freedom they have when they do this is great to watch. You can see they’re interested by the equipment and are excited to explore and try various sports. You need to remember these children do very little sporting activity and so every opportunity is like gold for them. We hope to run a similar day in the summer and further involve PMLD students from Bexley along to Colegrave school.”
Monika Hoch-Zielonka, a Teacher at Colegrave School said, “I would like to say a huge thank you to Panathlon for delivering this session for our PMLD students here at Colegrave. It was such an amazing event and the children were so happy and it was lovely to see their excitement. They got to try totally new accessible and inclusive activities such as wild water, curling, parachute popcorn and flight path. This is a huge milestone for these students and a day they’ll remember.”
The day was made possible with thanks to funding from Miller Insurance Services. For all of the students this was the first time they have been involved in Panathlon and for many the first time winning a medal. Thanks also to Steve Peaty in Newham for co-ordinating this new event.
