The PE Co-ordinators would like take this opportunity to say well done, and share some of the excellent achievements and activities the
pupils have been involved in so far this year. From now on we will produce a PE newsletter at the end of each term to keep you updated with
what is going on in and out of school.
What we do in school
We are very proud of the PE that we have available in our school and the range of activities and
equipment that we can offer the children. We are very lucky to have close links with Greenacre
Secondary School as they aid us in providing high quality PE in our school. They supply us with
equipment, training and support wherever we need it. They have sent in PE specialists this term to
teach and deliver Volleyball and fitness to some Year 4 and 5 classes and have also helped train some
staff in teaching Handball, which will be introduced to the curriculum in September.
As a child grows up, he or she will likely be drawn to participate in sports. But not all children will be interested in or successful at every
sports experience. Some children are more inclined to team sports while others will prefer individual sports. This is why at Balfour we try to
expose children to as many activities as possible to ensure they have the chance to find a sport they enjoy. We currently offer 20 different
activities to the children throughout their time at Balfour and hope to increase this further.
Sports Crew training
Well done to the 20 Year 5 children who have successfully completed their Sports Crew Training. After Easter they will be on the playground
at lunchtimes, in which they will organise games and activities that the other pupils can join in with and therefore be more active.
Extra-Curricular Clubs
Below is a table that shows what clubs are currently available, what teachers run them, what pupils can attend and whether there are spaces
available.
Club
When
Where
Taken by
Cricket and
Athletics
Rugby
Monday after school
School Field
Tuesday
School Field
Kung Fu
Dance Club
Tuesday after school
Wednesday after
school
Thursday after
school
Thursday after
school
Thursday after
school
Friday After school
Friday After school
Gym
Hall
Mr Kirk and Mr
Barham
Mr Smith and Miss
Jobling
Outside club
Outside club
Playground
Netball Club
Netball Club
Football Club
Hockey Club
Football Club
Pupils who can
attend
Yr. 4, 5 and 6
Spaces available?
Yr. 4,5, and 6
No
All
All
Yes (at a cost)
Yes (at a cost)
Mrs Hagen-Guest
Yr. 6
No
Playground
Mrs Connolly
Yr. 5
No
Field
Outside Club
Yr. 4-5
Yes
Playground
Field
Mr Lee
Mr Williams and Mr
Wood
Yr4,5 and 6
Yr5-6
Yes
No
No
For information regarding these clubs please see the teacher running it or Mr Kirk.
Competitions
Congratulations to the school Football team who recently reached the Semi-Final of the Primary Football League. They finished runners up in
their league, in which they won 5 out of their 6 games. They played Maundene in the semi-final but unfortunately lost 6-2. They will play
their final game this week against last year’s finalists, Kingfisher, in the 3/4 place playoff at Greenacre School.
Mini Youth Games
The Mini Youth Games (MYG) is an annual programme that involves more than 2,500 primary school children in a series of inter-school
competitions.
Open to every primary school child in Medway, the MYG is an exciting opportunity for children to experience the thrill of friendly,
competitive sport, to learn new skills and develop a sense of fair play.
Prizes are awarded at each event and points are gained towards the overall MYG title. A fair play trophy is awarded at each event, and there is
an annual participation prize for the school that selects the largest number of children to take part in MYG events.
The MYG in 2011/12 was won by St Margaret's Junior School in Rainham. The overall series Fair Play winners were Hoo St
Werburgh Primary School. The Participation Award went to Parkwood Primary School while Wainscott Primary School was the Best Placed
Small School.
We at Balfour have a good record at the MYG and in 2011/12 we finished 4th in the Overall series and was 2nd in the Highest Participation
Award. This shows we are both competitive and select a wide range of children in our teams. Taking into consideration that there are over 40
schools that compete in this series, this is a very impressive result.
2012/13 MYG
This year’s MYG series has so far been a very exciting and successful one. We started way back in September where our Hockey team
competed at Holcombe Hockey club and finished in an impressive 6th position. This was followed by another good performance in Rugby
where we also finished in 6th place. Badminton wasn’t as successful for us as we finished down in 21st position, but we did have a number of
Year 5 pupils in our team so things are looking good for next year. Swimming was next and considering we don’t have our own pool we
performed very well and finished in 10th position. After swimming Balfour were standing in 9th place overall. Not bad.
A new event was introduced into this year’s MYG series
and this proved lucky for us. This was the first time
Balfour had competed in Basketball for 8 years and we
had obviously been ready for it. Our team won all 8
games on the day and finished in 1st position out of 36
schools. The only school not to lose a game all day. Well
done. Our success continued into the next event, Table
Tennis. Again, the team went unbeaten. Winning 7 out of
8 games and drawing 1. As we had the same points as
Hempstead (current Overall leaders) it went on individual
games won. This was also identical. So it went down to individual points won and unfortunately they had 5 more points. But nonetheless an
outstanding 2nd place finish. Two events where we failed to lose a game.
Our most recent event was Netball. Not one of our most successful events
in the past as last year we finished 21st so we wanted to improve on this.
Our team won all 4 games in the morning, some close and some not so
close. 9-0 being our biggest win. In the afternoon we played some trickier
schools and managed to win 3 and draw 1 against Elaine. Which meant
for the third event in a row we had gone all competition unbeaten and
finished in 2nd position. Our best Netball result in over 6 years.
With only 3 events left in this year’s calendar we are currently in 2nd position overall, just a few points behind Hempstead. Football, Cricket
and Athletics are usually strong events for us and if we perform like we have in previous years we have a great chance in winning the overall
series. Come on Balfour!
Sainsbury Vouchers
Please keep sending in your Sainsbury vouchers as we use these to purchase PE equipment to
be used in lessons. We really appreciate your effort in sending these in and all the children
benefit from them. Over the years they have been used to purchase some great pieces of
equipment including netball posts, football goals and many other items that without these
vouchers, we would not have.
I would like to end this newsletter by saying a massive thank you for your continued support as without you, we wouldn’t be as successful as
we are.
Thank You
PE Co-Ordinators
Mr Kirk/ Mr Williams