One of the biggest school football festivals in the country takes place this week as almost a thousand youngsters from across the district take to the field.
The Bradford District Schools 5 v 5 Football Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary this year at the start of a big week for football in the district.
The tournament kicks off today at Keighley’s Marley Activities and Coaching Centre.
There will be 120 teams of boys and girls between the ages of eight and 14 taking part in the festival.
The event, organised by Bradford Council’s Sport & Culture Service is for the first time supported by Bradford based Square Apple Café.
Bradford Council’s assistant director of sport and culture Phil Barker said: “Primary and secondary school pupils from all over the district will be taking part in this five-a-side festival and I hope friends and relatives will go along and give them some support.
“It is important that young people are provided with enjoyable opportunities to take part in physical activity and sport.
“It is a big sporting week with Bradford City going for promotion on Saturday in the league one play off final against Millwall. We hope everyone at the five-a-side festival can take inspiration from the Bantams and give it their all.”
All members of the winning and runner-up squads in each of the six age groups ( from under nines up to under 14s) will receive a leather football and commemorative t-shirt respectively. Every participant at the event will also receive an attendance certificate.
Pupils playing basketball in The Bradford Winter School Gams
The Bradford Winter School Games finals day will involve approximately 1000 young athletes from across Bradford, competing to be crowned Bradford Schools Champions as well as securing team places for the West Yorkshire Finals.
Bradford School Games Organisers from across the district are delighted to be hosting the second Bradford Winter School Games finals on Friday 17th February 2017 at Hanson Academy, Goals Soccer Centre and Pulse Health and Fitness.
This event forms part of the National School Games Programme – a unique opportunity to motivate and inspire millions of young people across the country to take part in more competitive school sport.
The Bradford Winter School Games sees the culmination of last terms district School Games events for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Special Schools in Athletics, Basketball, Boccia, Football, Netball, Quick Sticks Hockey and Table Tennis.
The local qualifying events held in the 5 school games areas across Bradford so far have already engaged hundreds of schools and over 5000 young people.
The Bradford Winter School Games will be supported by a number of partners including; Sports Hall Associates, Bradford Dragons Basketball Club, Rebels Netball Club, Bradford Hockey Club, The Bradford Bulls Foundation, Bradford City FC Community, Table Tennis England, Bradford City FC and Jamie’s Ministry of Food.
It will be a great spectacle highlighting the talent and dedication of young people from across Bradford.
Richard Woods, Principal, Hanson School, ‘We are proud to offer our fantastic facilities to host the Bradford Winter Games 2017. PE and the School Games is an integral part of our school so we are excited to welcome some of the most talented young athletes from across Bradford to compete in the finals. We recognise the hard work put in by school staff, parents and athletes in reaching this stage so take pleasure in being able to offer our facilities and support to ensure the games are once again a huge success.’
Opening the Bradford Winter School Games is former England and Great Britain Rugby League Captain, and Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls Rugby League legend Jamie Peacock MBE.
Following on from this event, successful teams and individuals will then take place in the West Yorkshire Finals primarily at Leeds Beckett Campus on Saturday 25th March 2017.
Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Educate Positive, a regular publication which highlights excellence in education and across the district’s schools and settings. In this edition we look at several instances of the impact being made in literacy and how apprenticeships are proving beneficial for the district’s young people, along with secondary students taking part in a Chemistry Festival at the University of Bradford and children reading bedtime stories together.
Literacy Corner – “Poetry in Motion”
Thanks to a literacy project and partnership working, two young people are celebrating winning a poetry competition where they told the story of life in Bradford through verse. One of the winners was Suma Abdulla from Dixons Marchbank Primary School whose poem “Big Beautiful Bradford” wowed the judges of the “Love Bradford” poetry competition, run by the National Literacy Trust Hub in Bradford, First West Yorkshire, the Telegraph & Argus and the Kirkgate Shopping Centre.
The winning poems are displayed on the walls of 100 local First West Yorkshire buses.
More than 100 budding bards across Bradford entered the competition whose aim was to inspire and motivate reluctant writers, especially boys, to do more creative writing.
The National Literacy Trust Hub in Bradford is all about providing fun ways to improve literacy skills across the area. Poetry is a powerful way for young people to express themselves which is why we are working with children and families through events, programmes and campaigns to inspire them to explore creative writing.
Impact of Roald Dahl Day at Thornton Primary
Pictured are children in their various costumes celebrating Roald Dahl stories.
Roald Dahl is always a popular choice for children and spending two days studying his work was an inspiration for the pupils at Thornton Primary School.
The children experienced his style of writing in different ways, with staff planning lots of exciting activities. There were many opportunities for classes to develop their writing skills and the work produced was wonderful, ranging from exciting description and marvellous recipes to play scripts. The children enjoyed the days and have been inspired by a well loved author.
Bowling Park Primary hosts “BD5 Bedtime Stories”
Almost 500 children and their families have taken part in the BD5 Bedtime Stories event. Nine schools in BD5 have worked together on this exciting project to encourage families to read at home. Reading every evening, even for just 10 minutes per night, can dramatically improve children’s reading ability and foster a life-long love of stories.
The group of schools is keen to maximise this potential, and inspire even more children to pick up a good book and share it with their families, hence the sessions which took place at the National Media Museum and in the City Library.
The aim is to develop a passion for reading, and encourage families to enjoy books together. There will be interactive shows from a variety of high quality authors, poets and illustrators, as well as tours of City Library and the Museum. Children were invited to wear their pyjamas for the bedtime event and a donation from a local company, Kemira Chemicals, meant that every child received a free book!
This group of schools works together on a number of projects that help to raise achievement in the BD5 area, including their training of Newly Qualified Teachers and the organisation of an annual Literacy Festival.
For more information please contact Fiona Phimister at Bowling Park Primary School, T 01274 770270.
Apprentice of the Year
Councillors Alex Ross-Shaw and Imran Khan with the winners at an awards ceremony for Bradford Council’s Building and Technical Services’ apprentices. (James is second from left in the second row.) Photo by Jamie Dobson Photography
James Scaife, a 19-year-old apprentice from Bradford Moor, is testimony to the value of Apprenticeships as he has won Apprentice of the Year for Bradford Council’s Building and Technical Services.
James is in his third year of his apprenticeship working on Council buildings. He was one of 16 winners at the awards ceremony held at the Banqueting Hall in City Hall, including carpenters, joiners, engineers, bricklayers, plasterers, painters, decorators and plumbers.
The awards were given for four categories which were Most Improved, Outstanding Effort, Best Portfolio and Trainers Choice, for each year from 1-4. James won the three categories of Most Improved, Outstanding Effort and Trainers Choice for year 2 and also achieved more points than anyone else to become Apprentice of the Year.
Duke of Edinburgh success at Parkside
Students at Parkside School have been put to the test both physically and mentally recently as the school not only introduced the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, but it also became a licensed organisation.
A number of Year 10 students have almost finished their award and have successfully completed their expedition section at Bronze Level with many more set to join this academic year.
As part of their team building skills, 14 Duke of Edinburgh groups from the Bradford area took part in the 34th annual Lane Fox Challenge event in Tong Woods. Parkside School entered a team of five students, who went on to be the champions completing the course, very wet and muddy, in the fastest time. Well done everyone!
For further information please contact Headteacher, Andy Taylor, T 01535 272752.
Students on a virtual expedition
Pupils experimenting with the Expeditions, a virtual reality tour of sights and locations, to help them engage with their learning in a new project launched by Google.
Students at University Academy Keighley were the first in the district to be given an exclusive opportunity to try Expeditions, a virtual reality tour of sights and locations, to help them engage with their learning in a new project launched by Google.
History, geography and science became a lot more interactive when the students visited marine life in the Great Barrier, toured The Palace of Versailles, climbed Everest and finally landed on the Moon – all without leaving the class room!
The event was arranged by the Academy’s Strategic Leader for e-Learning, Mr Turvey, who said: “This was an amazing opportunity for our learners not only to try new technology, but to experience a wide range of locations and places to help open their eyes and minds to the wider world. The students’ reactions have been a joy to see.”
With smartphones being such an integrated part of our lives, the Expeditions software runs as an app on a smartphone. The students get a 3D experience once the phone is inserted into a headset worn by them.
Pupils in “Battle of the Somme” project
Thirty pupils from Cullingworth Village and Farnham Primary schools will learn about their own history and any ancestral involvement with the Battle of the Somme by taking part in a new project. The “Children of the Somme” is a BBC Radio Leeds project which will allow pupils to explore the History of the Somme.
The sessions include workshops about writing, learning about poems and stories as well as listening to educational talks and learning instruments and dance routines with a South Asian influence.
A final concert at Bradford Playhouse on Thursday 17 November, will see both schools perform together to showcase what they have learnt.
People can listen to BBC Radio Leeds for extensive coverage on the “Children of the Somme” with Look North, The BBC Asian network and BBC World Service briefly covering it.
Engaging Families accreditation is a “mystery”
Not only has Thornton Primary School been awarded the prestigious Engaging Families Award, the school actively put this accreditation into practice when it invited parents to come into school to help solve murder mysteries.
School ran a Murder Mystery Week in the summer term and was able to display its engagement with families by allowing parents to help their children solve the murder.
An assembly was held to explain how the police needed the pupils to help solve the crime. The pupils became detectives for the week and took part in a range of Science and English activities such as fingerprint analysis and creating Newsround reports from the scene of the crime.
The rationale was that the week would create an engaging and exciting opportunity for children to enjoy the problem solving elements of the Primary Maths Curriculum and was a week which was enjoyed by all.
For further information please contact Liz Davison, Headteacher, T 01274 833839.
The chemistry’s right for crime-busting Parkside students
Chemistry skills helped Parkside School during their prize-winning visit to the University of Bradford.
The four Cullingworth students had to uncover what happened in the salt cellars when they took part in the Salters Festival of Chemistry. The students from Year 7 also had to create a rainbow of colours and colour chemistry section during the action-packed day.
They were finally treated to a ‘chemistry WOW’ show which included banana freezing and spooky smoke.
The “Parkside quartet” was specially invited take part in the festival, a competitive chemistry competition held across the UK.
Parkside chemistry teacher James Windle said: “Our students were exceptional in their performance on the day, really working together as a team and showing a real flair for chemistry.
“It was this high standard of performance that led to Parkside being crowned the winners of the competition, beating the other 15 teams who were taking part.”
Mr Windle confirmed that during the last 16 years over 44,000 students have experienced the fun of practical chemistry through the Salters’ Festivals. Sponsorship in support of the festivals has been raised from over 50 companies.
For further information please contact Headteacher, Andy Taylor, T 01535 272752.
Joining us this week to talk about the recent School Games Partnership U9 Open Football League Tournament is Jack Summers who organises the event.
The start of the 2016/17 competition calendar saw fourteen teams from twelve different Primary Schools in the Hanson Academy Partnership compete in the U9 Open Football League at Goals Soccer Centre, Bradford.
The freshly laid pitches at Goals and the bright sunny weather perfectly set up the first round of games.
Over the following weeks over 150 boys and girls competed to qualify for the Partnership Finals. However, a big part of our competition relates to the cultural aspects of the School Games so while ultimately the players are committed to winning they are also tasked with displaying one of the six School Games Values.
The Value on show for the U9 Football was PASSION.
All the teams were a credit to their school and should be extremely proud of their efforts.
After two tightly contested leagues five teams qualified for the overall finals.
The finals were closer than could have been anticipated with three teams finishing in joint third place.
The overall standings were: (1) Thackley Primary School (2) Low Ash Primary School (3) Cavendish Primary School (3) Rainbow Primary School (3) Wellington Primary School.
Congratulations and Well Done to Thackley and Low Ash who, as a result of finishing 1st and 2nd respectively, have qualified for the Bradford Summer Games in 2017.
To round off what was a fantastic event, the final teams and the Young Ambassadors from Hanson Academy came together for a group photo and even embraced the Dab!
You can find more of the action, see future events and check out the fantastic work going on in the other School Games Partnerships across Bradford by checking out the following twitter feeds:
Children across the Bradford district are being encouraged to take part in the summer Change4Life 10 Minute Shake-up to make sure they get more active.
Last year almost 4,500 families across the Bradford district signed up to take part in the campaign – the second highest figure in Yorkshire. Sign-ups were highest in Eccleshill, Bradford Moor, Tong and Bowling and Barkerend.
Just 21% of boys and 16% of girls currently meet the national recommended level of activity of 60 minutes each day and three quarters of children aged five to 11 (75%) want to do more physical activity.
The joint Disney, Change4Life and the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) campaign aims to get more children achieving the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity children need in 10 minute bursts.
A recent survey, commissioned by Disney, Change4Life and the ASA revealed 71% of parents say their children would likely be more physically active if they were more active themselves.
Swimming was found to be one of children’s favourite activities during the summer, according to 32% of five to 11-year-olds surveyed yet 30% of mums feel too self conscious to go on families swims.
The survey also said 61% of parents struggle for ideas on how to keep their children active during the school holidays. Parents looking for ideas can search for change4life on line or visit www.Bradford.gov.uk/summer.
Cllr Val Slater, Deputy Leader of Bradford Council and portfolio holder for Health and Wellbeing, said:
“Every 10 minute burst of exercise can make a real difference and helps children get the 60 minutes they need each day.
“Increased activity is good for a child’s physical, social and mental wellbeing as well as helping your child build social skills and boost their self-confidence.”
“Parents and grandparents getting involved and playing with their children not only sets a good example when it comes to exercise but also helps them learn in a fun way for everyone.”
2016 marks the third year that Change4Life and Disney have come together to inspire children to move more, with fun 10 minute bursts of activity – Shake Ups – inspired by some of Disney’s most recognisable and popular characters.
Bradford City FC Community Foundation are pleased to be hosting their ever-popular football camps this Spring Bank Holiday.
Children will need a packed lunch, drinks and to be dressed ready for football and appropriate to whatever the weather is like on the day!
All our camps are for girls and goys aged 5-13 years of all abilities, and run from 10am-3pm daily, and are being held at the following venues and can be found on the below:
Children will need a packed lunch, drinks and be dressed ready for football and appropriate to whatever weather we are having on the day!
All our staff are minimum FA Level 2 qualified, trained in emergency aid and hold an enhanced DBS check.
The 3-day courses are £36 and the 2 day courses are £24 and can be prebooked. Turn up and pay on the day for £13 per day.
Bradford City FC Community Foundation are pleased to be hosting their ever-popular football camps this October half term.
Children will need a packed lunch, drinks and to be dressed ready for football and appropriate to whatever the weather is like on the day! All staff are minimum FA Level 2 qualified, trained in emergency aid and hold an advanced CRB check.
This year, Bowling Park Primary have been trialling a brand new sport called ‘New Age Kurling’.
This exciting new game is an adaption of the original curling sport, but can be played on any flat surface, such as a school sports hall, playground or field, instead of the usual ice. This makes the sport more accessible for both able-bodied and disabled people.
The school tested the game with Year 3 and 4, helping to develop new skills and giving the children the chance to experience a new sport.
The year groups loved the sport so much that they created a team and entered a Bradford Kurling competition, where they were thrilled to come 4th!
The sport is now being promoted across the whole school and they are hoping to achieve even more success as ‘New Age Kurling’ increases in popularity.
A Year 5 pupil from Ghyll Royd School has scooped gold at the 2015 ISA Schools national swimming final in London at the Olympic Park.
Hermione Roe, who was representing Ghyll Royd and the North of England ISA team, swam an impressive individual 50m breaststroke to take first place. Hermione’s performance also saw her beat her personal best in an amazing 44.73 seconds, a time that secures her the number one position in the ASA Great British rankings.
Hermione also swam the anchor leg of the 4x50m relay, pulling the team back three places to secure bronze, narrowly missing silver by 0.2 of a second.
David Martin, the head teacher of the school in Burley-in-Wharfedale, said: “Many congratulations to Hermione.
“The whole school is tremendously proud of her achievement. Hermione is an extremely talented swimmer and trains exceptionally hard to maintain her performance. Who knows, we could be fortunate enough to be teaching a future Olympian. Let’s hope so.”
Congratulations to Beckfoot School’s under-19 boys’ table tennis team who have recently qualified for the Butterfly National Schools’ Team Championship semi-finals, showing great courage and ambition.
The Beckfoot quartet had a never-say-die attitude and won their first two matches before bowing 5-3 to Worksop’s Outwood Valley Academy, but the Bingley school had already done enough to finish second in their group and therefore qualify for the regional final at Blackburn on Saturday, 21 March – We wish them Good Luck!
Swimming was found to be one of children’s favourite activities during the summer, according to 32% of five to 11-year-olds surveyed yet 30% of mums feel too self conscious to go on families swims.
Bradford Parents On The Go 