National honour for good sports
Primary school honoured at awards ceremony
Young athletes who attend a Toryglen primary school are the toast of Scottish sport after their reversed fortunes clinched them a top award.
Five years ago, only 43 per cent of St Brigid Primary’s pupils actively participated in sport at school.
Now however, thanks to various initiatives aimed at closing the attainment gap in the socially deprived area, a whopping 93 per cent of kids there are engaged in school sport.
And the remarkable turnaround has earned St Brigid’s the prestigious Sunday Mail sportscotland School Sport Award for 2019.
The school beat off stiff competition from fellow finalists Glenboig Primary in Coatbridge and St Paul’s High l in Glasgow to claim the coveted prize at a glittering ceremony last week.
With so many pupils not able to afford or access sport in the Toryglen community, St Brigid’s Primary’s new ethos and attitude set out with an ambition to provide, “a sport for every child”.
The school achieved the turnaround through P7 leadership programmes, links with local clubs and staff inspiring pupils by taking them to major sporting events.
As a result, sport is now an integral part of life at St Brigid’s Primary.
Sport captains Riley Scott and Daniel Doherty had the honour of collecting the award at the ceremony in Double Tree by Hilton on Thursday.
Among those who flooded Twitter with messages of congratulations was First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Riley and Daniel joined fellow sports captains Killian Dowling and Enitan Badmus on Friday morning to announce news of the national title to the whole school, thanking everyone for their participation in sport in what they described as a “magnificent team effort”.
The links the school forged with local clubs, United Sports and Satori Karate, greatly impressed judges, as did its introduction of diverse sports ranging from gymnastics to tennis, golf and badminton.
In the past six months alone, staff have accompanied pupils to two Scotland international matches at Hampden.
They have also cheered from the terraces at a Scottish premiership match at Celtic Park and have been among spectators at a Scottish Badminton Grand Prix at the Emirates Arena.
Through the school, pupils also received tickets for the gymnastics and swimming events at the 2018 European Championships.
Teacher Joseph Woods, who has responsibility for developing sport, said that previously there was no emphasis on physical activity, which was seen as “an extra”.
“Sport did not have somebody to lead it and we did not listen to the children,” he told the Reformer.
“We’ve now got sports captains in the school and they go round the classes every couple of months and ask the children what clubs they want."
One of the biggest successes of that consultation process was the launch of a badminton club in 2014.
St Brigid’s has competed against 140 other schools to win the Glasgow Primary Schools Badminton Championship title for the past two years.
Mr Woods said the school’s ethos is that every child finds their own sport, and there’s a sport for everyone.
The award will be fully celebrated in March at the school’s dedicated sport and health week.
Delighted head teacher Paul Cassidy added: “We were surprised and absolutely over the moon to win what wasn’t just a Glasgow or West of Scotland competition – it was the whole country.
“It is fantastic news and we are absolutely thrilled.”