Kids and staff celebrate prestigious honour

Super-fit kids at a Paisley primary school showed they’re good as gold by clinching a top sports gong.

Ralston Primary has been awarded a gold award by Sports Scotland in recognition of its first class physical education and extra-curricular activities.

Schools typically aim for the bronze award and work up to silver and then gold. However, the staff and youngsters at Ralston were confident they could aim straight for gold — and they smashed it.

Jillian McGown, acting headteacher, added:“We are absolutely delighted to achieve the gold award from Sports Scotland.

“At Ralston, we provide a high quality PE curriculum and work hard to provided a wide range of sports activities for all pupils.

“We’ve been working towards this for a while now and have always been a school that promotes PE.

“But it was about meeting the specific criteria of Sports Scotland.

“All of the staff, as well as the children, are so proud.

“You have the bronze, silver and gold categories of awards and some schools work their way up.

“But we went straight for gold and got it.

“Now we are one of the few schools in the area that have this status.

“But we have to keep the standards up as we will be evaluated every two years.”

Kerry Montgomery, acting principal teacher,s added: “We are delighted to be awarded the Sports Scotland gold award.

“At Ralston, staff, children and Active Schools work hard to provide an inclusive and extensive programme of activities.

Stewart Harris, chief executive of sportscotland, praised the school.

He said: “Congratulations to all of the staff and pupils at Ralston Primary for putting physical education and sport right at the heart of their school and local community.

“They should be proud of this fantastic achievement.

“At sportscotland, we’re building a world-class sporting system for everyone and a crucial part of that is putting young people at the centre of our efforts.

“Working with our partners in local authorities and governing bodies of sport, we are creating closer links between physical education, school sport and club sport, which benefits young people by providing more and better opportunities to take part in sport.”

We are one of the few schools in the area that have this status