School bidding to scoop a second top award
The great and the good of Scottish sport will again be recognised at the Sunday Mail and sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards in December, and a West Lothian school could be in the hunt for more award glory.
Now in its 12th year, the annual event which is sponsored by sportscotland – the national agency for sport – celebrates excellence throughout Scottish sport by awarding our sportsmen, women, teams and volunteers for their outstanding achievements in 2018.
And among those likely to be in contention is Springfield Primary, the Linlithgow school was awarded a sportscotland Gold School Sport Award last month for excelling in the delivery of physical education and extracurricular sport.
The award was presented to staff and pupils at the school on Friday, October 12, by Andrew Baptie, Partnership Manager for sportscotland. Springfield Primary is among 284 schools awarded gold status across the country, a record number and a jump of over a third from 2016/2017.
As part of the National Lottery funded programme, the sportscotland School Sport Award is a national initiative that is designed to encourage schools to continuously improve physical education and sport. The Award also encourages sporting links between schools and the communities around them.
Stewart Harris, chief executive of sportscotland, said: “Once again it has been a momentous 12 months for the sporting system in Scotland and the Sunday Mail and sportscotland Scottish Sport Awards provides us with the perfect opportunity to reflect on many achievements of the past year.
“In communities across the country the transformative power of sport is in evidence on a daily basis, not least through the 673 schools which have been recognised with a School Sport Award which are creating real opportunities for school children to become involved in sport.
“The Scottish Sport Awards will shine a light on the successes of the past year, from the tireless work of volunteers and coaches in local communities right through to the performance of Scotland’s top athletes and sports stars on the global stage. It will be another night to remember.”
There are now 673 schools in Scotland that have earned an award, a record number. There are currently 284 sportscotland Gold School Sport Award schools, 307 schools have been awarded Silver and 82 with Bronze.
To achieve a Bronze or Silver sportscotland School Sport Award, schools self-assess their current practice. However, to gain Gold status an extensive external assessment is also carried out by an independent panel of experts.
Mark Wells, Springfield Primary head teacher said: “When I came to the school in May 2017 there wasn’t a lot of sport going on in the school, we then made it a priority to provide a lot of opportunities for children across the school to be engaged in sport.
“Part of that was we wanted to open up pathways to the local community and sport clubs so children who enjoyed sport in school could progress that interest somewhere local.
“We felt that the School Sport Award would give what we were doing a structure and our Principal Teacher Ewan Logan was brilliant at taking us through the process.
“We’ve had great comments from pupils, staff and parents. One parent came to me and said her son had never done any sport before and now he goes to the running club we put on every week and his fitness and health has become a lot better.”