Sporting chance to get on at school

By Sarah Newstead

Last updated 09:18, Friday, 10 October 2008

AN ASPATRIA school is blazing the trail for the use of sport to turn the lives of disaffected pupils around.

Good sport: Crazy catch with community manager Jack Eatherley, MP Tony Cunningham and Barbara Wilson, from the Youth Sport Trust

Through a Sport for Living pilot scheme, Beacon Hill School is helping pupils with poor behaviour, low attendance or confidence difficulties to learn to get the best from school.

For the third year running, a group of Year 9 youngsters are getting to grips with team work and trying out new sports.

Head of PE Lynn Trussell said: “All different types of children benefit from this and we try to get a balance. They get to try out a range of activities they choose themselves and it encourages them to behave in lessons and to attend.

“They know if they don’t come in, they miss out.”

Past activities include skiing, attending cricket matches, laser quest visits and crazy catch directed by special sport coaches.

Olympic gymnast, Craig Heath, also visited pupils to talk about the positive impact of sport.

Pupil Daniel Bell, 13, said: “The scheme is good because you get rewarded if you are good – it makes the bad people behave because they know they are going to get rewarded if they do.”

MP for Workington Tony Cunningham was at the school last week to see how the scheme works.

He said: “I’m a great believer that sport can deal with a whole range of issues in society and we need to get more young people involved.

“How many times do you hear from a footballer or a boxer that if it had not been for sport they might have become involved in knife crime or gangs?

“This is a great scheme and the young people look as if they really enjoy it.”

Sport for Living is funded by BSkyB.