The Olympic Torch will be carried down Uxbridge Road on Tuesday 24th July – but a quick detour off the route earlier this week would have shown Olympics fans that, for some West London school-children, the Games are underway already.
Greenhouse’s St. Ann’s Special Educational Needs school in Ealing has caught the spirit of the Games and from Monday to Thursday pupils enjoyed their own in-house Olympics Week, a mixture of sporting events and artistic workshops.
Timmy Holdsworth, Greenhouse Head Coach, took on the role of the school’s master of ceremonies, in partnership with the school’s Head of PE Karol Stelmaszczyk. Timmy said: “It’s been a lot of fun, for pupils and staff too. The young people here have got a better understanding of the Olympics and they’ve loved all the activities.”
All 84 Greenhouse participants were able to take part in events, from javelin and water-balloon throwing, to a football penalty shoot-out and relay races.
But also at the heart of the Olympics week was a focus on less physical goals. Pupils were put into teams representing different countries so that rather than taking part alongside familiar class-mates, they could play and make friends with those who they perhaps did not know as well.
Timmy said: “The values we emphasised in the week were Respect, Friendship, and Excellence. I think the young people lived up to all three, and it was great to see them working in teams.”
