Despite not being able to conduct Sports Day in the usual way due to the pandemic, The Marches School in Oswestry wanted to mark the prominent event on their school calendar and so planned an engaging sports week for students online.

 The Virtual Sports Day took place over the week commencing Monday 22nd June and saw over 120 students taking part in up to 12 fun events all of which they were able to complete at home. Sports Day is a much-anticipated end of year event on the school’s calendar, with it being the final House competition of the year the results can have a big role in determining who will become The Marches School House Champions and so there was much to play for.

The PE Department at the school went all out to engage with students, creating video tutorials of the sports activities. Staff members also created a poem and uploaded a TikTok inspired video to encourage the students to get involved. The school was also grateful to receive some inspiring messages of support from sporting stars including: Great Britain Triple Jump star Nathan Fox; double Olympic Athlete Larry Achike and former Marches student now World Triathlon Champion Rebecca Duxbury.

Mr Neal Martin, Head of PE at The Marches School commented; “As a department we were delighted with the uptake for the Virtual Sports Day. The students worked so hard throughout the week to complete each of the sports activities, with staff from across the school also eager to join in. We have received loads of great photos and videos of students having fun, being active and representing their Houses. One of the bonus events competitors could partake in was a distance competition, which was a huge hit. As a school community, we managed to virtually travel just past Madrid over the course of the week – 1400km! A special mention must go to Miss Heford who completed over 300km on her bike. We had students completing fitness training, gymnastics, horse riding, mountain biking, athletics and trampolining amongst others – the spectrum of participation was great to see. Thank you to all the students, parents and staff who got involved to make the event such a success.”

Students and staff of the school now eagerly await to hear who will be crowned The Marches 2019/20 House Champions, the results of which are being carefully kept under wraps until the big reveal.

  

Nathan Fox

Larry Achike

Rebecca Duxbury

Victoria Ahlberg