Gymnastics at Malmesbury School


It all started during the academic year of 2007-8! Head of PE, Ann Napper, used the gap from November to February, when the evenings are too dark for netball and hockey, to get a Gym Club underway. This was an opportunity for girls who do not normally participate in team sports to enjoy an individual activity where they could learn new skills and challenge themselves in a way that was different to PE lessons. The club was well attended by Yr 7 + 8 initially and then Yr 9 as well for another 3 yrs. With my new colleague Ceri Griffiths, arriving in 2011 we had 2 staff available to work with the girls to develop a greater range of ideas.


Young Leaders


Malmesbury School has always had a strong leadership programme run by the PE Faculty. At the start of the summer term Yr 9’s start their training to then get involved with the whole range of extra curricular activities e.g. as athletics officials, as leaders for Yr 7 netball club, as referees for the Year 5/6 football festival, etc. Gym Club has always been supported by Young Leaders in the same way.


During the academic year of 2012/13 Gym Club really took off. The club had to be split the club into a separate Yr 7 club and Yr 8+9 on two different nights both supported by Young Leaders. At the end of the season the Young Officials Day organised by Alma Borthwick, from Wiltshire and Swindon Sport, at Sheldon School in March included Gymnastics Officials for the first time. Three keen Yr 9 gymnasts (Nicole Coates, Georgia Conlan and Elin Davies) attended and thereafter had a massive impact on the quality of our club gymnastics. They learnt how to judge during the one day course and quickly understood the intricacies of awarding marks on vault and on floor.


Wiltshire School Games


In January of the same year we had entered the first ever Level 2 Competition for gymnastics which was held at the Melksham School of Gym. Ann, with the help of a Yr 11 leader, took three beginners teams from Yr 7 and one Inters team from Yr 8 to this brilliant competition. Our girls are not club gymnasts, unlike many of the teams from other schools, they do not compete at clubs out of school. Therefore for these girls to have the opportunity to perform on a sprung floor in a dedicated facility with amazing apparatus and crash pits all around them was just awe inspiring. They loved the challenge of having to carry out all the correct


gymnastic etiquette even though they were nervous, they enjoyed sitting and watching the advanced group perform and then all marching around the arena for results. The icing on the cake was the beginners finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th whilst the inters also came 2nd. This meant that we had two teams qualified for the Level 3 Wiltshire School Games! The impact of the Wiltshire School Games, including the training of the Leaders, as well as the opportunities to compete at Level 2 and Level 3, continues to be felt.


The quality of our gymnastics continued to improve as shown by our results at the Level 2 event at Melksham. Ceri took 5 teams, the Beginners finished 1st and 4th, while the Inters finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd! The Yr 10’s did the judging alongside the Melksham adults. This time 3 teams were off to the Wiltshire Games where we finished 4th and 5th.


This year (2014/15) we have had to expand Gym Club due to the increased numbers of over 70 in total! Each session is supported by Young Leaders with Nicole, Georgia and Elin, now Year 11, following the girls they have worked with since Yr 7 through to the Year 9 club. The group of leaders now includes 4 from current Yr 9 and 4 from Yr 10 as in turn, they have trained as judges at the Young Officials day each March. At the Level 2 competition at Melksham our 4 Judges worked non stop all day at separate stations to the Melksham adults in order to accommodate the increased entry. Ann & Ceri both attended this time as we took 8 teams, 4 each of Beginners and Inters. The Beginners finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd with the Inters equal 1st. So 3 teams off to the Wiltshire School Games again! The Year 11 Judges will attend if they can fit it in after their study leave and the new set of Year 9 + 10 Judges will be stepping up!


Gymnastics Festivals


We have run a Gym Festival for our Cluster of 11 Primary Schools in January of each year since 2009! It always involves children from Yr 1 to Yr 6 and started in our school gym for 47 children. For the first 4 years the judging was done by a parent who has previously been involved with a Gym Club out of school. Each year the number of children has increased so in 2012 we moved across to the sports hall at The Activity Zone to find more space for 96 children. For the last two years we have had 158 and 132 children attending so we have used both the sports hall and our school gym. The children compete at a vault station and they perform a set floor routine at one


Gym Display Team Shot


of two levels. The rest of the evening they rotate around another 8 stations with a range of apparatus each led by Young Leaders. For the last three years all of the judging has been done by our trained Judges, 9 of them this year, and the number of leaders required at the stations has risen to 22!


Training Young Leaders, providing competition at various levels, providing extra curricular opportunities and enabling young people to develop the confidence to push themselves and


then to give back by volunteering their time, just creates an upward circle of success, achievement and enjoyment which is what sport is all about!


A final thank you from me to everyone who has contributed to any of the above as I have really enjoyed seeing gymnastics progress at Malmesbury School through everyone’s combined efforts.


ANN NAPPER, HEAD OF PE, MALMESBURY SCHOOL


Mid Wilts Primary Multi skills Festival Feedback;


Friday 23rd January was an exciting day for Jessica Pierce, Community Sports Leader and Dave Tregilgas, Director of Sport and their team of 25 highly trained Sports Ambassadors, aged from 13 – 18. It was Abbeyfield Schools, first Primary Multi Skills Festival run in conjunction with the Chippenham Partnership of Schools with 120 primary school students in KS1, from 6 to 7 years of age taking part.


Sports Ambassadors took all the primary school children in groups of ten, into the Sports Hall and onto their designated multi skills station.


KS1 Multi Skills focuses on the fundamentals of agility, balance and co-ordination allowing all students to participate in a range of fun games and activities alongside other children from other primary schools. It also allows the students to experiment


Ivy Lane School “Our students had such a wonderful time, your Sports Ambassadors have been amazing”


Charter School “what a great festival, thank you so much”


Frogwell School “today was brilliant, our year 2 loved every minute”


with different types of movement and explore sports in a new fun way.


Wiltshire and Swindon Relay 15


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