The PE Department hosted a wonderful residency week in the Murray Centre. Through displays, videos, workshops, debates, and lectures they created an immersive environment for students and staff to celebrate their love of sport.
The residency week offered a deeper awareness and understanding of the many areas that exist within the world of sport and allowed students to adopt a more outward-looking approach, enhancing their appreciation for the world of sport and its importance in many aspects of life. The overarching theme of the Olympics was a great way to look ahead to Sports Day and the Paris 2024 Olympics this summer! Thank you to all the staff and students who showed such commitment and enthusiasm throughout the week!
– Mrs Lauder, Director of Sport
Katy and Poppy from the Upper Fourth (Year 9) share their view on our energetic residency below.
Monday
The PE department residency week started off with a bang as the staff went out of their way to create an exciting experience for us! The theme was ‘The Olympics’, quite fitting with the Paris Olympics right around the corner! Zhiya from Remove (Year 7), Katy from Upper Fourth (Year 9) and Ella from the Lower Sixth (Year 12) launched the week with an introduction in assembly.
During the same day, we had a food stall with sports performance snacks led by Miss Kirby and Miss Brivio-Stone. This included a protein ball and a ginger, lemon drink which was devoured by the pupils fairly soon after the stalls opened! Later in the day, we also had a balancing game to take part in.
In the evening, there was a workshop led by Rosie Tapner, DH alumna, about presenting at sports events. In this, we learnt how to be a strong presenter and interviewee through different skills and exercises.
Tuesday
On Tuesday there was the Student versus Staff badminton competition – despite all the girls putting up a solid fight, it was the staff who took the well-deserved first place. In the evening, there was a talk about the health of female athletes led by Miss Gibbon. We discussed topics such as the menstrual cycle, sports bras, injuries, and sports performance. Miss Gibbins also answered lots of our questions which definitely helped raise our confidence in matters that are not openly discussed enough despite their importance. This day was really helpful and most importantly fun as we explored so many different aspects of sport.
Wednesday
Following on to Wednesday, it was short due to lessons but still lots of fun. We had the Les Mills fitness workshops based on cardio and body balance which were very tiring but useful! The day ended by everyone in house watching videos of sports from all around the world!
Thursday
The residency week ended on Thursday with lots of activities including the ‘Party Olympics’, a debate on the topic ‘Transgender Athletes should only compete according to their original biological sex’. Outside the Murray Centre, there was a hole-in-one golf competition with sweets if you succeeded.
To end the week, there was a very inspirational talk from Jack Buckner. He is the CEO of UK athletics and talked about what upcoming events were going to be in the Olympics and answered lots of questions.
Throughout the whole week, there was also lots of activities going on such as a wordsearch, sports highlights on the TV and books and podcasts to explore. We would like to thank all the PE staff for making the week fun and enjoyable!
