Primary Panathlon 2022

Thursday 17^th February 2022 – Today, the PSSP teamed up with the Panathlon Foundation charity to host our first ever Primary Inclusion Panathlon event. This multi-activity festival is focused on encouraging children with special needs and disabilities to try new sports and develop a passion for participation. Teams from Eggbuckland Vale, Bickleigh Down, Austin Farm, St. Matthew’s, Widewell and Cann Bridge all came along to have some fun and develop some new skills at the same time. Chris Sugden (Panathlon Foundation) arrived early in the morning to get everything in place for the children to arrive a little later. Once set up, Chris trained our fantastic team of 6^th Form sports leaders from Plympton Academy, so that they would be able to lead the activities and score the events. As the teams arrived, they were given some great new team t-shirts to wear and we could already see how much it meant to them to be representing their schools. A few team photos and we were underway. There were 9 different skill based activities for the children to have a go at: ‘Flight Path’/ ‘Boccia Blast’/ ‘New Age Kurling’/ ‘Precision Beanbag’/‘Skittles’/ ‘Parachute Popcorn’/’Volleybat’/ ‘Table Cricket’ and ‘Basketball Target Challenge – all designed to develop gross motor skills, accuracy and team work. I think I can safely say that all the events were very much enjoyed as there were smiles all around and lots of excited noise. At the end of the morning, all of the scores were collated and the results announced. Every child that took part today received a certificate and medal and the smiles just kept getting bigger and bigger. Congratulations to Austin Farm Primary who were the overall winners today and to Eggbuckland Vale, who were a very close runner up with just 1 point difference! Well done to everyone who took part today, I hope you all enjoyed the event as much as I did. I would like to thank our Plympton Academy leaders for all their hard work and for being so brilliant with the children. I would also like to say a huge thank you to Chris and the Panathlon team for all of their hard work in bringing this fantastic event to our PSSP program. I am already looking at the calendar to see when I can get them booked in again.