After having to cancel last year’s OAA event, this year was eagerly awaited by staff and students. The weather was perfect with wall-to-wall sunshine and a gentle breeze although at times a little hot! The children were  welcomed at admirals hard onto the Cremyll ferry in which they cross over to Mount Edgcumbe Country park. Following a small walk towards the beach they made their bases for the day and were straight onto the tug of war rope! The tug of war rope is a firm favourite with the children and certainly a strong warp up for the day.

After a quick drink, children were sent to their first activity of the day. There were four activities on offer in which groups rotated between. They were orienteering, team building, sport/games and beach art. After the first two sessions we paused for a lunch break before completing the last two. There were plenty of smiling and tired faces by the end of the day after a full day of exercise and activity but some still had energy for a final tug of war before walking back to get on the ferry back to Plymouth. A huge well done to all the children who attended, we hope you had a great day!  A massive thank you to Mount Edgcumbe for allowing us to use the park and Notre Dame for providing fantastic leaders all week! We look forward to doing it all again in 2026!

Thursday 26^th June 2025 – Oh my goodness! What a phenomenal day! Today was our 2^nd ‘Spirit of the Games Rowing’ challenge, supporting the Strength of Spirit Games on Plymouth Hoe. Each year the British Armed Forces, supported by Plymouth City Council and sponsored by Aecom & the Royal Marines Charity, host a rehabilitation traiathlon for veterans of the armed forces. The Plymouth School Sports Partnership opened the days’ activities with a competitive Rowing event for choldren from military fanilies.  6 children from each school were invited along to take part in 3 different challenges: a 100m sprint/a 2 minute row and a 6 minute team relay challenge. We had an incredible 23 Primary schools participating today. We were supported by an amazing group of sports leaders from Devonport High School for Girls: they greeted the teams on arrival and took them through some individual warm ups and some technique before we got started. The atmosphere was electric! So much excitement and energy, it was brilliant! Before we knew it we were underway and the results were coming in thick and fast.  Once all of the races were completed and the numbers were being crunched our sports leaders gave every child who participated their very own medal, certificate (kindly sponsored by Aecom) and a goodie bag (courtesy of Samworth Brothers), then they were able to spend some time exploring some of the other activities on offer, such as a taster of a Field Gun event and air-soft shooting range– there was so much to see and do. Then it was off to the main stage to announce our winners… Congratulations to Phoebe from Ford Primary and Olly from Old Priory Junior Academy for Rowing the 100m in the fastest times and to Kira and Caleb – both from Keyham Barton Primary for Rowing the greatest distance in 2 minutes. To calculate the overall winning team, we combined all of their teams’ individual distances over 2 minutes with their team relay distance. A huge congratulations to the team from Plympton St. Maurice Primary who were the overall winners on the day and the recipients of the coveted shield! Well done to everyone who took part today, I am thrilled that there were so many smiling faces. Our schools were then invited to stay for a packed lunch and to enjoy more of the activities laid on for them. I would like to say a huge thank you to some very special people who helped significantly to make this event such a success: firstly to the sports leaders from DHSG and their teachers – you were amazing and the children had the best time; to my colleagues Jan and Anna for all their help and support throughout the day; to Sophie for once again being my right-hand person doing the important job of working out the scores; for our very generous sponsor Aecom for their support and Samworth Brothers for their treats for the children and leaders; Plymouth City Council and the British Armed forces – thank you all so much. I’m so excited to do it all again next year!

Mrs Claire Cormack - Plymouth School Sports Partnership

Photo above: 2025 Spirit of the Games Rowing Champions Plympton St. Maurice

Wednesday 11th June 2025 – Our final PSSP Secondary Inclusion Football event for this academic year and what a way to finish. We had 6 teams in attendance today, representing Plympton Academy, Devonport High School for Girls, Devonport High School for Boys, Coombe Dean and Tor Bridge High. Nearly 40 students came along this morning to take part in our friendly tournament which focuses on Teamwork, Respect and fun. We have a slightly different format that we utilise to support one player on each team: down either side of the pitch, we create a channel which means that 1 player can play unopposed and support their team from there. This works incredibly well to develop confidence and as a team tactic. Throughout the morning we use a round-robin format so that each team gets to play everyone else. 5 points are awarded for a win/ 3 points for a draw and 1 point for a loss. Once all of the matches are complete, we tally the scores, announce the results and everyone receives a well-earned certificate. Congratulations to Devonport High for Boys who were the overall winners today with Coombe Dean hot on their heals in the runners up position. Well done to everyone who played, I really hope you enjoyed it and would be keen to come back. I would like to say a very special thank you to the Sports Leaders from Stoke Damerel - you have been with me all year and have been incredible with both the Primary and Secondary age group events – thank you for helping to make these events so special for so many children/students – and thank you to Miss Crowe and Miss Plumpton for arranging this for me. The dates for next year are already in the pipeline so I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Intent: To develop sport specific skills/ Engage new Audiences/Foster social connections/Develop physical skills

Mrs Claire Cormack PE Specialist Teacher

Plymouth School Sports Partnership

Thursday 15^th May 2025 – We had a fun morning today at Courtlands with an exclusive event for our PSSP special schools. 2 teams from Cann Bridge and 2 from Courtlands took part in a New Age Kurling event aimed at building confidence, learning new skills and fostering social connections. Played in it's original form, New Age Kurling is a target-based sport that has been adapted from curling so that it can be played indoors, on a flat surface. Each player delivers a ‘stone’ towards the target at the other end by sliding it smoothly across the floor. The score is then determined by the number of stones closest to the centre of the target. To ease us all in to the event, we played against the other team from our own school to start with and then mixed things up throughout the morning so that we had the chance to play everyone else as well. It soon became clear that we had some hidden talent amongst our children with many succeeding in landing their stone right on the centre of the target – we all cheered each time it happened so the hall was buzzing with excitement. Before we knew it the morning had flown by. I had such a great time and I really hope everyone who took part today or supported their children did too. Thank you to Courtlands for hosting the event. I am already looking forward to our next PSSP Inclusion event – check out the website to see what it coming up.

Claire Cormack

Plymouth School Sports Partnership - PE Specialist Teacher

On Wednesday 21st May 7 schools attended the Life Centre to take part in the PSSP Dance Festival. This year we had 20 routines polished and ready to perform, all linking to this years show these being 'Around the world'. The schools interpreted the theme in various different ways, celebrating different countries and culture and portraying events happing around the world.

The pupils had been working so hard on their routines, with many starting back in October! 

On the day, they learnt the opening routine, taught by the wonderful Dance Leaders from Notre Dame and Plympton Academy. Prior to the event, the leaders were trained and learnt the principles of dance, choreography, leadership and adaptability when working with primary pupils. They then created the pieces of dance which they taught to the schools at the festival. 

Despite a technical delay, all pupils remained calm, professional and quiet; representing their schools impeccably. They all smashed their routines and the smiles on their faces whilst performing was amazing. For many, it was their first time performing in front of an audience, but you wouldn't have been able to tell! 

The atmosphere was electric as the children came on in their groups for the final bow. A huge well done to everyone and a BIG thank you to staff and Dance leaders for making the performance run so smoothly. 

We look forward to seeing what next years festival will bring! 

Wednesday 7th May 2025 – Today was our penultimate PSSP Secondary & Special Schools Football event for this academic year.