Mandon Vale Handball Tournament (29.02.26)

On Thursday we hosted an interschool Handball tournament at Manadon Vale for Years 1-6. Children were handpicked to represent their house groups. The day started with the year 6 boys who played 5-minute games against each other. There were some very impressive handball skills and plenty of goals scored. Mr Williams has clearly been giving the children some coaching sessions as the skill level was very high. We then moved onto the girls and other year groups. After lunch it was the turn of KS1, the court was made a lot smaller, which made some off the games very intense and close. A huge well done to everyone that took part and a big thank you to the sports captains and sports leaders who captained the house group teams and refereed the matches. The winning house was Plym house scoring 41 points.

Friday 16th January 2026 - This morning children from Plympton St. Maurice and Old Priory came along to Heles to take part in a friendly Football festival, aimed at developing skills and confidence. On arrival we had a thorough warm-up to help with the bitterly cold conditions and then on to a few drills with some coaching. After that it was straight into a relaxed, coached game. Throughout play, we looked at some key areas such as passing, dribbling, shooting and positioning. The aim being to be able to work on our skills whilst still in a game situation. Everyone got stuck in and did incredibly well – definitely making progress by the end of the morning. At the end of the morning, we defrosted the teachers from their spots and celebrated with a well earned certificate. Thank you to the teachers/staff for braving the cold for your children to attend – I think you will agree, the smiles made it worthwhile. Check out the PSSP website for upcoming events.

Mrs Claire Cormack

PE Specialist Teacher

Plymouth School Sports Partnership

Wednesday 14th January 2026 – This morning Sports Leaders from Stoke Damerel (pictured below) hosted 3 schools for our termly PSSP Inclusion Football event.

Pennycross, St. Joseph’s and Courtlands came along to take part in our very relaxed and friendly Football festival. We kicked things off (see what I did there?!) with some friendly games between the 3 schools with the Sports Leaders refereeing, scoring and coaching. For some of the children with us today it was their first time representing their school and they were absolutely fabulous! Everyone tried really hard and we all had lot’s of fun. After some game play, it was time for a penalty shootout challenge – we had some volunteer goal keepers from each school step up to challenge the opposition. Although we were small in numbers this morning, I think I can safely say we all had a great time and enjoyed being active and playing games with our friends from school and friends we’ve just made from other schools. A huge thank you as always to our amazing SDCC Sports Leaders – you are absolutely brilliant with the children and make these events very special. Thank you to all of the staff for bringing your teams along – I hope to see you at another inclusion event very soon.

Mrs Claire Cormack

PE Specialist Teacher

Plymouth School Sports Partnership

Monday 15th December 2025 – Today we hosted our PSSP Inclusion Table Tennis event in partnership with Paul Whiting and Bailey Page. Our Plympton Academy Sports Leaders were on hand to greet the teams and take them through individual skills and partner challenges. 6 teams came along today – representing Pilgrim, Eggbuckland Vale, Chaddlewood, Prince Rock, Leigham and Plympton Academy. Paul and Bailey had designed today’s session to develop sport specific skills but most importantly, be a lot of fun and provide children with the opportunity to play lots of Table Tennis.

When they first arrived, there were definitely some nervous children but mere minutes into the first activity, there were smiles all around for the rest of the morning. Today’s competitive element was all about personal challenge: children worked with their partner to first practice each skill and then persevere to score the highest they could in each challenge. Well done to all of the children who participated today – you made amazing progress and it was fantastic to see you all having so much fun. I would like to say a huge thank you to Paul and Bailey – it was a brilliant event and the children loved it. A huge thank you as well to our fab Sports Leaders – you really helped to make this a very successful morning. Check out the PSSP website for more upcoming inclusive events.

Mrs Claire Cormack

PE Specialist Teacher

Plymouth School Sports Partnership

Monday 08th December 2025 – Today was our annual PSSP Primary Inclusion Rowing event hosted at Cann Bridge School. Teams of children from Victoria Road, Pilgrim, Hyde Park, Whitleigh, Cann Bridge and Courtlands came along to compete in a personal best competition, focusing on self-belief, trying new things and having fun being active. We had some fantastic Sports Leaders with us today – also from Cann Bridge – they assisted the children on the equipment, helped to manage the scoring and encouraged all of the participants – thank you so much for your help – you did an amazing job! Today’s event was all about personal best and striving to beat your own score.

First up was the 100m dash: the children were challenged to row 100m as fast as they can but on their next go they had to try to beat their own score. We also had a 200m dash and a Fish Game challenge for all the children to try and even had some puzzles and art work stations for the children waiting for their turn. I would like to thank the Cann Bridge Sports Leaders again and also Team PSSP – Emma, Tamsin and Josh for all of their help and support – I’m so grateful, thank you. It was such a joy to look around the hall this morning and see so many children smiling and enjoying being active and challenging themselves with something new. Thank you to all of the staff who brought their teams along, I hope you enjoyed it too and would be keen to come along to another PSSP inclusion event. Mrs Cormack PE Specialist Teacher Plymouth School Sports Partnership

Mrs Cormack

PE Specialist Teacher

Plymouth School Sports Partnership

Wednesday 26th November 2025 – Another great morning of sport at Plympton Academy with our Sports Leaders running a New Age Kurling event for children in mainstream and special schools. We had 8 teams from 7 schools with us this morning – represented were Hooe, Prince Rock, Old Priory, Widey Court, Leigham, Cann Bridge and Beechwood. On arrival, the teams were greeted by our leaders and introduced to the game and the skills… Played in its 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. After a little bit of practice, we get into fun games against other schools and then we are off. We use a round-robin format to try to ensure that every school has the opportunity to play everyone else. We don’t keep scores, instead the focus is very much on developing our skills (both social and physical) and really just having a lot of fun. At the end of the event, every child receives a certificate and I am pleased to say that they all told me they would definitely come back to play again. A huge thank you and well done to our Sports Leaders – you were brilliant with the children and a thank you as well to all of the staff for bringing your teams along. I look forward to seeing you all at another inclusive event soon.

Claire Cormack - PE Specialist Teacher

Plymouth School Sports Partnership