Newsletters

In the Loop Secodary Edition

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ISSUE 33

West Devon County Netball Trials 


West Devon County Netball Association would like to invite you to nominate athletes for the 2025/26 County Performance Pathway trials, for athletes in school years 7,8,9,10 as of September 2025.

Schools - can nominate up to 5 athletes from your school who are NOT part of a community netball club.

 (Please make sure that the criteria are adhered too for the sake of the triallist!)

Athletes that are already part of the County Pathway will automatically be invited back for trials if they are within age and will not be part of the team/club quota.

Please forward this to any athletes you wish to nominate.

You are invited to trials for West Devon County Netball Academy on:

U13 – Sunday 15th June 2025

U15 – Sunday 8th June 2025

Trial Fee £10

If after further evaluation you are selected to attend West Devon PDP, sessions will be weekly for 30 weeks excluding school holidays. Good attendance of all sessions is mandatory, so please make sure athletes are fully committed to sessions before applying.

If you wish to take up this opportunity, please complete the relevant form below by Friday 30th May.

U13 trial - https://forms.gle/sD8qoWpccmHcxdee6

U15 trial - https://forms.gle/EK2uzxbNARBtcVRu5

Once you have registered you will receive an invoice for the trial fee of £10. Once payment has been made, an acknowledgement will be sent as confirmation of your trial place. Payment details are below. Please ensure you put the correct reference, so we can track payments easily

Account name: WEST DEVON NETBALL

Sort Code: 52-10-42

Account Number: 16177657

BIC: NWBKGB2L

IBAN: GB96NWBK52104216177657

REF: [Childs name] County Trial

Please wear black or navy shorts or skirt and a white t-shirt or vest. NO Club kit to be worn.

If you are successful further information on costs and all dates will be provided.

If you have any questions or require further information, please contact Karen Dent on Digger01@blueyonder.co.uk

FREE UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 inspired resources

Inspire your pupils with our free, ready-to-use resources, designed to bring the spirit of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 into your classroom. From inspiring assembly presentations and PSHE lessons to worksheets and form time activities, these ready-to-use materials explore the power of belonging in football - on and off the field. Plus, help pupils discover the wide range of career opportunities available across the world of sport!

DOWNLOAD THE ASSEMBLY

Plymouth and District Basketball Association 

Plymouth and District Basketball Association (PDBA) offers a grassroots basketball competition, boasting over 150 registered players from across the South West.

Our league offers organised competitions and playing opportunities for a diverse range of abilities, from early-stage beginners to the future stars of basketball!

The PDBA currently provides competitions for both boys and girls across the following age groups: U12 and U14, and We are excited to announce the opportunity to launch our Youth Under-16 League. We are committed to getting more of our young South West residents playing basketball more often.

With the surge of new players shooting hoops across the area, we developed the PDBA junior to meet the demand for more competitions and quality opportunities to play and enjoy the game in its purest form.

Our aim is to provide easily accessible, enjoyable routes into organised basketball competition, emphasising a positive playing experience so all participants in the PDBA junior leagues are inspired to stay in the sport for the long term.

We’re excited to offer opportunities in the following age groups: U10, U12, U14, and U16. We're currently working with Marjon to confirm court bookings. While we’re aiming to keep our usual Saturday slots, there’s a possibility we may need to shift to/split over Sundays—we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more.

The deadline to register is 1 July, and you can sign up using the Microsoft Forms link here: PDBA Team Registration

We’d love to see all of you return for another great season, and if you know of any other clubs that might be interested in joining, please do let us know!

For all information please click on the below link...

https://www.plymouthssp.co.uk/page/title=Youth+Basketball&pid=60&action=saved

WIN a signed Made for this Game t-shirt from Steph Houghton MBE 

Your chance to win a one-of-a-kind Made for this Game t-shirt signed by Steph Houghton MBE!

To enter, answer this question in five sentences or fewer:

Why are you Made for this Game?

Share your journey and inspire others - whether it's your role in school football, the confidence it gives you, or friendships you've made.

Know pupils who’d love this? The giveaway’s open to all, so spread the word and share the link!

ENTER HERE

School Games Mark- NOW LIVE! 

The School Games Mark application is now live! Please head over to your school games dashboard to ensure you are awarded your mark for this academic year. 

The school games mark application will be available to complete from now until the 30th July. 

Please note that on the section that where you select the sports that you deliver, you need to click the sport and not the tick box!

PSSP SG mark Competition:

This year every school that completes the SG mark will get entered into a draw, with one school winning the opportunity to pick a set of inclusive equipment to keep for their school. You will get to choose from archery, new age kurling or boccia. Make sure to complete your mark before the deadline, for the chance to win! 

If you would like some support in completing the award, please contact h.tasker@sjhcsc.co.uk or j.gilbert@sjhcsc.co.uk  

Please ensure you have read the following to avoid any errors in achieving your award.

External Validation (from Sport England last year- we are aware this still stands) 

We are working with a third party to ensure that the consistency and robustness of School Games Mark is maintained across the Country. To that end, a random sample of schools and their SGOs will be selected to take part in some face-to-face and remote visits with the external partner to work through their application and demonstrate their evidence to support their award. This will not be an intrusive process, rather a step to ensure we have a credible awards system that is valued by schools and very often results in schools being upgraded as schools undersell themselves.

Please don't worry about this, if you are picked at random, I will come in to support you and make sure you have everything you need in advance before the meeting. You do not need to have a print out of all evidence, electronic versions are just as good. 
 

Inclusive Health Check:

Before applying for the SG mark, please make sure you have completed your inclusive health check. This can be done through your school games portal. You can do it all at the same time, but it will speed up the process of applying if this is done before. You MUST complete this form and make sure it has saved/ registered to your application if you are doing them both at the same time, even if you are able to skip it. Skipping the inclusive health check will unfortunately automatically register your award as a fail. If this happens, please don't panic, I can reset your application once however please double check. 
 

Extra information for this year: 

You will get asked if you know who your county inclusion lead is. If you have never received anything before, her name is Katherine Killburn. 

Platinum awards:

In order to achieve a Platinum award, you must get four consecutive years of Gold. Then on the fifth year, when you apply again, you will need to achieve Gold, which will automatically take you to complete the Platinum process.

If you achieved a Platinum award last year, you will not have to complete the application this year, as they last for two years. If you did not complete an application last year due to achieving a Platinum award the year before, you will have apply again this year. You do not have to start the consecutive Gold awards again though, you can apply straight for Gold/ Platinum like in previous years. 
 

Benefits of completing the SG mark:

The school games mark is a great way to celebrate and acknowledge all you have organised, achieved and set up for your school, and the positive difference it is making to your pupils. 

It is a good thing visual for parents, visitors, other staff members and Ofsted to see around school, to remind them of the positive impact in sport your school is making.

The SG mark is a levelled award to work towards and use to plan PE lessons, extra-curricular clubs and movements breaks, not only to celebrate what you are already doing, but to identify the potential 'gaps' and areas to improve. 

It is a good talking point if PE get's a deep dive and can be used as evidence of what you run. 

You can use the SG mark to see what sports you currently offer and what new ones you might like to as a school, therefore broadening the experiences and increasing engagement for pupils. 

It is a good 'tool' to identify what children to 'target' and increase engagement through various sports, activities and extra-curricular offer. 

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Wimbledon Event - Plymouth City Centre 

During the two weeks of Wimbledon, there will be a large screen and seating installed by Plymouth City Centre Company in the city centre. In addition, Marjon University have partnered with Padel United UK to install a pop up Padel court. The aim is to provide school provision between the hours of 10:00-14:30, Monday-Friday. I have outlined below what each day would look like

  • 10:00-12:00 – School 1
  • 12:00-12:30 – Break
  • 12:30-14:30 – School 2

Padel is one of the fastest growing sports globally and this is a fantastic opportunity for school children to get a taster of the sport.

If you are interested, please contact Dan Tyler - dtyler@marjon.ac.uk

01 May 2025
PSSP Primary and Special Schools Football
Wednesday 30th April 2025 – What a scorcher for our termly PSSP Inclusion Football event. 5 teams attended to compete in our friendly tournament aimed at promoting teamwork, respect and having lots of fun. Represented today were Cann Bridge, Courtlands, Pennycross, Montpelier and Keyham Barton...
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