The Proudest PE Teacher in Wiltshire

3 boys qualified for the Disabilty Events National Junior Athletics Championships held in Blackpool during the first weekend of July.

It began with an 81/2 hr drive due to M6 closure, but it was soooooo worth it.

We stayed in a fabulous 5 star hotel with sea view, 3 course evening meals , excellent breakfasts, packed lunches & unlimited bottled water. The actual event was spot on. Everything ran on time & the officials were very proffessional. Our team manager Rob was lovely & the team really worked well.

So, results. We are over the moon!

Liam(U20)		800m-Gold New National Record Long Jump-Gold 100m-Bronze Relay- Silver (may be upgraded to Gold,due to change over protest)
Wesley(U15)		800m - Silver Long Jump - 6th
Jack (U15)		100m-Qualified for final then came 4th 200m-Qualified for final then came 5th

Thank you to WESPORT for organising the qualifying event at Bath Uni in May and also Chris Bell & Danny Geeson for sponsoring the boys so that they could attend the event.

This is the high-light of my career! I feel like I ran every metre & jumped every cm with them. I must be the proudest PE teacher in Wiltshire.

Updated July 2008

Rachel Bown
School Sports Coordinator

Disability Sports Events Junior Athletics

Liam, Wesley, Jack & Rosa have all qualified for the Disability Sports Events Junior Athletics Championships. They are being held at Stanley Park Blackpool on 5th/6th July. We are all very excited & very proud. We are hoping to have some extra coaching at Bath University in preparation for the big weekend.

Updated June 2008

Jubilee Sailing Trust

Somer Valley Rotary Club offered Larkrise an all expenses paid trip on The Lord Nelson Tall Ship for a pupil & buddy as a thank you for raising approx £1100 by completing Ironman UK last year. On Sunday 18th May Liam & myself embarked on a sea voyage to remember!

Day 1 : Depart from Poole
Day 2 : Sail to Jersey
Day 3 : Anchor in Jersey
Day 4 : Leave Jersey & sail to Dartmouth
Day 5 : Anchor in Dartmouth
Day 6 : Sail to Plymouth
Day 7 : Anchor in Plymouth & return home.

Liam & I spent Days 1 & 2 either feeling sick or most definitely in my case, being sick! (we decided not to show the photos on this part). During this time we were still expected to do our 4hr watch stints which included the following patterns: 12midnight-4am: 4am-8am: 8am-12noon: 12.30-4pm: 4pm-6pm: 6pm-8pm: 8pm-12midnight. Our watch consisted of: Alan (Watch leader) Sophie & Sally, Julia & Sophie, Liam & me.

We all had to work together to steer the ship, clean, serve food, put up/take down sails etc. There is a permanent crew, but the aim of the voyage is for the 4 watches to run the ship based on the Captain & First Mate's orders.

We both climbed the rigging. Liam went even further. He took a big, brave step upwards & outwards & actually climbed out onto the sails-amazing!

It was a challenging week. Working on a tall ship is physically demanding. Getting up at 'silly o'clock' is hard. Broken sleep in small bunks with strangers is unpleasant. Putting your head down the head (that's what toilets are called on ships!) is revolting.

Trying new things, eating lots of very good food (once you've stopped feeling/being sick) cooked by a very good chef is great. Above all watching young people with varying degrees of disability overcoming their difficulties, growing in confidence & taking on new responsibilities is wonderful.

Liam made new friends, took control of a Tall Ship worth millions of pounds, worked in a team, challenged himself physically & actually made conversation before 10am (never before witnessed on dry land !) He was a superstar. He helped others less able than himself & was always keen & willing. The Captain told me that Liam was a pleasure to have on board & would welcome him back on his own at any time.

Will I go again? Probably not, but I would definitely recommend it to people with better sea legs!

Updated June 2008

Larkrise walks into The Guiness Book of Records

On Saturday 3rd May Larkrise athletes took part in the Keevil Fun Run. The adults raced over 10 kilometres the childrens races ranged from 50 metre for the toddlers right up to 3000 metre for the eldest kids.

Wesle, one of our Junior boys, came 6th in his 2 kilometre race, whist Eva, a senior girl, came 3rd in her 3 kilometre race and Liam a senior boy came 1st in his 3 kilometre race.

We also took part in the Guiness Book of Records attempt at the biggest 3 legged race. The record previously stood at 50 pairs, but on the day over 100 couples finished the 200 metre event. The police & an official from Guiness were there to varify our victory and count pairs of legs! We celebrated with very big ice-creams!

The event was organised by Keevil Primary Schools PTA. They did a superb job. The weather was perfect and everyone had an excellent afternoon.

Updated May 2008

Larkrise Rule !

On Mon12th May a group of children from Larkrise went to the WESPORT Athletics for children with SEN at Bath University. We stole the show-again!

Liam jumped out of the sand pit! He long-jumped 4m 85cm, which is a fantastic achievement in itself. He then went on to win the 800m & 100m proving himself to be an all round athlete in the U19 category.
Jack came 1st in both the 100m & 200m in the U14 age group.
Rosa came 2nd in both the 100m & 800m for the girls U15 age group
Wesley & Andrew also performed very well in their running & jumping events.

We are now waiting to hear if anyone has qualified for the National Championships which are being held in Blackpool this June. Watch this space for further news about this. (Followup to this report is above)

Updated May 2008

New Age Kurling

On 30th April we held our annual NAK festival at Matravers School, Westbury for West Wilts KS1 SEN students. We also did some 'Speed Stacking' activities. Approximately 40 children with a wide range of learning difficulties attended.

The Matravers Young Leaders did a great job helping to organise the morning.

Updated May 2008

Third Fitness For Fun Festival is huge success

A record number of students from six specialist learning centres & Larkrise enjoyed two Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Fitness for Fun days 19th and 26th March.

50 took part in KS1 and a further 70 in KS2, beating last years numbers by 20%.

Both were held at John of Gaunt School. Everyone had a great time and special thanks to Yr10 Young Leaders, who helped with the delivery.

Updated March 2008

2008 Annual Dance Festival

Larkrise rehearsed two different performances for the West Wilts Annual Dance Festival.

The first group had their own video produced for showing to the audience on both evenings. Since the festival theme was "A Night At The Movies" we choose "The Dambusters"

Our second group gave a live performance of "Rocky" which was immaculately synchronised throughout. Even our planned joke to badly match one of our taller boys against one of our shorter girls was greeted with laughter and applause by the audience.

All the parents and staff are really proud of their achievement. Very well done!

Updated February 2008

SEN Activity Day Matravers School hosted a festival of activities on Wednesday 5th December where Primary School children who have special needs and are in main sream school and children from all the special units were all invited. Young Leaders and staff from Matravers School assisted with the day. The children were able to take part in trampolining, judo and dance and all had a great time. Cadbury in the Community sponsored the event Updated December 2007.

"Flash slideshow" Images from the SEN Activity Day

Special Units Tag Tails On Weds 28th Nov we held our annual tag-tails festival for the Special Units. The event toook place at the Army Barracks in Warminster with Young Leaders from Kingdown helping out. Approximately 40 children participated in the event. Each received a medal and a BIG pat on the back for working so hard. They participated in teams playing games & running relay races using tags & tag belts. More pictures click hereto go to the "Partnership" news page. Updated December 2007.

Rachel Bown
School Sports Coordinator