Why we love sports!

Sport is a very important part of the curriculum at Pilgrims. One of our PE objectives is for our children to develop an understanding of trying their best which is taught through encouraging healthy competition, where appropriate. We want our pupils to enjoy sport so we teach them that having fun is not all about winning, it’s about taking part, and that’s the most important thing.

June is a very active month for our children as there are a range of sporting events on the calendar, including our annual sports day, which will be taking place on Friday 29 June. During the first few weeks of the summer term, each year group will be participating in special watersport events; an opportunity to show their parents how well they can swim! The month will end with the first week of our Healthy Heart fortnight where we will be teaching the children how to enjoy a healthy lifestyle through a range of sporting activities and food choices. It’s going to be all about forming good habits at an early age to encourage healthy living and a healthy heart.

Sports Day is another popular event in the sporting calendar, as it is something that all children (and parents) can take part in. Parents are invited to attend to support their children as they take part in a series of races to win points for their House. Children begin competing in races from the age of 2.  These are fun races, and the children do not feel they are competing against each other, instead they simply want to run as fast as they can, whilst hearing their parents cheer them on.  The same goes for the older children in main school, although the parent races can get a little more competitive!

Pilgrims’ children are familiar with the idea of competing through the school’s House Point system where each child is a member of a House colour and they are awarded coloured tokens when they display any of the school’s values: curiosity, kindness and respect.  The children learn that by winning something by themselves, they also contribute to their overall House team colour, thus promoting a strong teamwork ethic.

We believe it is also important for our pupils to engage in competition with pupils from other schools, which is why we regularly take part in inter-school activities. As part of their preparation for life after Pilgrims, our Year 2 children will be given the opportunity to take part in multi-sports at Bedford Modern School on Friday 8 June. This will enable them to become accustomed to the world of sport in a bigger school in advance, so that the experience isn’t too daunting when they start in September.  They also regularly take part in joint sporting events, such as tennis tournaments against older pupils in Bedford School and Bedford Girls’ School.  This year, our children came top!

Our aim is to make sure that our children continue their love of sport into the next stage of their school journey and beyond, into adult life.