School_Matters_Issue_34

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Miss Middleton-Smith keeps #Bookfit

Mr van Vuuren, Director of Sport

VIRTUAL PE The staff of the PE faculty worked hard during the periods of Tier 3 restrictions and lockdown to adapt their sports programme for online participation, encouraging us all to get outdoor exercise wherever possible and to keep fit and active for the benefit of our physical and mental health. They also continued to lead sessions for the key worker children who were attending school throughout the lockdown period.

creativity and accomplishments as active participants in the PE programme. Miss Middleton-Smith teamed up with Ms Cleaves and Miss O’Connor in the Library to launch #Bookfit, exploring ways of exercising and reading at the same time. Pupils were able to take part in the House Reading competition without interrupting their exercise regime! On Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes, the faculty offered live workouts led by Miss Buckett for both pupils and staff. These sessions focused on areas such as developing core and upper body strength and had a positive impact in countering the ‘post-lunch dip’ for participants heading back into their afternoon Zoom classes.

placed pupils in Senior 7–8: Nabil Elsayed and Rowan McKittrick; in Senior 9–10: Joseph Dunlop and Teddy Bascombe; and in PVI–UVI: Josh Mayer and Charlotte Kennaway. Running challenges were later extended to include longer distances, from 3–10km, and several pupils even entered the London Virtual Cross Country; all excellent preparation for The Great House Run II ! On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, video clips of daily physical activity challenges and social/mental health tips were posted to Twitter and Firefly. Tasks included mobility exercises, ball skills, hand/eye coordination and balance. Pupils responded enthusiastically, sending in pictures and videos showing their

Mr Brown ran a regular ‘wake up and shake up’ session and introduced a 1km challenge. For this, pupils sent in photos of their split times and a leaderboard was displayed on Firefly. Well done to first THE GREAT HOUSE RUN II Following the tremendous success of The Great House Run during last year’s lockdown, pupils and staff dedicated a second week to a new version of the same event, with participation now extended to alumni and parents. Participants submitted individual distances run or walked via app screenshots and selfies to the PE Faculty which then verified and totalled the entries to add to House tallies. This time around, the IPS community succeeded in running/ walking a total distance of 9,737km [circa. London-Bangkok – Ed.] . Montefiore House took top spot overall for Mr Williams’ Lions at 2,697km. Josh Mayer, S10 of Findlay House ran an astonishing 200km over 7 days; Montefiore’s Rupert Hooper, S9 ran 140km and Findlay’s Charlotte Kennaway, PVI ran 123km. Well done, too, Mrs Wright who clocked up three marathons’ distance of 127km for Montefiore.

PE PODASTS An exciting cricket-themed PE Faculty Podcast hosted by Mr Brown attracted great interest. His special guests included Adam London (Middlesex CC) and Dom Reed (Glamorgan CC) who discussed their professional careers, their lifelong love of sport, and reflected on the challenges facing young people in 2021. The podcast was a tremendous success and much was gained by our budding cricketers as well as all those interested in all that a career in sport entails. A follow up podcast saw Flo Lloyd-Hughes (OI, 2012) talk to pupils about her career as a sports journalist and the changing opportunities for women in sport, particularly football, over recent years. It was great to see Flo again and hear her speak eloquently about her career journey since leaving IPS. Her inspirational talk was enthusiastically received by all those who heard it and we are most grateful to her. We wish her continuing professional success and look forward to having her back.

Flo Lloyd-Hughes (OI, 2012)

Congratulations and thank you everyone who supported this magnificent effort, either through runs long or short and/or donations. We raised a fantastic £4,215 for the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation!