Despite a disappointing end to our sporting year, William Ransom have managed to have another incredibly successful year. There have been a lot of changes and we are very happy with all of them. The biggest and most important change has been the addition of Mr Vincent to our team . Mr Vincent has supported all PE lessons this year and been a vital contributor in running all of our clubs. He has been an excellent addition and we are very excited that he will be continuing in his role in September.
We have also managed to transition our clubs booking and payment, to an online system. This drastically reduces the admin time required and removes the possibility of letters and money being lost between school and home. In doing this we have also been able to create a completely fair waiting list, which has worked well when children have been unable to attend clubs. We are very happy with how clubs have worked this year and have been excited about offering Cheerleading and Dance as new clubs.
Our Football teams have had another successful season, with both teams reaching the Wix Cup finals. Our A team were successful in their final making them the District Champions. They were due to progress through to the County stages but sadly these were cancelled. They also completed their second successive undefeated season in the League, meaning they have achieved a double double over the last two years. This is an incredible achievement, especially when we are competing against bigger schools.
Our Netball team had excellent training sessions this year and began competing in their league fixtures. Unfortunately they were unable to complete these and they missed out on their end of season rallies. The children were able to gain a great understanding of the game and improve their skills throughout the year.
We were very excited for our dancers to compete, for the first time, in The Great Big Dance Off. They had to submit a video entry and were chosen to participate in the finals at The Gordon Craig Theatre. They did extremely well and managed to come 4th in the competition. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to perform on stage in front of a large audience.
Although we have not been able to complete all events, we are still very proud of all of the achievements this year and we are excited for next year.
To help us provide opportunities for physical activity and a high standard of PE and Clubs, we receive a PE and Sport Premium (PESP) of £18,760. This year we spent £16,697 of this on staff to support children. This was used for a very experienced Sports Teaching Assistant and a PE Apprentice. This allowed us to have experienced and qualified, additional members of staff to support all lessons. Children were able to be given extra support or an extra challenge by working with our support staff. Teachers were also able to learn and observe by watching those with stronger sporting experience, deliver high quality lessons.
As well as supporting in lessons, our support staff have also contributed hugely towards organising and running all of our sports clubs. By focusing more on internal clubs, we have been able to offer a greater variety of clubs and reduce the cost to parents.
We also used £350 on competition entry, to allow our children to take part and compete against other local schools. Sadly we were unable to attend all events due to cancellations caused by Covid-19.
Excitingly our new Cheerleading club started this year. This used £295 of the PESP to pay for the course and cover the teacher for the day. The children have already thoroughly enjoyed this club and will be able to use it for many years to come. In order to provide the opportunity for competition in Cheerleading, as well as those doing it for fun, we purchased a new kit. This will allow us to compete in any future events and give children something to aspire towards. The cost of our new kit was £627.
Unfortunately we were unable to spend the remainder of our PESP but this will be carried over to next year, where we hope to be able to set up the Inter-School competitions we had planned for this year.