Sports coaches helping pupils keep active
A company which delivers PE in a number of the county's primary schools has been keeping pupils active after the return to the classroom.
Crossbar Coaching Education in Sport, based at Lilleshall, has been providing PE sessions across the curriculum in Shropshire schools since 2008 and it has been playing a key part over the past 12 months.
Its team of coaches delivered PE classes to children of key workers who continued to attend school throughout lockdown, while also introducing ways to help pupils studying at home since January.
Kevin Sandwith, Crossbar’s head of education in sport, said: “We were still able to deliver PE to the children of key workers at school and we also encouraged our staff to provide some online activities for the pupils at home, various weekly challenges which were uploaded to platforms that the schools use.
“It meant children were still able to see a familiar face in a PE capacity, with some form of activity provided for pupils working from home.
“It included a variety of fitness challenges, circuit-based bodyweight exercises like press ups, mastery of a football, and other fun activities.
“The online content was very well received by head teachers and a lot of parents, so it worked well in difficult circumstances.
“It’s been good to see that pupils have stayed active at home, as well as the pupils that have still been going to school.”
Kevin added that Crossbar, based at Lilleshall National Sports Centre, is proud how its team managed to adapt to a challenging situation for schools and pupils.
Crossbar’s coaches have been supporting teachers in helping children settle back into school after their return last week.
Kevin said: “Situations like this you can never plan for, but you just adapt and work around it as best you can. We couldn’t be any prouder of our staff and the team of coaches and apprentices we have.
“They have been absolutely first class and it’s testament to them that they are receiving some really good feedback from schools about their flexibility and ability to work in a different capacity.
“Some pupils returning to school might have a little bit of anxiety around it because they’ve been away for so long, so that’s where our coaches will show their enthusiasm and empathy to guide them in the right direction and get the fun element of PE into their weekly structures to get everybody active.”
