Revision as of 16:10, 16 July 2006

International Players in Sports Education

High on the list of the new headmaster Marc Morris' priorities, PE is taking a front line in producing well rounded individuals of all those who enter the school's gates. [If you think about it, arent they trying to make them less rounded??] Both staff and students are encouraged to take part in extra-curricular sporting events, as diverse as Teacher Sports Day in the summer of 2005 and many interform competitions. The school also has a number of UK international sports players, both past and present students. Kristin Bromley, the Olympian Skeleton Bob star is perhaps the most high flying current sportsman, but is being pursued closely by Rachel Henry, an England U21 netball international, and David Groom, on the UK Judo team. Joe Hodgson is the first choice goalkeeper for the GB-22 handball team.

Places to Play

Fields

The PE department is in charge of the ever expanding sports facilities around the school. The Glen Playing Fields, a number of minutes east from the school are used for interschool football competitions, and rarely see the boots of less sporting students. The top field of the school is on a slope, and thus is the perfect site for a 200m running track. It also has the school's long jump and triple jump area, and an area of grass within the track, suitable for javelin throwing and rugby playing.

The old lower field, shadowed by a bank of trees, is now the host of a fenced in astro-turf area, large enough for a full sized game of hockey, and marked with numerous other courts for netball, 5-a-side football, and others. Being totally open, it gets very cold in the winter months, but due to the until recently very limited indoor sports facilities, was still where most boys' PE lessons took place during colder months, in wind, rain, hail, or scorching sun. Generations of boys remember getting back into the changing rooms and defrosting their hands on the single radiator, and having great trouble with buttons.

Gym

The main reason for this ongoing pain was the PE staff's decision that cold sport is better than no sport, which itself was required by the fact that more often than not it is cold in Rossendale, and the old Gym (soon to be converted into a 6th form study area and common room) was far too small for the classes of 60-90 taking games at any one time. Constructed for a school of 300 students, the gym is now entirely out of date and has been replaced by the Sports Hall.

Sports Hall

The PE facilities were added to by the £1m Sports Hall in 2005, with extra classrooms, a fitness studio and dance studio, in addition to a large indoor (but nontheless badly heated) area with basketball hoops, a sprung floor, and cricket nets. Finally, the courts at the front of the school are available for use generally by students, on a rotational basis with different year groups being assigned a different court each half term. For year 7 students, who are not included in the rotation until year 11 leave in May, the cubby hole adjacent to room 69 is available for their sporting escapades.