​On the evening of Wednesday the 27th April over 50 Year 1 & Year 2 pupils from St Lawrence, Woodseaves and Castlechurch filled King Edward’s sports hall for a fun evening of circus skills. The children (and a lot of the teachers and sports leaders) all appeared to thoroughly enjoy attempting new skills such as plate spinning, juggling and using a diablo as well as many more. The event was well attended by King Edwards’ pupils who acted as sports leaders, allowing the evening to run smoothly and the adults from the participating schools to enjoy the event and learn some new skills too. The sports leaders along with Sam Phillips & Matt were also invaluable, helping to teach the year 1 & 2 pupils new skills and encouraging them to persevere with each activity. As always the evening was well organised by Mrs Gibbs and well attended by the participating schools creating a fun environment for the pupils to develop their new skills. Overall the evening was fun for all involved and the attending pupils all appeared to enjoy the activities greatly.
 

​Castlechurch came to our school for a Sports Day on Thursday 2nd July. The children participated in a range of activities including running races, throwing events and other skillful activities. The children completed a circuit full of all the events, run by the KEVI sports leaders, which they thoroughly enjoyed. While the pupils were doing the activities, the teachers recorded who won and for the running race we did finals. Everyone came and sat around the running track and supported their team representative. We then ran the races and got to see the winner out of each team. All of the children really enjoyed the day and the teachers said what a wonderful experience it was for them. Unfortunately Year 5 could not make the sports day, as they were on a trip, so they missed out on a great morning of sport. The sports leaders also had a good time looking after the children and doing different activities with them. It was a great day!
 
Report by Allegra Soutar, Liberty Busby, Kirsten Reade Y9

Tuesday 31st March saw the Year 5&6 netball tournament take place at King Edward VI sports hall. 23 rearing to go students participated in a fun and enjoyable afternoon of skills, games and lively matches.

St. Lawrence's Primary School and Castle Church Primary School worked with the sports leaders to improve their skills, passing and practice their shooting through the hoops. After a crash course in netball the two schools joined forces and split into four mixed teams. The enthusiastic teams got involved together and battled it out against one another to be the best. 

It was evident that the teachers and parents enjoyed the tournament too. That was due to the four sports leaders and Mrs Gibbs who dedicated their evening to ensure the children left with complete satisfaction and knowledge of the game. The skills that the children showed throughout the matches were very impressive and their improvement during the evening definitely did not go unnoticed! Well done everyone!

Report by Hannah Malpass Y11

25 enthusiastic years 5 and 6’s from surrounding primary schools filled King Edward’s sports hall on Tuesday night, ready to play in the October 2014 Football Festival. Four brightly coloured teams took to the pitch in an attempt to make their schools proud, with an overwhelming atmosphere and support from fellow team members, families and teachers on the side-lines. All teams from Castlechurch, St Lawrence and Woodseaves played extremely well and the final results were very close. St Lawrence managed to pull just ahead of the other 3 teams to be named the winners of the October 2014 Football Festival, of which parents, teachers and students alike were extremely proud. The standard of football at the event was as high as ever and hopefully the schools will return to the festival for years to come to claim their own victory!

The present sports leaders and referees that participated in helping the event to run smoothly worked very well together and Mrs Gibbs believes the festival “ran the best yet under the unfortunate weather conditions” (as the festival had to be moved inside). The leaders helped throughout the festival to instil enthusiasm into the players and encourage the great performances from the younger children. The help from King Edward’s students was invaluable and allowed the festival to take place extremely efficiently.

Report by Jordan Talbot Y10

Today King Edward VI High School opened its doors to children from Year 1 & 2 from 4 primary schools: Castlechurch, Gnosall St Lawrence, Woodseaves and Church Eaton. 66 children gathered in the sports hall to take part in a Circus Skills Festival where all the children were taught 5 different skills all found at the Circus. These skills included: Juggling, Diabolos, Hoops, Spinning Plates and Rhythm Sticks. An army of 41 Sports leaders taught these skills, which included pupils from all years of our school as well as many helping out from the sixth form.

The event came about when, a few years ago, local primary schools teachers were trained in circus skills for them to then relay onto their students. This festival was created to carry this on. Mrs Gibbs, PE teacher and Sixth Form Progress Leader, was in charge of the festival and said: “It gives the children a chance to try something different to traditional team games such as football or netball. It gives them a chance to try something new to see whether they would like it or not. It also gives the King Edwards' students an opportunity to act as sports leaders with primary school children”

According to the children’s response at the end of the festival they all enjoyed it. When asked whether they enjoyed the activities or not, they all replied with a deafening chorus of ‘YES’ which was filled with enthusiasm and excitement. This definitely shows that this event was a success.

Jordan Talbot Y10

On Tuesday 11th March King Edward VI High School Stafford held a High 5 Netball festival. (a 5 a side game with adapted rules for primary children in mixed teams)

This follows on from the very successful primary school festivals already held at King Edward VI High School this year.

7 Primary school teams from the King Edward VI High School cluster participated in this popular event. That was around 50 children.

The games took place on the courts at King Edward VI High School, between 4pm – 5.30pm.

The emphasis was very much on taking part and enjoying the game of netball as for many children it was the 1st competitive games they had played.

High 5 is a 5 a side netball game with modified rules to accommodate the needs of the younger players. Teams were mixed sex.

Sports leaders from Y10, Y12 & Y13 at King Edward VI High School, umpired the games, organising the teams, acted as team managers and record the scores.

The festival was an opportunity to promote another sporting activity and to work across the whole age range of pupils in the family. All age groups worked together to make the event possible.

By holding a netball festival we hope to increase the amount of exercise children are doing. It is a great opportunity for the children to sample an activity in a festival environment and for the sports leaders to gain umpiring and leadership experience.

On the evening all games were played in a very sporting atmosphere. The competing teams were from Castlechurch, Church Eaton, Haughton St Giles (2 teams) and Woodseaves (3 teams).

All teams played each other and after some high scoring games Castlechurch emerged as the overall winners in a closely contested competition.

After school on Tuesday 4th February 63, year 1 & year 2 children enjoyed a tri golf festival at King Edwards.

The event was organised and run by sports leaders in Years 7 – Year 13 from King Edward VI High School.

Primary schools in the King Edward cluster were invited to attend. They were:

All Saints Infants, Ranton
Castlechurch
Gnosall, St Lawrence
Woodseaves
St Pauls
Haughton St Giles
Church Eaton

It was a very popular & successful festival that has offered an alternative sport. It has made golf accessible to lots of children. The children who participated in the festival had lots of fun trying a variety of golf challenges, including, Target golf, cliff hanger, tunnel ball, golf dominoes. The sports leaders from King Edward VI High School were delightful with the young children, helping & encouraging them to be successful at the challenges. I would like to thank the staff and parents of the primary schools for making it possible for such a large number to participate in the after school festival 

King Edward VI High School held a Table tennis festival for their family of schools on Tuesday 21st January between 4pm – 5.30pm

Students from Year 11 – Year 13 at King Edward VI High School organised the event. 

Children from Castle Church, Church Eaton, Haughton St Giles, St Paul’s, Doxey, St Lawrence at Gnosall and Woodseaves were all invited to attended the event bringing around 40 Year 3 & Year 4 children to sample the sport.

Sports leaders from King Edward VI High School Years 7 – Year 13 ran & organised the festival.

This festival was a great success with many of the primary children experiencing a new sport, learning new skills and playing in Table Tennis competitions. They also sampled a circuit of different challenges including 10 pin, cliff hanger, round the world and table tennis slam

These activities in this environment also helps the King Edward ‘s students to develop self-confidence as well as leadership qualities.