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Pupils from Canning Town’s Hallsville Primary school are in a league of their own when it comes to scoring major sporting victories.
Since the School began encouraging pupils to put their footie
skills to the test five years ago, its trophy cabinet has been
brimming over with sporting Awards.
Their latest win on the pitch not only saw the football team pick
up an award in the Football Association’s County Championships for
schools and clubs, but it also went on to win the FA’s Regional
Finals - putting their competitors from the nine other regions in
the shade.
Not only that, but this is the third year running the champions
have picked up the Regional Trophy making it a remarkable hat-trick.
Hallsville Headteacher, Keri Edge, said: “We’ve had an
amazing year so far. Both our boys and girls teams are in the Newham
Schools League and Club, we won the six-a-side Newham Schools
Championship last year, and now we’ve won the South East Regional
Award and Regional Finals. Five years ago we never had a football
club. We’ve since turned that around and now we’ve tapped into a
real talent within our pupils.”
The presentation of the Regional Championship Trophy came as a
total surprise to staff and pupils at the South West Newham Education Action Zone School as they hadn’t been told about win.
Beaming with delight, Keri added: “All we knew was that we had
won the South East Region Award, so when the FA’s representative
came along to present us with the trophy during a special assembly
we were all taken by surprise when she told us we had also won the
Regional Championship. There were gasps in assembly.
“This is a huge boost for the school. It’s so nice to be
recognised for the work we do. There’s lots of stuff that goes on
and for someone to come along and say congratulations for providing
these children with opportunities was wonderful.
“Our aim now is for one day to win the National FA Award.”
Sports Teacher, Evan Hollows, said that pupils are queuing up to
get into the teams. “We have on average 55 committed footballers
for the boys’ team and there’s a huge waiting list with those
eager to join. More and more children want to join football clubs
and they are proving very popular in the area.”
With Hallsville now in the FA’s London Primary and Secondary
School’s league, the School has to ensure participation is high
and that the clubs deliver good quality coaching.
“All the clubs are open to everyone,” explained Evan. “We
have a 20 clubs arranged for Key Stage 1 and 35 Key Stage 2 and
football is taught as part of the curriculum in Years 4 to 6.”
While it’s Evan’s job to coach the six-a-side boys team,
otherwise known as the ‘elite team’ in the school, the mixed KS1
club is run by teacher Sonny Young, the KS2 girls club is run by
Parent/Governor Paul Bentham, and the KS2 boys club is run by Newham
Community Sports Coaches.
“We’re doing pretty well,” added Evan. “The clubs are run
throughout the year, not just in the football season, and the
children are really enthusiastic. It’s great to see, and great to
watch.”
And it’s not just football that gets pupils at Hallsville
sporting crazy. The School also runs a range of other activities
such as fencing, gymnastics, basket ball, table top sports, plus
early-years rounders and athletics.
Said Keri: “All this fits into becoming a healthy school.
It’s a huge contribution factor so we will continue to try and
provide all kinds of sports with as many opportunities as
possible.”
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