We are delighted to announce that we have again achieved the School Games Silver Mark Award for the 2017/18 academic year. The School Games Mark is a Government led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community.

We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including our young volunteers, leaders and officials who make our competitions possible. As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.

We look forward to applying once again in 2019!

Competitions and events 2017-18:

Please be aware that dates, times and venues may change.

25th September: Young Ambassadors meeting at Kirk Hallam, 4-5.30pm.

27th September: National Fitness Day at Rutland, 1-3pm.

5th October: Y5/6 Boys Football at Kirk Hallam, 4-6pm, Granby achieved 7th place.

10th October: Cross Country at St Johns, 1-3pm, Granby's Y3/4 team placed second and one of our Y6 girls came second as an individual racer, well done!

11th October: KS2 Hockey Festival at Rutland Sports Park, 9.30-11.30am.

16th October: KS2 Basketball Festival at Kirk Hallam, 4-5.30pm.

6th November: Primary Gifted and Talented event at Derby University, 10-2pm.

13th-14th November: Dan the Skipping Man in school.

14th November: KS2 Badminton Festival at Rutland Sports Park, 1-3pm.

20th-23rd November: Bikeability, Y4, Y5 and Y6.

15th January: Y3/4 Sportshall Athletics, 10-12pm

16th January: Y5/6 Sportshall Athletics, 12-3pm, 5th place out of 12 teams-a great effort from everyone!

24th January: Young Ambassadors meeting at OIEA, 4-5.30pm.

29th January: KS2 Dodgball Festival at Long Eaton, 4-5.30pm.

5th February, KS2 Dodgeball Competition at Long Eaton, 4-5.30pm, 9th place and brought home the 'Fair Play' award! 

8th March: High 5 Netball festival at Kirk Hallam, 3.45-5.30pm.

Sport Relief: 19th-23rd March, please see letter sent home on 14th March for details!

10th April: Swimming Gala at Ilkeston Victoria Park LC , 9.30-11.30am.

6th June: Orienteering Festival at Hallam Fields, 1-3.30pm.

13th June: Quad Kids at Rutland, 1-3pm, 5th place with a score of 1,246!

Sports Day: Monday 18th June, 1.30pm-well done again to the Blue Team! Two years in a row!

19th June: Y4 Multi-sports, 10-12pm AND District Sports, 1-3pm at Rutland Sports Park, 2nd place in District Sports-well done Granby!!

5th July: The Cotmanhay Cup-well done to Granby-we won 4-1!

9th July: Primary Gifted and Talented event at Derby University, 10-2pm.

Y3/4 Dodgeball Event: Wednesday 18th July, AM.

Y5/6 Dodgeball Event: Thursday 19th July, AM.

Did You Know?

Did you know that it is recommended for children aged between 5-18 years old to do at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day? This should range from moderate activity to vigorous activity.

According to our NHS, examples of activities that require moderate effort for most young people include:

• walking to school
• playing in the playground
• riding a scooter
• skateboarding
• rollerblading
• walking the dog
• cycling on level ground or ground with few hills

and examples of activities that require vigorous effort for most young people include:

• playing chase
• energetic dancing
• swimming
• running
• gymnastics
• football
• rugby
• martial arts, such as karate
• cycling fast or on hilly terrain

To help you, our pupils, to achieve 30 of your 60 minutes during school hours, we ensure that:

• a range of play and sports equipment is available during lunchtime for you to use
• playleaders lead various activities and games which you can join in with during lunchtimes
• sports ambassadors lead an activity each Thursday lunchtime in the MUGA
• classes take part in the Daily Mile initiative (weather permitting!)
• we now have a designated skipping area on the playground following our time with Dan the Skipping Man for you to skip safely in
• your class has access to two PE slots each week
• physical literacy and movement during lessons are encouraged across school!
• we are also awaiting the installation of our new bike/scooter rack to encourage you to be active on your journey to school

What activities could you do at home to achieve your other 30 minutes?

Dan the Skipping Man!

Due to an increase in funding for PE and sport across school, Granby have invested in an introduction for all pupils to a new activity: skipping! We will be looking at how to use this to help all our pupils reach the desired 30 minutes of physical activity each school day.

All classes experienced a 30 minute introductory session with Dan where they tried new skills, including 'the pretzel' and 'the double under'. Pupils (and adults!) also experienced group games with double dutch ropes. We will be looking at how to introduce skipping skills and games safely on the yard at break and lunch times. After their sessions, pupils gathered together in the hall to watch a show where their peers demonstrated what they had learnt from the day!

Pupils were given the opportunity to buy a rope from Dan to use at home to practise and improve their techniques. Remember to check out the YouTube page for ideas and guidance: https://www.youtube.com/user/dantheskippingman/videos 

Feedback from pupils included:

'The skipping session that I had was fun, active and enjoyful and I would love to do it again! My favourite was the double under because we jumped the rope twice. I also enjoyed when we had to run, jump and run out of the large rope. I would love to do it again!' (Y6)

'I think it was really active and fun, it was a real challenge that I personally would want to do again. I know others would as well! Some of the skills were really hard and others were easier. My favourite was the double under, that was quite tricky, but I was nearly there!' (Y6)

'I think that skipping was very tiring but fun! I liked the pretzel the best. I also think the teacher (Dan) was very good at skipping and taught us the rules to keep safe. The game we played at the end was very good and very fun.' (Y6)

'What I really liked about skipping is that we got to try new things, which in my opinion, I had never seen before! My favourite thing was the criss-cross legs. I also enjoyed being taught by Dan. It was the best!' (Y6)

'I think that at first it was quite hard but about ten minutes in, it got easier! In addition to this, it was very enjoyable and I had a lot of fun. My favourite part was when we did something called 'a rodeo'.' (Y6)

'I think it's like a PE lesson and is really fun and also very healthy!' (Y6)

'It was really fun learning new skills and tricks.' (Y6)

'I enjoyed the presentation.' (Y6)

'I wanted more time to learn tricks and skills - it was quite quick!'

'I thought my experience of Dan the Skipping Man was unforgettable!' (Y5)

'Dan the Skipping Man was a great experience to do. I got stuck on some but he made me find a way through it-he is really good!' (Y5)

'i liked Dan the Skipping Man, although I wasn't too good at the pretezels but I think I cracked the double dutch ropes.' (Y5)

'He was very good with the children and he didn't just show it us, he let us get on and helped us step by step.' (Y5)

'I like how you got to do the basics first!' (Y4)

'I thought that the skipping was really fun. The tricks were very hard but now I am practising at home.' (Y4)

'I liked ALL of it but especially when Dan twirled the big rope. I also liked it as I don't get to do it at home.' (Y3)

'I liked how Dan taught us tricks!' (Y3)

'I liked how he could skip so fast!' (Y3)

Bikeability-Y4, Y5 and Y6

Letters have been sent out this week to our Y4, Y5 and Y6 pupils. If you would like your child to participate in this very important and successful scheme, please return the consent form to school ASAP. Copies are below.

Sports Ambassadors!

Meet our new sports ambassadors for 2017! Our four young leaders are here to help get our school involved in a variety of different activities. Watch out for their lunchtime sessions and sign up if you'd like to join in! Activities will include dodgeball, tag games, netball and much more!

National Fitness Day!

On Wednesday 27th September, the 2017-18 sporting events kicked off with the first National Fitness Day event organised by the ESSP. 17 of our pupils joined in with a variety of activities which celebrated fitness and encouraged healthy lifestyles. For two hours, children were active and enjoying themselves on stations around the venue which included circuits, yoga, fitness testing and much more! It was lovely to see such smiley, red faces after all the exercise!