Project Ability aims to establish a national network of 50 of the most successful mainstream and special schools at providing opportunities for young disabled pupils to take part in sport. These schools will receive funding and resources to:

• Help other schools improve their offer to young disabled pupils
• Work with School Games Organisers to establish and lead new leagues and competitions for young disabled pupils
• Find innovative and practical ways to signpost and support young disabled pupils into wider sporting pathways.

Project Ability is a bespoke project within the School Games to help drive and increase opportunities for young disabled people to take part in competitive sport. Project Ability is focused on building capacity within the school workforce to ensure opportunities for young people are progressive, competitive and shared across groups of local schools.

Schools delivering Project Ability will use the School Games as a vehicle to increase the depth and breadth of PE and school sport opportunities for all young disabled people.

The Project Ability Schools will:

Increase the quality and quantity of competitions for young people with a disability by working with a minimum of 10 local schools to commit to, adopt and promote the School Games and its values:

• Support partner schools to develop inclusive or discrete Intra School (L1) competitive opportunities for their SEN pupils that feed inter school competitions (L2).
• Support the School Games L3 Local Organising Committee (LOC) chair to identify suitable disability experts to sit on the LOC.

Build capacity in the workforce to support this focus on inclusion:

• Deliver sessions across the year (one per half term) for local secondary and primary school specialists to improve knowledge, skills and understanding around the inclusion of young disabled people in sport.
• Work with local sport networks to ensure any coach education programmes address inclusion requirements needed to deliver schools games.

Share effective practice and collaboration at a local level to maximise opportunities:

• Deliver a local County / SGO conference on the development and delivery of disability sport.
• Host an annual leadership conference which is either disability specific or inclusion focused.

This is an exciting opportunity to build on some already great work being done in developing inclusive sport opportunities for young people, and we are excited to get started!

Disability Football

Prior to the Warrington Wolves game against the Crusaders on Friday 15th April the newly formed Wolves Foundation Disability Football team had a training session and match on the Halliwell Jones Stadium pitch. The youngsters play in the Liverpool County FA Ability Counts League which holds fixture evenings every month which also include teams from Everton FC and Liverpool FC as well as teams from Halton and Sefton. The team have been training together for 2 months at the Peace Centre and their hard work payed off through some good results against teams that have been training together for a number of years.

The Wolves Foundation are continuously looking for new players of all ages and abilities to join our club so if you are interested please get in touch by either emailing Mat Dabbs at matthewdabbs@wolvesfoundation.com or telephoning 01925 248 894.

Inclusive boxing sessions run every Wednesday from 5pm until 6pm at Phoenix Fire ABC Gym at Warrington Fire Station and the cost is just £2.

BBC North West are due to film 17 yr old boxing coach Brad Gleave, (who is the first wheelchair user in the country to earn a boxing leaders award), delivering a session at the Phoenix Fire ABC’s Gym to include on the show. Also, the Amateur Boxing Association will be filming a session and talking to Tom and Matt with regards to include the information given from them in their coach education resource, making the sport of Amateur boxing more inclusive. This type of session is the first of its type in this country and is proving to be very successful.

To be forwarded onto the BBC North West website click here

The School Games will officially start in September 2011, where a number of competitive sports will involve young children from year 3 to 13 taking part.

It will consist of 4 levels:

• Intra school competitions
• Regular local interschool competitions
• Annual area/county multi sports school games festivals
• National multi sport events.

Aiming High for Disabled Children Newsletter – Issue 7

Contact: Rebecca Parker, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, AHDC, 01925 443575

Email: ahdc@warrington.gov.uk

Other coverage on School Sport:

Gove criticised for ‘vandalism’ of school sport – The Guardian

Crunch Time for School Sport – Yorkshire Post

Campaign to Save School Sports – Journal Live

Save school Sport Campaign – Warrington Worldwide

Cuts to School Sport will Harm Kids – Jarrow and Hebburn Gazette

We all thought that is was a fantastic day and it was inspirational to see those adults who had turned their disability into something very positive.  Rather than feel pity for them we admired their continued courage and determination.

Among the competitors was South Africa’s Blade Runner Oscar Pistrorius.  We were amazed at how fast he could run without legs.  His motto in life is “You are not disabled by your disabilities, but abled by your abilities”

We observed field events which included:

• Discus throwing
• Track events 

Competing in the track events where athletes with visual impairment, cerebral palsy and amputees.

There were also wheelchair athletes competing in the wheelchair events.

The event was a once in a lifetime opportunity and  a super experience.

Compiled by Kim Singleton/Marilyn Boden - Transition Co-ordinators WBHS

These are truly excellent events and those of you who missed it this year may like to note that plans are already underway for Disability Awareness Day 2010 which will be held on Sunday 11th July at Walton Hall Gardens Warrington Cheshire (Off A56).

The Northwest Disability Awareness Day (DAD) held on Sunday 12th July has been hailed a “the biggest and best” in the 18 year history of this annual event. Organised by Warrington Disability Partnership, DAD 2009 attracted over 27,000 visitors from across the region and over 280 exhibitors from across the UK and Europe – two travelled in from Spain and Cyprus.

The event was the finale of a week consisting of 12 complementary events that attracted thousands of visitors including the Minister for Disabled People Jonathan Shaw, who praised the work of the team of volunteers who ensure the smooth running of the event. Mr Shaw added that, “DAD typifies the strength, tenacity and flexibility of the voluntary sector”.  He also paid further praise to the joint work between the voluntary, statutory and private sectors in supporting the event as sponsors and exhibitors.

DAD is a unique event that has been developed around a pan disability exhibition and is supported by a performing arts marquee, sports area, main entertainments arena, a cinema, therapy marquee and children’s fun fair. The on-site cinema housed the “Slice of Life” film festival highlighting short films made by or staring disabled people or written on a disability theme.

Over 120 of the exhibitors were charities covering all age groups from children and young people to adults and older people, and physical, sensory and learning impairment, mental health and carers.

DAD 2009 was a huge community event that successfully involved over 230 volunteers stewards and young assistants including dozens of family and friends of Warrington Disability Partnership, Lions and Rotary Clubs, Sea Cadets, Thorn Cross Young Offenders Institute, St John Ambulance, Friends of Walton Gardens, Dial A Ride, in addition to over 400 volunteers who helped to staff the charity exhibition stands.

The event is recognised as Europe’s largest voluntary led disability exhibition and it’s not surprising that the event organisers received royal recognition when they were presented with a Queens Award for Voluntary Services in 2006.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency is the principal sponsor of DAD 2009. Chief Executive Steven Broomhead said:

“The NWDA continues to work hard to ensure people across all communities have access to the facilities and infrastructure that contribute to a successful regional economy and enjoy a good quality of life.

“Disability Awareness Day has gone from strength to strength, raising awareness of disability issues and promoting the skills of the talented people within the region.”

Chair of Warrington Disability Partnership and event co-ordinator Dave Thompson MBE DL, said:

“Awareness and understanding of the availability of independent living support is of major importance to tens of thousands of the Northwest’s two million disabled people and carers. We know that DAD provides a vital role in highlighting what is available, not just by attending the event but also by accessing the website during the 12 months between events”.

“Members of our team have said that one of the biggest highlights from DAD 2009 was watching a five year old wheelchair user reach the top of the 30 foot climbing wall and watching and listening to a joint performance which saw Andrew Coleman, a blind singer from Liverpool, and Dee Sign Choir from Chester interpreting Andrew’s songs into British Sign Language”.

Dave said “it is thanks to the hard work and commitment of our management team, our stewards and assistants, our exhibitors, our visitors and the support of our sponsors that ensures that the event develops and improves each year”.

Every year in Britain at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, over 80%* of us make a new year’s resolution, unsurprisingly the most common resolution of all is to ‘get fitter’.  However the shocking truth is that over half of us will have failed to keep our resolution by June and only 12% of us will manage to keep our resolutions for the whole year.

James Howes who runs a MEND healthy living programmes in Warrington said; “Most of us know our lifestyles could be healthier but we make the mistake of trying to change too many things at once. It’s especially hard during the cold winter months when there are fewer activities for us to get involved in. To help set achievable goals MEND has come up with some top tips to help families get fit and healthy while having fun.”

MEND Top ten tips to beat the winter blues and hit your new year’s resolution to get fit:

1. Indoor scavenger hunt; hide items around the house and get the family to race who can find them first.
2. Home Circuit; set up any room in the house with areas for stretches, skipping, knee ups, star jumps and any other exercise you can safely do indoors. If you have stairs you can climb these as part of your circuit.
3. Help with the cleaning – giving the house a good old cleaning is a good way to get the family active, this works best with an incentive attached like a trip to the cinema afterwards.
4. Stuck in the mud, three legged race and sack races are really fun and can also get your blood pumping.
5. Indoor climbing wall; many leisure centres offer an indoor climbing wall. You don’t need any experience, but make sure you contact whoever is in charge so they can ‘show you the ropes’.
6. Tobogganing; if we are lucky enough to have some snow this year, dragging your toboggan uphill is a great way to exercise and is even more fun on the way down!
7. Cooking; switch off the TV and get the family to help you prepare a healthy meal or make a healthy smoothie with lots of fresh fruit.
8. Trampolining; many leisure centres and sports halls have trampolines. Go along with the family and see how high you can go.
9. Ice skating; perfect winter activity! Head off to your local ice rink, get those skates on and get stuck in

10. Don’t get bored – get board; play charades, twist yourself in knots with twister the list goes on there are loads of great games to play rather than watch the TV or sit in front of the computer.

With more than 1 in 3 children over the healthy weight range for their age and height, the new year is the perfect time for families to take advantage of the accessible, friendly and encouraging support offered by the MEND Programme.  The course is aimed at overweight 7-11 year old children and their families, and provides an excellent chance to get fitter, healthier and happier.

The MEND Programme in Warrington which starts at the end of January, is part of a national network of over 300 courses which have already helped over 15,000 families improve their diets and activity levels.  A limited number of places valued at up to £400 are available on the course at Great Sankey Leisure Centre, completely free of charge thanks to sponsorship from the Youth Sport Trust.

Teachers are including potentially dangerous “free running” in PE lessons to keep pupils safe after communities complained they were being terrorised by untrained children attempting the underground urban sport.

The boom in popularity of parkour has left children desperate to emulate the discipline – but they are putting themselves and buildings at risk by experimenting in public places.

PE staff in both secondary and special schools say they have been left with little option but to include the daredevil sport – which sees participants using buildings, roofs and street furniture as an urban obstacle course – on the curriculum so they can give pupils training.

But they also believe parkour could be a valuable addition to the timetable, particularly for children with social and emotional problems who lack confidence. Increasing numbers of educational programmes are being set up.

Free running has elements of gymnastics and martial arts. Schools are building dedicated parkour areas with soft flooring to make it safer for pupils.

Jean-Paul Jesstiece, who runs educational programmes for Airborn Entertainment, a firm run by urban performers, says schools now realise the huge popularity of the sport.

“The problem we have at the moment is that councils regularly complain to organisations like us that children are causing damage by running over cars and buildings. What they need is a safe haven to train in and that doesn’t exist – leisure centres ban children practising unless they are supervised,” he said.

“What we teach pupils is that with the great power of learning parkour comes great responsibility. We educate them not to damage buildings.”

Mr Jesstiece said the discipline of the sport helps children to learn respect. He is increasingly being asked to teach young offenders and children in detention centres.

Pupils at Grappenhall Hall School in Warrington, a specialist centre for those with emotional and behavioural difficulties, will soon have their own 70sq ft parkour unit, with split levels and cushioned flooring thanks to a funding of £14,000 from the local School Sports Partnership, the Big Lottery Fund and the Shepherd Street Trust. It is thought to be one of the first units of its kind in the country.

Graham Chatterley, PE teacher, started free running sessions in the school gym, with the help of experts, after reports his pupils were trying out the sport locally.

“They were getting in trouble for climbing on roofs and we thought those skills could be focused. There’s lots of similarities with gymnastics, we can teach it without children getting into trouble.”

The school’s foray into free running has made Mr Chatterley interested in providing other urban sports for pupils. As well as the parkour unit, the school will soon make use of skateboarding ramps and a football cage. The pupils go climbing every week and Olympic boxing champion Courtney Fry is a school mentor, working with boys in danger of antisocial behaviour through the Respect Athlete Mentoring Programme (RAMP). A launch event will be held on 4th November at the school.

“Mainstream PE lessons often start with theory, but in special schools we just get pupils started and keep them active,” Mr Chatterley said. “It’s much better to teach them how to do this sport safely.”

WHAT IS PARKOUR??

- The aim of parkour is to go from A to B using only the human body to overcome obstacles. Those who practise the sport are called a traceur (male) or traceuse (female).

- To move around the urban architecture free runners need strength, speed and balance. Fans say it helps them to develop mental clarity, confidence and self-discipline.

- Free running can be seen at the beginning of the James Bond film Casino Royale.

- Senior physical instructors from the Royal Marines have been using elements of parkour to train new cadets.