Welcome to the first WPT newsletter of the 22/23 academic year.
Here you’ll find a showcase of just some of the things that we’ve been getting up to over the last few weeks.
We wish all of our students and staff a happy half term!
Month: October 2022
WPT Young Musician of the Year 2022
On Thursday 13th October, we held our annual WPT Young Musician of the Year competition at Rawmarsh Community School.
18 finalists competed across five categories, each giving a live performance to an appreciative audience.
Students from Key Stage 1 through to Key Stage 4 showed a high standard of musicianship across a range of styles and instruments.
All finalists received a certificate, with category winners and the overall Young Musician each taking home trophies.
A special thanks goes to members of the Music Team for organising the event, including our instrumental teachers who prepared many of the students for their performances.
This is only the second time this event has taken place and it is set to become an annual favourite, giving students across the Trust an opportunity to showcase their musical talents.
Congratulations to all of the students who took part and well done to Y10 Thrybergh Academy student, Ben, who took the overall title of WPT Young Musician of the Year 2022.
Category winners:
KS1 Vocal/Instrumental
Jia fu (Ashwood Primary)
KS2 Vocal/Instrumental
Violet (Brinsworth Whitehall)
KS3 Instrumental
Lucas (Thrybergh Academy)
KS4/5 Instrumental
Alex (Clifton Community School)
KS4 Vocal & Overall Young Musician of the Year.
Ben (Thrybergh Academy)
WPT Director of Art Delivers CPD Sessions
Our WPT Director of Art, Jo Woods, recently delivered Art CPD sessions to our Trust Art teachers.
Artists, crafters and photographers created a ceramic clay piece of artwork inspired by their favourite artist.
This gave the teachers a chance to express themselves, be creative with their own ideas and choices, feel a sense of freedom and be imaginative with a range of materials.
School Games' Primary Tag Rugby Festival 2022
The first event in the Rotherham School Games’ 2022/23 calendar was Y5/6 Tag Rugby, which took place on Friday 7th October at Wickersley Partnership Trust’s hub site, Cranworth Road Sports Centre.
Over 30 schools entered the festival, which resulted in two separate competitions taking place on the day to determine which two schools would qualify for the South Yorkshire School Games in November.
The morning saw all schools compete in a group stage across eight different pitches, with some great tries scored and tags made. This format allowed all children to grow in confidence without the pressure of the knock out stage, which all teams were guaranteed to play in during the afternoon.
After lunch, schools competed in two rounds of 16, followed by quarter finals, semi-finals and eventually, two finals to determine who would progress on to the next round. There were some extremely close games in the knock out rounds, with the two finals contested by Bramley Sunnyside v Waverley Juniors (North section) and a local derby in the other, Rawmarsh Thorogate v Rawmarsh Sandhill (South section).
Both Bramley Sunnyside and Rawmarsh Sandhill were victorious in their respective finals and will both go on to represent Rotherham at the county competition in November.
Congratulations to both, but also a massive well done to all the 300 children who braved the wet and windy conditions and represented their school throughout the day.
Mr Walker, School Games Organiser for the borough, said: “I was blown away by the response when I sent out for entries – I originally planned for 20 schools based on the 16 we had last year, but to have 31 schools attend on the day and over 300 children participating really shows how invested our local primary schools are in PE & School Sport. Thank you to all for making it a memorable day.”
Alongside the PE Team from Wickersley Partnership Trust, the event was supported by the Post 16 Rugby scholars from Wath Academy and the Rotherham Titans Community Trust, who provided staff and a giant rugby inflatable on the day.
Mr Walker added: “To have a number of local key partners working together on the festival embodied the ethos of the School Games – linking together to ensure all children have access, opportunity and role models in the different sports and events we offer throughout the academic year is a priority moving forward.
“Thank you to Wath Academy and Titans Community Trust for their support on the day.”
Mr Roddison, Headteacher of Rawmarsh Sandhill, said: “’The Tag Rugby Festival was an excellent experience for all the children involved and it was an encouraging to see so many local schools take part and the children having so much fun. A big thanks to all the School Games and Rotherham Titans’ staff for their organisation and guidance. We will aim to do Rotherham proud in the South Yorkshire stage!”
Ben Barlow, PE Specialist from Bramley Sunnyside commented: “It was great to see so many schools back together competing, with such a high standard of Tag Rugby on display. We are looking forwarding to having a full sporting schedule back this year”.
For more information regarding the national School Games programme, please visit www.yourschoolgames.com.
If your school is within the borough but not yet engaged in School Games, please email rotherhamcompetitions@gmail.com to find out more.
