Sporty pupils celebrate

They have three reasons to celebrate as they begin to wind down for the Christmas break.

Last week a new ‘away’ football kit arrived, donated by a company which wants to remain anonymous.

You could call them a real-life Father Christmas.

The girls team will wear the kit at the Lincolnshire schools finals in January, while the boys with compete at their Lincolnshire finals in the red and black striped ‘home’ kit.

Goal scoring sensation Abigail Staniar, who claimed a hat-trick at the Gainsborough finals, said: “The kit is great, we’ll definitely play better in it.”

Meanwhile, on the athletics field, Parish Church School is jumping for joy after winning the Gainsborough heat of the Lincolnshire Indoor Athletics Finals.

The event, organised by Trent Valley Academy, saw 30 Parish Church pupils compete over 12 events, including everything from standing long jump, speed bounce, foam javelin and running races.

“I really liked the running races, the special ‘reversaboards’ at the end of the walls made us run even faster,” said pupil Lydia Smith.

Teacher Mr John Anderson said the children had worked very hard to improve their techniques.

“I’m not only happy with the win, but the way the team supported and encouraged each other,” he said.

The team now travels to Lincoln to compete in the next round of the competition later this month.

Parish Church School has also taken part in the British Schools Biathlon Challenge.

Parents got involved by taking their children to Gainsborough Leisure Centre to gain a 50m swimming time.

And the school then took them to be timed on a 500m run.

When the results came back from Pentathlon GB, four pupils had claimed enough points to make the semi-finals in January.

Luke Crossley and Declan Woodhead will compete in the year six boys’ event, Nathan Woodhead in the year five boys’ event and Lydia Smith is seeded a very high - 13th in the year five girls’ event.

“We like both swimming and running so it’s good to have a competition that does both and we can’t believe we both got through,” said the Woodhead brothers.

Head Teacher Mrs Fulthorpe said: “We are very proud of all of our children’s sporting achievements.”