News

This years Playground to Podium Identification day for the district took place in March.


Playground to Podium is a national strategy for the identification, development and support of talented young disabled athletes.

Pupils from schools across the district were invited to the event which took place at the Abbey Stadium and was organised by the SSCO from Pitcheroak Special School.
Over 70 pupils attended on the day. The schools who were being represented were Arrow Vale High School, Kingsley College, Birchensale Middle School, Walkwood Middle School and Ipsley Middle School
.

The pupils took part in a wide range of activities looking at their basic skills to include balance, agility and co-ordination. The stations were led by young leaders from Birchensale and Woodfield Middle Schools. The young people also had the opportunity to receive some coaching from Chris Hargreaves, a rugby inclusion coach from Worcester Warriors.



The pupils were assessed on each station and those who were selected in a number of areas have been identified to progress to the next stage of the programme.

The next stage of the programme will be County Assessment Centres where others identified in the same way from across the county will all attend a centralised event for a more formal assessment and high quality coaching in specific sports.

This scheme has had high levels of success in the past with 3 pupils who have been identified through the programme in Redditch in the last 2 years going on the compete and win medals at the UK School Games.