London 2012 World Sport Day marks the start of Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week, an annual five day celebration of PE, sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Highlights of the day include schools and colleges staging their own World Sport Day opening ceremonies, showcasing the flags of the chosen teams they are celebrating; and profiling the sports, music, dance, languages, and food of the world.
Alongside these UK-wide celebrations Burntwood School, in London, played host to a day of activities attended by double Olympic champion and Lloyds TSB ambassador Jonathan Edwards and British recording artist Lemar, who highlighted the importance of welcoming the world to London this summer. Wenlock and Mandeville were also there and led the students in performing the London 2012 Mascot Dance.
Other highlights of the day saw Year 9 students from Burntwood School joined by primary age pupils from local schools, Belleville Primary School, Earlsfield Primary School and High View Primary School in celebrating the school’s links with Barbados and internationalism by wearing traditional international costumes, holding a ‘Parade of Athletes’, featuring flags from all over the world, and taking part in various sporting activities.
LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe also took part in the World Sport Day festivities by visiting his old secondary school, Tapton School in Sheffield, as it hosted an Olympic Games-inspired sporting event for local partner primary schools, Lydgate, Hallam and Netherthorpe with over 260 pupils taking part in an athlete and flag parade and joining a session with two GB volleyball players.
Seb Coe, London 2012 Chair, said: ‘With the Games almost here, World Sport Day presented by Lloyds TSB has given young people across the UK a real taste of what’s to come this summer. The day has been a huge success and has seen whole communities coming together to celebrate athletes’ nations and cultures from all over the world.’
Sally Hancock, Director, 2012 Partnership and Group Sponsorship at Lloyds Banking Group said: ‘When we became the first Proud Partner of the London 2012 Games in 2007, our vision was to bring the Games closer to the communities in which we operate. For the past four years National School Sport Week has enabled Lloyds to motivate more than eight million children from 19,000 schools with the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and inspire them to participate in more sport. In this Olympic year we’re excited that London 2012 World Sport Day kick starts the week as children welcome the world to the UK.’
Helen Dorfman, Head Teacher Burntwood School said: ‘Burntwood School is delighted to be taking part in London 2012 World Sport Day and Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week. We value the importance of diversity all year round but this gives us a real opportunity to work with local schools and the community to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympic values, be inspired and motivated by sport and mark the start of what will be a very special summer in London and across the UK.’
Schools all over the UK have prepared for London 2012 World Sport Day in a variety of ways including learning about their selected countries through teleconferences with international partner schools, holding international lunches and trying sports from around the world. They have also been working with their local communities to plan activities such as designing Olympic torches, creating whole school medal tables and preparing for mini-Olympics, with pupils given roles from athletes to reporting journalists.
In addition, World Sport Day events were also held at 13 London 2012 Live Sites across the country in each of the Nations and regions: Middlesbrough, Norwich, Edinburgh, Dover, Belfast, Bradford, Manchester, Derby, Bristol, Coventry, Swansea and in London, Waltham and Woolwich. Each site saw local schools taking part in activities including an opening ceremony followed by fun with flags, a global showcase, traditional games and the London 2012 Mascot dance.
London 2012 World Sport Day is part of the London 2012 Education programme, Get Set, through which over 20,000 schools and colleges have been recognised and rewarded for their commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic Values. Since 2009, more than eight million school children and 19,000 schools have participated in National School Sport Week.
Notes to editors:
For further information about regional media activity and to register for media accreditation please contact the London 2012 World Sport Day Press Office team at Four Communications on 0870 626 9000 or email london2012worldsportday@fourcommunications.com
Images will be available from the following link by 1.30pm- http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr169591739
Images from the event at Tapton School will also be available from 4.30pm
London 2012 World Sport Day, which opened Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week in England and Wales, gave young people in thousands of schools across the UK the chance to take part in the final UK-wide Get Set event before the start of the London 2012 Games. It was the culmination of a year of work about different teams competing in the London 2012 Games as part of the Get Set programme. The three main elements of the day that schools were encouraged to participate in were: having ‘fun with flags’, creating a ‘global showcase’ and holding an ‘opening ceremony’. For more information about World Sport Day please visit www.london2012.com/worldsportday
Every month to help schools plan their day,new resources were released. Schools could also request a free event pack from the World Sport Day website to decorate their celebrations; the pack contained branded materials and decorations. Schools in the Get Set network received a bumper celebration pack containing a banner, posters and inflatable globe amongst other branded materials.
Here are just a few examples of how schools nationwide chose to celebrate World Sport Day and National School Sport Week:
• St Ia Primary School, Cornwall invited parents and members of their local community to celebrate their link school in Chile by unveiling a hand-knitted Chilean flag. They rounded off their global showcase by cooking Chilean food and sharing it with their guests.
• In Wigan, St Gabriel’s RC Primary School involved the whole of their community by holding their opening ceremony in a public space. Guests were wowed by St Gabriel’s cheerleading, football, karate, netball and gymnastics demonstrations and a flag display of countries that classes had been studying.
• Brookland Infant School in Barnet put on a brilliant show during their opening ceremony by parading homemade torches, performing the London 2012 mascot dance and reciting the Olympic and Paralympic mottoes.
• Astley Sports College in Tameside will partner with other local schools in a huge sporting event during which teams will compete representing chosen countries of the world. They will prepare to compete by learning everything they can about those countries.
• Great Ouseburn Community School in North Yorkshire joined other schools in using the Olympic and Paralympic Values to design a joint World Sport Day flag – which will be kept as a lasting legacy of the inspiration they have felt during the London 2012 Games.
Get Set is the official London 2012 education programme for schools and colleges across the UK. It provides free learning resources for 3-19 year olds to find out more about the Games and explore the Olympic Values of excellence, friendship and respect, and the Paralympic Values of determination, inspiration, courage and equality. It also offers access to exciting prizes and opportunities through participation in competitions and partner programmes. There are over 24,500 schools and colleges registered with Get Set.
The Get Set network is the London 2012 reward and recognition scheme for the active community of schools and colleges across the UK that are demonstrating a commitment to living the Olympic and Paralympic Values. Members of the network gain the right to use the London 2012 education logo, and are given priority access to the most exclusive prizes and opportunities. There are currently over 20,000 members of the Get Set network. Visit www.london2012.com/getset for more information.
Lloyds TSB and London 2012:
Lloyds TSB is the Official Banking & Insurance Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and partner of the London 2012 ticketing programme and Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays. We are committed to inspiring and supporting young people and communities across Britain in the lead up to London 2012. On a community level our activity includes National School Sport Week and also our Local Heroes programme. Through Local Heroes, we have supported more than 1,000 emerging athletes and future stars of Team GB and ParalympicsGB in their journey to London 2012 and beyond. For more information on how Lloyds TSB is bringing the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games closer to communities across Britain, visit: www.lloydstsb.com/london2012 .
Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week:
National School Sport Week has run since 2008 and consists of a nationwide programme of activities across the UK including festivals of sport, opening and closing ceremonies, intra and inter-school competitions and other local activity to promote and celebrate PE and sport in school. Since 2008, more than 19,000 schools and eight million children across England and Wales have taken part in Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week. To find out more or register for National School Sport Week: www.schoolsportweek.org
Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week is part of Get Set +. Get Set is the official London 2012 education programme for schools and colleges across the UK.
The Youth Sport Trust is the delivery partner for London 2012 World Sport Day across the UK – for information please visit www.youthsporttrust.org
As it heads towards its £2bn budget for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.
There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games Partner, Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Supplier, Otto Bock.
The Worldwide Olympic Partners signed up for London 2012 are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.
