Trent College: U10 Bee Netball Festival 2024
Year 5 children from 10 state primary schools joined us for an U10 Bee Netball Festival.
They started the afternoon with a group coaching session with Alice Harvey, England and Loughborough Lightning super league netball player, before taking part in a series of short matches against other primary schools.
Individual medals were awarded for super shooting, dynamic defending and midcourt magnificence.
Aims
The aim of the festival was to provide an opportunity for children from local primary schools to meet and take part in a fun and friendly afternoon of netball. There was an opportunity to develop and learn new skills through the coaching element, and then to work as a team and show determination and quick-thinking in the matches that they played.
The need was to provide the experience of playing Bee Netball, an England-affiliated programme designed to enable younger children to learn the game of netball in a way appropriate to their age and development.
For the festival to be a success, we needed 10 teams of pupils to attend, from schools in our local community.
102 pupils, 11 staff and 58 parents attended the event and could all experience a nationally-affiliated sporting event, and be inspired by a current England netball player, to enjoy the sport and want to play more.
Background
The festival was first held in 2017, as one element of a dedicated primary school programme of sporting events co-ordinated by the External School Liaison Manager at Trent College.
It has run annually since (except in 2021 due to Covid restrictions), led by the Director of Sport, Mr Mahony, and the Head of Netball at Trent College.
Trent College is passionate about, and dedicated to, sharing it's facilities and specialist staff with external schools and partners in the local community.
Resources
The festival ran from 1pm to 4.30pm, so Trent College netball courts and Sports Hall were used for the whole afternoon (3.5 hours).
There were 3 non-teaching staff, 4 teaching staff and our guest England netball player dedicated for the afternoon to run and support the festival.
12 Year 7 Trent College students helped meet and greet visiting schools and bring to the registration point on campus. 8 Trent College Year 8 pupils acted as 'buddies' to support the visiting teams during the festival.
The External School Liaison Manager managed the invitation and booking process communicating with schools, alongside working with the Estates and Catering teams to ensure the festival could run smoothly.
Refreshments were provided for all competitors, staff and visiting parents from 1 to 3.30pm.
All 102 pupils were given a hot tea at the end of the day in our main dining hall, and a buffet tea was provided for the 58 visiting parents.
Medals were handed out to the pupils for super shooting, dynamic defending and midcourt magnificence. Every child received a certificate of participation and a sports water bottle.
Impact
"Following the rules of the Bee Stingers was great, it allowed our children to access the rules online at any point if they were not sure what to do. As a school it helped us to focus on what rules our children needed to practice more." PE Lead, Harrington Junior School
"We loved playing the games and training in between." Y5 pupil
"Well organised afternoon which all children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in. The presentations were a nice element of a development tournament. It was also nice that awards were across the schools which attended." PE Lead, Risley Primary School
"A fabulous afternoon. My son has loved every aspect of it and has now said he wants to play more netball!" Y5 parent
"We had a fantastic team representative from the school for the first part of the afternoon, she was kind and really encouraging to the children. The umpires were fair and explained what was happening if a foul had been committed." PE Lead, Harrington Junior School
Pupil Involvement
102 mixed Year 5 pupils, aged 9-10, involved from 10 state primary schools, and 11 members of staff.
Frequency
The U10 Bee Netball Festival runs annually. This is the 7th festival we have held, each one involving around 100 Year 5 pupils.
