West Berkshire X Country

St Gabriel's Sports department hosted West Berkshire X Country relays. 171 Students across 7 schools were given the opportunity to join the event around the beautiful grounds of St Gabriel's. The students took great enjoyment in the event. Feedback included that the students enjoyed building teams skills and the chance to compete in a non competitive environment.   

Aims

The aims of the partnership are to:

Increase participation for target groups in West Berkshire for physical activity.  

Show a positive collaboration across schools working in a less competitive environment to allow maximum participation. 

The target groups for this event were ages 14-16, open to both female and male competitors. 

Background

The initiative started to broaden opportunities for young people in physical activity. This was identified by St Gabriel's Sports department and the West Berkshire Network alliance. This is the 2nd year the event has been running and has shown an increase in participation since year 1. 

Resources

Resources used for this event included transport, Staff from all schools involved. The use of St Gabriel's facilities. The event ran from 4pm until 5:30pm allowing to maximize competitors involvement.   

Pupil Involvement

The feedback from staff and students from the visiting schools was highly positive. There was a higher ratio of acceptance from our invitation to take part from state schools involved in the event as opposed to the independent sector. It was a delight to see both males and females participating in a positive step from becoming a co-ed school.  

Frequency

We hope to continue this event annually.