Latest News

A selection of special events that our children have taken part can be seen here but most of our updates are added to our 'Latest news' Page.

Cross Country Success for Team Waltham

Team Waltham attended the Ratcliffe College Cross Country Festival on Saturday 28^th January. The school had its biggest ever cross-country team at an event with 12 children taking part in year group races or the Year 1 and 2 fun run.

Team Waltham secured podium positions in two of the year group races winning the Year 4 girls and finishing third in the Year 3 girls’ race. We also had top ten finishers in a number of the other races, showing Waltham whilst only a small school as strength in depth. Of course, most importantly, everyone who took part had a fun Saturday morning running at a great cross-country venue.

The team’s performances echo the popularity of the sport at Waltham. Each Monday, Mrs Toon has runners from across the school enjoying cross country club hosted by our After-School Club and each week the numbers of children taking part seem to grow and grow. If you would like to find out more, please contact the After-School team and they can book your child on.

Mr Goldspink, PE Coordinator at the school was delighted with the results commenting: “All the children did fantastically well at a superbly organised event. Cross country is a real test of perseverance and every member of the team showed our school value in abundance, not to mention the fantastic friendship they showed to their friends. Cross country continues to grow in popularity across the school thanks to the hard work of Mrs Toon and Miss Griffin and I hope we can continue its legacy year on year.

Fun Run Champions

A team of children from KS1 took park in the annual Thrussington Fun Run on Saturday 12^th March completing one lap of the gruelling three-quarter mile course.  In previous years the race has seen in excess of 300 runners of all ages and abilities.  With the help of the fantastic atmosphere, focus, support and team work, Waltham WON!

Anna Harrison (Race Secretary) on behalf of Thrussington PTFA made a surprise visit on Friday 1^st April to present the team with their well-deserved winners trophy during our special assembly.  One of our KS1 girls also won an individual trophy for her race.

Year 5 & 6 Tag Rugby Team Make Us Proud

On Friday 1^st April we saw our Year 5 & 6 Tag Rugby team take to the pitch at Melton Mowbray Rugby Club to compete against other local schools.

Tag Rugby is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt that has two Velcro tags attached to it. Attacking players attempt to dodge, evade and pass a rugby ball while defenders attempt to prevent them scoring by “tagging”. 

A terrific effort from Waltham with some fantastic athleticism and team work on show in the group stages before the hail storm came and abandoned play. A huge thank you to @Melton&Belvoir and @MeltonRugby for a truly spectacular event!

Our work is planned in accordance with the National Curriculum for Physical Education 2014, which aims to ensure that all children:

• Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities;
• Are physically active for sustained periods of time;
• Engage in competitive sports and activities;
• Lead healthy, active lives.

We are pleased to offer at least two hours of sports education as part of our school curriculum, with a variety of other opportunities delivered outside of school hours as our commitment to achieving these aims.

Games and Gymnastics

Miss Griffin, our sports coach, plans and delivers a varied PE curriculum with the support of other staff members and in collaboration with the class teachers. Children learn to play all kinds of sports such as cricket, netball, tennis, dodgeball, handball and tag rugby, as well as a course of gymnastics in the spring term and athletics in the summer. All lessons involve an element of SAQ (Speed Agility and Quickness training) to build up their stamina, as well as practising individual skills, learning fair play and team tactics.

Our teaching and learning recognises the seven values associated with the Olympics. These are made up of three Olympic values – Friendship, Respect and Excellence – along with the four Paralympic values – Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality.

These values accompany our own school values of Compassion, Friendship, Perseverance and Love underpinning the way we approach sport at Waltham School.

Dance

Our dance instructor, Miss Cheryl, works with all classes, delivering a varied programme which excite and motivate the children. Children will learn a range of dance styles, building up to a performance to the rest of the school and community. Dancing is really helping to develop the fitness of the children along with teaching them some cool new moves! All children perform in school shows and have the opportunity to participate in local dance competitions. 

Each class also performs at our annual Maypole event, which combines traditional dances around the maypole as well as Morris dancing. Great fun for all the family.

Swimming 

Children are taught to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres by the end of Year 6. They need to be confident using a range of strokes effectively (for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke) and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

Staff and family members help with supervision travel at Waterfield Leisure Centre in Melton Mowbray, where there are two pools for all abilities. The children are taught by fully qualified swimming instructors. Children work towards specific targets and are rewarded with certificates when they complete each stage.

More able swimmers are taught aspects of survival training, whilst new swimmers are sensitively encouraged to feel safe in the water before learning correct strokes and water skills.

Unfortunately, due to the COVID pandemic and refurbishment of the Leisure Centre, we have been unable to take the children swimming but we will be back in the water this spring!

Physical Development in Reception

Physical development in Reception is a slightly broader area than just PE.

Children will learn skills such as walking, running, skipping, jumping, balancing and not bumping into things. As well as developing the gross motor skills that are required to move about safely, children also need to develop control of all the smaller muscles which, for example, move when we pick something up – these take time to develop and come through using and playing with objects such as cutlery, cars, jigsaws, construction activities and other playthings.

From this the children develop body-confidence which encourages them to want to push a car along a track, ride a trike, climb on a stump or jump in a puddle, etc. As children develop control and coordination they eventually learn how to handle items such as a pen or pencil, a pair of scissors and a paint brush.

Apart from the free flow curriculum planned to enable the children to access activities designed to develop their physical ability such as those mentioned above, the children will join in with additional activities planned by Miss Griffin, as well as accessing further experiences in our woodland adventures.

Tournaments/Competitions

At our school we enter and participate in many sporting tournaments across the Vale of Belvoir and Melton communities. These have also led us to participate in events in wider parts of Leicestershire, such as cross country events. Some key achievements that we have achieved include:

• Vale and Melton Girls Football tournament winners 
• Vale and Melton Mixed Hockey Winners 
• Vale and Melton Basketball runners up 
• County finalists in cross country

We went on to represent the Vale and Melton Schools in the county finals in both girls' football and hockey. Our whole school community was very proud of them.

School Sports Day

Our annual sports day occurs during the summer term. Here all parents, carers and children participate in a morning of competitive games.

The children are placed into their house teams and compete against each other through a range of activities, such as tunnel relay, water race, beanbag shuttle and ball balance relay. They then compete in year group sprint races, where again the scores are aggregated and added to the team score. 

At the end of the morning, the children take part in an awards ceremony, where the points achieved by each team member throughout the day are counted up to give us our sports day champions.

However, it’s not all about the children on Sports Day! There is a hotly contested parents tug of war match that gets very competitive and is great fun to watch.

Football Club

Football is open to all our Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children. The sessions are led by qualified FA football coach, Mr Goldspink of Willow Class, and are based on the fundamentals of football coaching creating an enjoyable experience for all.

Coming soon! In Spring 2022, we are aiming to start a new girl’s football club to help develop and grow participation within our school. Whilst all our clubs are fully inclusive, research from Sport England tells us that specific clubs just for girls have a greater impact on boosting female participation so watch this space to see how this develops.

Cross Country Club

Waltham has a rich tradition in cross country and it’s fast becoming one our most popular sporting activities. Thanks to our cross-country expert and parent, Mrs Toon, every Monday during term time, children of all ages can take part in fun running games that help develop an enjoyment and love of the sport.

The after-school CReW Club feeds into Waltham’s Cross-Country calendar and sees a team compete in the Leicestershire Cross Country League and the Ratcliffe College Cross Country Festival during the autumn and spring terms.

CReW Club Sports

CReW Sports is an after school club run by our PE specialist teacher Miss Griffin. It is open to all children and is run on Thursday after school . Numbers are limited so booking is essential.

Children are taught skills for a range of sports, such as tennis, football, badminton, cross-country, athletics and many more. Miss Griffin selects the programme based on the interests of the children as well as helping them to prepare for tournaments. It is a popular club as they have so much fun.

Other Clubs

Other clubs also take place, many led by the children themselves and so vary each term/year according to their interests. Some clubs that have been on offer include, for example:

• Reading Café
• Drawing Club
• Chess Club
• Fencing
• Spy Club
• Ninja Warriers

Older children also do a course of Bikeabilty and have taken part in high rope adventurous activities on their Residential to Dukes Barn and Beaumanor Hall.