PE

Blazing The Trail Challenge

Blazing The Trail (BTT) is the Gateshead School Sport Partnership‘s Olympic Legacy Programme. As an affiliated member of the PE & School Sport SLA we receive exclusive access to this year’s BTT Pathway Projects and the associated resources, opportunities and incentives. BTT was launched in 2012 after the London Olympic & Paralympic Games with the aim of fulfilling the promise of delivering a lasting legacy here in Gateshead.

To fulfil this aim the BTT Programme is built on the 7 Olympic and Paralympic values: Excellence / Respect / Friendship / Equality / Determination / Inspiration and Courage. Each of the pathway projects have a cross-curricular link and by engaging with these projects and submitting evidence we are able to achieve each of the seven value marks. The aim is to complete all 7 projects, within our BTT Passport, achieve the Diamond Kite-mark and receive our BTT Closing Ceremony Support Pack!

This year we also have the chance of trying a BRAND NEW concept to Blazing The Trail – WILDCARD projects. These Wildcard projects can either be submitted in replace of one of the seven projects to achieve a value mark of your choice, or they can be completed in addition to the seven value mark projects.

See below our work from the BTT programme so far!

In 2024, we are delighted to announce we received the Blazing The Trail Gold Award!

BTT Logo Design

Our first challenge of the year was to redesign the Blazing The Trail logo. We submitted our entries to the Gateshead SSP and eagerly await to see if one of our pupils have successfully designed the new logo of BTT!

BTT Winter Runderland 

Our next challenge of the year was to compete in the Winter Runderland. Children gained carrots for how active they were and received one carrot for every minute of excercise completed. We submitter our results online to compete with other schools in Gateshead. This was a great, fun way of encouraging physical activity in the school!

Dance Festival Programme Design 

Our next challenge of the year was to compete in the ‘Courage’ programme which involved redesigning the Dance Festival logo for the upcoming festival at The Sage. The winning entry would have their logo displayed on the programme front cover for this year’s event! Below are some of our brilliant entries.

Our daily run challenge is a great way to challenge yourself.  We run two laps of the mile run route, while being timed.  Our times are recorded so we can try to beat our previous time and see how much we have improved!

The winners from every class are announced at the end of term in assembly, including most improved time. 

Will you be a winner this term? 

Early Years Sporty Superheroes

Reception children attended the Sporty Superhero Multi-skills event led by the Gateshead SSP at Gateshead Stadium. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves, worked brilliantly as a team and represented the school admirably. 

Year 5/6 Indoor Athletics 

Our Year 5 and 6 children participated in the Gateshead Stadium indoor athletics competition. There were two sections to the competition: track and field events. Our girls’ and boys’ teams performed admirably, and they should both be very proud of themselves!

KS1 Indoor Athletics 

Children from KS1 attended an indoor athletics competition. They had an amazing time! Their experience competing against other local schools was fantastic and they all left with huge smiles on their faces!

Year 5/6 Netball Tournament

Well done to our year 5/6 pupils who represented our school in a netball tournament on Friday. You all showed great sportsmanship and fantastic teamwork ✨️

They walked away earning silver awards ???? and secured a place in the upcoming Gateshead finals.

We are so proud of you ????

Boccia Tournament

We’ve had a fantastic day playing Boccia at Gateshead Stadium. Our teams from Larkspur showed great skill, determination and fabulous team work. We were excited to meet a national Boccia champion, Azhad Fauzi. He said our players were brilliant. We’re so proud of you all ????

Year 3/4 Basketball Tournament

Huge well done to our Year 3/4 children, who represented the school wonderfully this afternoon at the basketball tournament ????????????

Year 3/4 Hockey Tournament

Children in Years 3 and 4 competed in a hockey event on Wednesday at Lord Lawson. They all had a great time and played some excellent hockey while representing the school perfectly ⭐️ 

Year 5/6 Football League

Over the last 12 weeks, children in year 5 and 6 have been working with JJ, our football coach, to prepare themselves for competing in the league with other schools. All boys showed determination, sportsmanship and skill and represented the school wonderfully each week. 

Week 1: Played 2, won 1, drew 1
Week 2: Played 2, lost 2

Year 5/6 Hockey

Our Year 5/6 hockey team represented the school at the Gateshead hockey finals in Spring term! They played against other schools from Gateshead and performed amazingly to finish 3rd in their group! We are so proud of you all⭐️

Dance Festival

This years dance festival theme was Respect. Several children from KS2 worked with Jessica to choreograph a beautiful dance, fitting with the theme of Respect. They performed it wonderfully at The Glass House in Gateshead in front of an enormous crowd. Please see the link below to our Facebook page to view the dance video. 

Year 4/5 Girls’ Football

Year 4 and 5 girls, some who have not played football competitively before, took part in a girls’ football tournament at Gateshead Power League during Autumn 2. The girls all worked as hard as they could and performed excellently against many other schools. They won 1 out of their 3 games and finished 3rd in their group. They all left with huge smiles on their faces and a new found passion for football!
Well done girls!  

Every week, the children have two P.E. lessons. In addition to this, children will participate in regular physical activity such as the daily mile and other active bursts.
Please make sure your child has a pair of trainers in school every day. 

One afternoon a week, Josh, our outstanding coach from Active Future, spends time teaching in school. Josh works with children to enhance and improve their physical activity and education, as well as their talents in specific sports. He works with school teams that have tournaments coming up, and the success of many teams in multiple tournaments this year is evidence of how well this is working.

Hoops 4 Health

We love a visit from the Newcastle Eagles!

They visited and completed a Hoops 4 Health workshop in which the children completed basketball activities, healthy living exercises and played a range of games. 
Click the link above for more information about the programme.  

Tennis

During summer term, classes in KS2 have received additional tennis coaching from an LTA tennis coach, Emily James. Children have been received extra tennis lessons in addition to their usual P.E lessons.  A team of children from year 3/4 and 5/6 were selected to take part in a tournament with other schools in our cluster.

Kensho Karate

Children in KS2 were lucky enough to have a block of coaching from a coach at Kensho Karate. In week one, children learnt the basics of karate, when to use it, where it originates from and how to block and attack.  

BikeAbility

Children in Year 5 were very lucky to receive a one week intensive programme through the BikeAbility scheme. Children were taught how to safely check their bike before riding it, how to cycle and signal, and how to safely ride on the roads, including junctions. 

Follow the link below to see our wide range of after-school clubs at Larkspur.

Clubs will be available to select on Arbor. 

National School Sports Week (NSSW) is an annual campaign highlighting the importance of physical education, sport and play in schools. 

Since its inception in 2008, NSSW has become a cornerstone of the Youth Sport Trust’s efforts to promote physical activity, health and wellbeing among young people. 

This year’s theme, powered by the Monster Kickabout, brings a special one-off Euro 2024 event emphasising football to engage young people in 60 minutes a day of PE, sport and play.

Children at Larkspur have engaged in a range of physical activity and sport throughout NSSW with visits from a range of companies delivering unique sports.