St Peter's Cross Country News
It is has been a fantastic few weeks of Cross Country for St Peter’s. Not only have we had the fantastic Year 3/4 girls performance at the Devon School Games and the incredible number of pupils representing St Peter’s at the recent Bicton Arena Cross Country, but we have also gathered an amazing group of parents who are willing and eager to support the establishment of a St Peter’s School Cross Country event.
The details of our recent meeting are summarised as follows:
St Peter’s will host three ‘participation’ cross country events during the 208/2019 academic year. There will be one event in each term. The races will take place on Budleigh Green (subject to approval from East Devon County Council) as this venue is local (encourages walking, has good parking nearby for those who live further afield) and has toilets nearby.
The participation cross country event will an opportunity for pupils to accumulate points for their house – every runner will get at least 5 points. Whilst those who finish in podium places will be celebrated and awarded more points, the overall winner will be the house which accumulates the most points. Basically, houses need to encourage as many participants as possible.
There will be participation races for Year 2 to Year 6.
St Peter’s will host one Key Stage 2 ‘competitive’ cross country event during the Summer Term of the 2018/2019 academic year. This will be a team competitive event and pupils will be selected for this event. This is the only event where selection will apply. The race will take place on Budleigh Green (subject to approval from East Devon County Council).
Mrs Kilburn will host two Key Stage 2 ‘competitive’ events during the 208/2019 academic year. These races will include other local schools and will take place in the Autumn Term and Spring Term. These events will follow the same/similar format as previous years and will celebrate participation alongside competition.
At present, based upon the 2018/2019 academic year, there is no plan to invite other schools to the St Peter’s cross country events. This will be reviewed at the end of the 2018/2019 academic year.
St Peter’s will be responsible for the risk management and first aid provision. Parents will be asked to marshal the races. Pupils who are injured or who do not wish to run (but do want to be part of the event) will be invited to marshal too.
The results from the ‘participation’ and ‘competitive’ events will not be accumulated. There will be winning house for each St Peter’s event – but this result will have no bearing on the next race. There will be no league table – it certainly does not fit into our vision.
In order to encourage pupils to experience Cross Country and develop the idea of ‘running for your house’ some informal events will be held at St Peter’s – on our school field. A number of parents at the meeting expressed an interest in leading the organisation of these events. The first of these events will take place in the Summer Term 2018.
The school will invest in some stakes to set up the courses. Parents have been invited to donate/loan anything which will make the cross country event look ‘spectacular’. This may include bunting, helium filled balloons, flags, ‘freebies’ which they accumulate from other events etc.
Dates for the events are to be confirmed. However, all participation and competitive races will be after school and will start at 16:00.