BBC School Report 2012
BBC School Report 2012
What the Olympics means to our community.
With the countdown to the Olympics fast approaching, people all over the UK are getting excited about the upcoming event. This school report is going to explore what the London 2012 means to the Thomas Bennett School community.
With preparation, organisation, and co-operation we hope this Olympics is going to be the best yet! As the last 3-4 years have flown by, -the Games are now only 135 days away! Leisure centres all over the UK will be filled with teams from competing countries providing a large tourism attraction around the world. This will affect the UK because even after the games people will find it a great place to come on holiday and this will help the UK’s tourist industry.
K2
Leisure centres like K2 Crawley are part of the elite training ground facilities for numerous countries. K2 will be hosting five countries including Finland’s Paralympics team, Barbados, Grenada, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, with more to be confirmed. Hosting centres are busy making sure they have everything they need to welcome the visitors using their facilities. In addition to this they are occupied in ensuring that all schedules are planned to perfection so that the teams get a fair training time. We interviewed the events manager Dan at K2 Crawley to find out what their role is around the Olympics;-
When asked what K2 thought of the Olympics he replied;
“These are really exciting times for K2, Crawley and the UK. Hundreds of hours are out into planning and preparing for the Olympics, both for the performers and the organisers”
When asked what was going on behind the scenes at K2 he answered;
“There has been a huge amount of planning to ensure that all schedules and bookings have been confirmed to the minute, it’s essential that all training is planned in advance so that we are able to support the teams as best we can.”
Students
We have also interviewed students within Thomas Bennett to highlight the impact of the games on children our own age.
“To us the Olympic Games mean a chance to mingle with people from different parts of the world and gain some of their culture and for us to spend quality time with our family, friends by watching the Games.” Together Y9 Scott, Owen and Francis
When interviewing another student at Thomas Bennett, Reece Y8, he was asked what event(s) he was looking forward to the most;
“The events I am looking forward too the most in the Olympics the track and field events because my hero ‘Usain Bolt’ will be competing.”
Taking after his Olympic hero Reece’s target for 2012 is to do well in all sprinting events he takes part in. Reece will also be travelling to Turkey on the Olympic inspired trip to run an Olympic festival in a local school and is competing in the Olympic themed sports day at Thomas Bennett.
We also asked students in our link school in Pakistan what they were most looking forward to,
“We are most looking forward to watching the Mens Hockey Team. We know we have a good team but we haven’t won anything since 1992 so we hope to win in London,” AKS Hyderabad School, Pakistan
Staff
Some of the people most excited about the Olympics are the PE staff at the school. For Miss Wells who has been heavily involved in athletics since a young age, 2012 is a big year,-
“The Olympics is an event which everyone takes part in with all different people who have different abilities who are not necessarily the most amazing but they still put the effort into it. So it’s a great event to take part in.”
There are many Olympians in the world but Miss Wells’ top Olympian is American sprinter Alison Felix.
When asked what she was most excited about Miss Wells responded,-
“I have got tickets to the 100m final which will be a great opportunity too inspire me too do more. I can’t wait to be part of the atmosphere at the games! It will be a great opportunity for England to be earning money and give tourism a boost.”
Mrs Findlay is equally as excited about the prospect of the game but also sees London 2012 as a massive opportunity for the students at school. When asked what she felt students would gain from watching the Olympics she replied,
“I’m hoping that they learn different values from watching the games and that they are inspired to try something that they might not have done before”
Thomas Bennett Build up
Lots of events have been planned within the school community. These are being over seen by Mrs Findlay Director of Sport and Miss Nash,- who is really looking forward to a busy few months
“In sports college week all KS3 students are de-timetabled from normal school work and have a day to take part in different sports, which they normally don’t get a chance to do. For example; canoeing, rock climbing, golf, etc. This helps to inspire the students to take part in future Olympic Games. We also have over 35 leaders in the primary schools throughout the week running session.”
Competition is really important to staff and pupils at TBCC. The Thomas Bennett sports day is a chance to compete against rival houses within the school too see who is better. There are 4 houses within Thomas Bennett; Roberts (blue) Hepburn (yellow) Parker (green) and finally Wallis (red)… each house has a set Olympic value which helps them to understand the Olympics.
In addition to these events Thomas Bennett will also be hosting the torch relay which will start at Thomas Bennett and pass round all our feeder primary schools. We also have member of the change team leading assemblies within the local primaries to promote the Olympic values.
So all in all a very exciting time for our community. To top off an amazing year for sport within the school, we have been lucky enough to get tickets to the women’s football semi final! Watch this page for a report as to how our hands on experience of the Olympic Games 2012 went!