Lathom's Sporting Success

Stephen Timms, Member of Parliament for East Ham, visited Lathom Junior School last Friday (January 11^th), to present the children and teachers of the school with an 'Active Mark Gold' Award from Sport England. The award was given to the school in recognition of its commitment to providing sporting opportunities for all its pupils. The presentation took place at a special school assembly, where Mr Timms gave the award to one of the many teachers who provide extra-curricular sports classes at the school.

The Active Mark Gold Award was given to the school for its "outstanding commitment to promoting the benefits of physical activity and school sport". Although a considerable number of schools were given Active Mark Awards by Sport England, the Gold Award was much harder to get, and Lathom Junior School was one of only 40 schools across the country to receive this distinction. Lathom School works very closely with Langdon School, and many Lathom pupils receive sports coaching from visiting Langdon teachers

As part of the application procedure for the Award, five of the schools' pupils had to give a presentation on what Sport meant to them, and they re-did this presentation for Mr Timms and their classmates at last week's assembly. In presenting the award, Mr Timms praised their presentation, saying "I think these pupils have given a very good summary of the reasons why sport is important in schools - it helps to keep you healthy, it teaches you the importance of teamwork and it can give you a real sense of achievement".