Tuesday 5th July was a very important day at Harrow Way for its Leadership Academy. Having planned and prepared the Year 2/3 Skills4Life Festival for more than a term, the big day for the Friday after school club had arrived!
Twelve teams, a total of 72 children, were arriving by 10 am from five of our cluster schools: Knights Enham Infant, Knights Enham Junior, Portway Infant, Portway Junior and Appleshaw St Peter’s CE Primary Schools.
Leaders started arriving from 7.30 am, knowing that a lot of preparation was needed for the festival to be successful. By 9.15 am, the bunting was up, Miss Sturges’ cupboard empty of equipment and the sports hall was ready!
From 9.30 am, there was a real buzz in the Sports Hall while the dancers warmed up, the schools arrived and leaders finished off their final preparations.
At 10 o’clock, the Mayor, Mrs Zilliah Brooks arrived with Abby Wheeler accompanying her, and the festival was set to begin. Chelsey Renshaw and Brendan Harris, who were overseeing the whole event, welcomed everyone then stepped back to let the Year 9 dancers (Sophie Pitts, Sophie Chilcott, Vicky Wells, Maddie Loftus, Danielle Morrell, Cassie Weeks, Lauren Willis and Ashton McKillop) perform their Olympic dance. Powerful music and excellent choreography opened the festival perfectly and left teachers and students feeling that the London 2012 really is upon us!
Banners and a torch were then brought into the Opening Ceremony with both Appleshaw’s and Knights Enham Juniors’ banners representing the Olympic Value of Friendship, 
the focus of the festival.
The twelve teams of Year 2 and 3, who had been combined in each team so that they could make new friends ready for next year, were joined by their team leaders who took them off to their starting station. Team Leaders were: Olivia Lucas, Hannah Wood, Emily Gibbs, Caylee Harper-Ronald, Jasmine Smith, John Mitchell, Adam Tilbury, Wayne Ashton, Beth Jeffries, Robyn Barnes, Chloe Gleed and Chantelle Gleed.
The stations, which were all planned and led by the Leadership Academy and invited Year 7 students, included: Meet the Athelete (Emma Jones), Speed stacking (Jake Baugh), Goalie (Tyler Hiscock), Crazy Catches (Martyn Craggs and Anthony Wharton), Javelin (Nicola Penwarden), New Age Kurling (Megan Woodage), Chipping (Vicky Jones), Treasure Cones (Louis Hatchett), Target Throw (Courtney Friel), Finders Keepers (Cara Lewis), Dribbling and Shooting (Jack Bowman), Adventure Course (Mark Todd and Jordan Simcox) and finally, the refreshments (Callum Bendall).
Thirteen stations later and 72 children (and 30 leaders!) were happy but shattered! The Mayor spoke to all the children in the Closing Ceremony and presented each of them with their certificate. Emma Jones gave each of the children a water bottle as a gift. She also congratulated all the Harrow Way students who had done such an excellent job in looking after and leading the younger children.
A huge thank you to Steph Jackson, Year 11, who also supported the event, as well as all the teachers and parents from our cluster schools.
To read Andover Sound’s report please follow this link To download and listen to the Andoversound new report click here.