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14/12/2023 00:00, I Mewn Blog / School News /

Welsh Schools Cross Country Championships:

The Welsh Schools Year 7, U15/Junior, U17/Middle & U20/Senior Cross Country Championships will be held at Brecon on Wednesday 28^h February 2024. To participate you must be selected by your school district via your school district trial. Below are the provisional dates and venues for the eight school districts we have been advised of to date. Pupils from any school district wishing to participate should speak to their school PE teacher for race times and to confirm if there are any preliminary matches that progress to your respective finals. For those U15 & U17 pupils hoping to be selected for Wales in the SIAB cross country international at Santry, Ireland on Saturday 23^rd March 2024 you can view the selection policy document here, including how the Welsh 1500m Indoor Championships can potentially lead to selection for the SIAB cross country relays.

Age Groups:

District Trial Dates:

The Welsh Schools Cross Country Championships on Wednesday 28^th February 2024 will also act as the main selection event for the SIAB (British Schools) U15 & U17 international at Santry.

Perhaps unique to athletics, pupils entered by PE teachers, can potentially progress all the way to a Welsh National vest without being affiliated to a club, academy, regional or national development program.

Welsh Sportshall Athletics Final:

Sunday 10^th March 2024 at Cwmbran Leisure Centre sees the Welsh Sportshall Athletics final held for the U13 = School years 7 & 8 and U15 = School years 9 & 10 age groups. The winning teams in each of the boys and girls age groups will go forward to represent Wales in the UK finals at Fenton Manor, Stoke on Saturday 6^th April 2024, along with the top individuals in the U15 age group. See your PE teacher to be asked to be considered for selection in your school district trial below:

Each school district can hold a trial to select teams consisting of the following composition.

Under 13 events (School Years 7 & 8, teams of 10 to 12 boys & 10 to 12 girls):

(Obstacle relay - forward roll, high stepper, speed bounce & 2 x hurdles)

(Athletes can be selected in a maximum of 3 events and just 1 event from each section)

Under 15 events (School Years 9 & 10, teams of 6 girls & 6 boys):

(6 athletes must compete in one event in each section plus a relay, with a maximum of 3 athletes from each team in any one discipline. A 7th reserve athlete can compete in one of the relays and as a non scorer in sections B or C of their choosing)

You can find out more about Sportshall Athletics here.

Teacher Training Opportunities

Secondary:

Face to face Run Jump Throw Teaching Secondary School Athletics Workshops. £60pp.  3 x Two hour workshops covering the topics of:

• Teaching Running Events & Developing Pupils Engagement
• Teaching Jumping Events & How to deliver an Inclusive, Child-Centred Approach
• Teaching Throwing Events & Developing Schemes of Work and Lesson Plans

Each workshop is accompanied by free access to the Secondary Schools App-based Resource, associated with the workshop, these resources includes:

• Examples of Schemes of Work and Lesson Plans
• Technical tips on how to teach sprints, endurance, jumps and throws events
• Activity cards covering a full range of athletics events for pupils aged 11+
• Pupil Tasks Cards for greater independent learning

The resources associated with this workshop are provided via the Schools Athletics App, which has been designed to place running, jumping and throwing at the heart of school physical education, whilst supporting teachers in delivering athletics activities in an inclusive, exciting and engaging manner. If you would like a workshop delivered please email education@welshathletics.org to request a course for your staff or students.

Primary:

Run Jump Throw Teaching Primary School Athletics Workshop. £50pp. The aim of this course is to provide teachers, new teachers and trainee teachers and others working in primary schools with the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver enjoyable and engaging running, jumping and throwing lessons that focus on maximum participation, increasing understanding and skill acquisition based upon high quality technical models. . If you would like a workshop delivered please email education@welshathletics.org to request a course for your staff or students.

The Daily Mile

Why not use the Daily Mile to help prepare your pupils for the winter cross country and summer term track & field events. As part of an exciting new partnership, Welsh Athletics has entered into a formal partnership with The Daily Mile. The Daily Mile is a transformative initiative where children run, jog, wheel or walk for fifteen minutes every day. Inclusivity and accessibility has always been at the heart of The Daily Mile – getting young people involved regardless of ability. For more details on how to sign your school up for this initiative click here.

Quadkids

QuadKids is a UK wide format which has been adopted by many clubs, Primary & Secondary schools within their competitions and Sports Days. It allows pupils to participate together as a team and compete across four events, scoring points based on their performances.  This easy to run athletics format encourages participation for all ages and abilities and has been widely used throughout the UK for many years.

What? Four events: Standing long jump, vortex throw, 600m and 75m.

• Who? Primary and Secondary school aged children, usually in school years 5 to 8. A team consists of 2 boys and 2 girls in the same school year. Schools can be invited to attend QuadKids or Super 8 competitions against other local schools can enter teams in either year group (this may vary across local authority / region).  
• For more details on how to get involved with Quad Kids and see these amazing resources, click here.

Sportshall

Sportshall Athletics is an exciting indoor programme of adapted athletics activities for Primary & Secondary aged pupils. Sportshall provides fun ways to build core skills and is renowned for its exhilarating team competitions. Sportshall is the top school sports participation competition in the UK. In Wales the schools athletics districts, along with support from Welsh Athletics, deliver Sportshall competitions usually during curricular or extracurricular time. From these competitions, secondary teams are selected to represent their school district at the National Sportshall Final. In addition there are plenty of ideas and a variety of formats for Primary aged pupils too.

• What? Standing long jump, standing triple jump, vertical jump, speed bounce, shot put, 2 laps, 4 laps, relays.
• Who? Primary & Secondary school children aged up to 14.
• For more details on the various Sportshall Athletics schemes click here.