ST THOMAS OF CANTERBURY SCHOOL

Thank you to all who supported the charity football game on Friday between St Thomas and St Wilfrid’s. The match was very well supported and attended, and a total of £70 was raised for charity.

A special thank you to the Friends of St Thomas for providing refreshments, Gavin Bailey at Qualitas for providing a referee, and Mike from Kit Locker www.kitlocker.com who generously has donated two complete set of football kits free of charge to support this, and future events.

A handful of Year 1's and 2's were selected to participate in a football tournament at Derby County's training ground on Friday 23rd March.

The children competed against a variety of schools from Sheffield and Chesterfield and played some fantastic football that they all should be proud of. Leo ended up being St Thomas's top goal scorer after scoring two fantastic goals. Rebecca also scored a great goal, dribbling with the ball from the half way line to put the ball in the back of the net. Sebastian and Daniel were really close to adding to our goal total, with shots either just going wide or being saved by the goalkeeper. Connor and Ben made some great saves during our games to keep the opposition out. This was complimented by some superb defensive performances from Annisa and Lucas. 

St Thomas finished 4th in their group but narrowly missed out on a 4th position playoff win so finished 5th out of 10 teams, a very respectable result. 

With a fantastic morning of football on display all of the St Thomas children in attendance did themselves and St Thomas proud. All of the children had a wonderful time and arrived back at school inspired by the experience, ready for future competitions. Great work team!

Ash Jackson (Qualitas) 

On Thursday 15th of March, 6 of the schools pupils from the IR went to Norfolk Park Community School to participate in a seated volleyball festival. The festival involved different schools, bringing along pupils with a range of disabilities to get involved in the sport. Each school played friendly matches against one another on a rotation system. It was really good to see our pupils - Eden, Jack, Dom, Liam, Isaac and Archie, represent St Thomas in a very positive manner. They were very well behaved and respectful of the other people in the festival. 

They adapted themselves brilliantly to the sport and showed off some excellent volleyball skills. The key for seated volleyball was to work as a team to hit the ball over the net, which the 6 St Thomas pupils did magnificently. Each of them, showed they were very good at understanding the different types of techniques they needed to get the ball over the net such as the dig, set and the all time favourite, the smash. 

Each child said that they had really enjoyed the morning and would enjoy doing something similar in the future.  

A massive well done to all involved!

Liam Hague (Qualitas)