Top award for School Games organiser

Exeter-based School Games Organiser Nick Gillard has been announced as one of the first winners of the School Games Impact Awards, for his innovative project that looked to target local young people and encourage them to be physically active.

A network of School Games Organisers (SGOs) and School Games County Alliances have worked alongside children’s charity the Youth Sport Trust in delivering three distinct levels of competition since the Games' inception in 2010 - ranging from intra - inter school activity.

Launched for the academic year 2021/22, the Impact Awards are designed to celebrate the impact achieved for young people by the network of local School Games Organisers, Active Partnerships and Schools.

There are five categories based on the overall School Games’ outcomes, plus a special category for 2020/21 based on the Commonwealth Games. The winners were announced at the Youth Sport Trust House at Prince Albert High School in Birmingham on August 3, as part of a celebration of all activity that had been made possible thanks to a £2 million investment from Sport England from Birmingham 2022 legacy funding.

Nick Gillard, a School Games Organiser for the Exeter and Mid Devon area won the Development Champions Award. This recognises activities which highlights the wider benefits of physical activity and focuses on developing young people’s mental, physical and social wellbeing.

Mr Gillard looked at ways to help support Year 5 and 6 school children at Countess Wear Community Primary School with their understanding of the popular War Horse story through physical activity. They set-up eight stations in the playground, each linked to specific plot points in the story. It results in the children better attaining the War Horse story thanks to being able to associate it with activity they undertook in the playground.

SGO Nick Gillard commented; “The positive impact we’ve had on our local children and young people involved in the activity is reward enough, however we are delighted to have won an Impact Award. Hopefully the activity we created will now be replicated by others across the network, or inspire them to try something similar to help increase children and young people’s physical activity.

Clare Warburton, Development Manager at Youth Sport Trust and Impact Awards judge commented; “We received over a hundred entries across the academic year but Nick Gillard’s really stood out.

“It was clear from the results of the activity and feedback from the panel of judges that real positive impact had been made. By working with children and young people and wider partners, the team have created an innovative opportunity to engage with their target audience, support children to feel a sense of belonging and it’s a great example worthy of celebration.”

Charlie Crane, Senior Manager in the Children and Young People team at Sport England and Impact Awards judge commented; “The School Games network does incredible work in schools across the country, which has an amazing impact on the lives of children and young people.

“It’s so important that we celebrate and shout about the fantastic work those in the network, such as Nick do. Not just so we can all see the scope of what the network achieve together, but also to allow the School Games to continue to grow and adapt to changing needs of young people.”

To find out more about the School Games Impact Awards, and all the winning activity please visit:https://www.yourschoolgames.com/impact/impact-awards/