Midlothian school achieves a sporting first

Lawfield Primary School is the first primary in Midlothian to win the national sportscotland Gold School Sports Award.

Big achievement

The Mayfield school is one of only 104 schools to achieve the accolade. 

Special assembly

At a special assembly, Acting Head Teacher Jennifer Allison congratulated pupils and staff, including Active Schools Co-Ordinator Carolyn Cameron and PE Teacher Enrique Castillo.

Select group

She said: “What a fantastic achievement, especially when you consider there are more than 2,500 schools in Scotland.

Hard work

“The Gold award is testament to how hard everyone has worked and just how much we recognise the value of sport and physical activity for our learners. 

Congratulations

“Well done everyone!”

Asked for views

The school consulted with parents, carers and pupils on priorities. The response was for more sports and physical activity opportunities, to support wider achievement. Lawfield then worked closely with Active Schools to address any barriers to participation and to make sure all pupils had opportunities to be active, inspired, and enjoy sport. 

Some highlights

The school’s commitment to sport includes:

• A full-time PE teacher
• 2 hours of PE for each class
• Carefully planned Active Schools clubs programme to ensure a variety of sports/activities on offer and clubs were provided for all age groups, from P1 to P7
• Increased funding for lunchtime and afterschool clubs so that all clubs are free to pupils 
• Increased the number of local club coaches delivering clubs and curriculum tasters in school to build on school-club pathways
• Physical development sessions for P1s
• Expansion of the pupil sports leadership team: the Junior Active Schools Coordinators (JASCs) – a leadership programme created by the Head Teacher 
• Increased the number of interschool sport competitions/events/festivals they attended
• Joined an interschool football league
• Organised Olympic athlete visits to school to inspire their learners 
• Recruited more volunteer deliverers from amongst the staff 
• Celebrated pupil achievement
• Recognised the contribution and commitment of their volunteer deliverers

In the picture

From left to right are: PE Teacher Enrique Castillo, P7 pupils Carmen-Leigh Waugh, Acting Head Teacher Jennifer Allison, P7 pupils AJ Donald, sportscotland Partnership Manager Michelle Bone, Active Schools Co-ordinator Carolyn Cameron and P7 pupil Lily Horsburgh.