Education Secretary Visits Wellsway School
Education secretary Michael Gove has visited a Keynsham secondary school to look at the way it has taken on the values of the Olympic Games.
Mr Gove was at Wellsway School this afternoon and had the opportunity to meet with staff and pupils and talk to them about their work.
Wellsway School, which is a specialist sports college and is currently building a new £3 million sports centre on its Chandag Road site, has adopted the seven Olympic values of friendship, respect, excellence, determination, inspiration, courage and equality.
Staff have been working the Olympic themes into lessons across the curriculum and the pupils have been looking at the games in detail, including meeting athletes like Amy Williams and Dai Greene.
Mr Gove said he had been impressed by what the school was doing and wanted to see others follow its example. He said:
“I think it is up to each individual head teacher to decide what they should take out of this Olympic year, but it is fantastic to see a school that has decided to take leadership in the way this has.
“More than half of schools are now taking part and what Wellsway has done shows that the Olympics are about more than just sport. It is about a set of values which encourage young people to become more self-reliant, braver, better citizens.
“It is wonderful to see how the Olympic values have been interpreted in a way that fits the specific needs of this school and community.”
Head teacher Andrea Arlidge (Member of the Board of Trustees for Wesport), who gave Mr Gove a short tour of the school, said she was pleased that all their hard work had been recognised. She said:
“I feel very proud that the work we have been doing has been recognised in the south west region. We are the only school in the south west that has been visited because of its work around the Olympic games.”
She added that the work the school had been doing meant the pupils were now even more excited about the games this summer.
For a full report of Mr Gove’s visit see this Thursday’s Bath Chronicle.
Orginal article from the Bath Chronicle: www.thisisbath.co.uk/Education-secretary-visits-Wellsway-School/story-14371004-detail/story.html
