City in the Community recently hosted a multi-sports festival for primary school children across Greater Manchester, including many with special education needs.
Children were able to enjoy activities with CITC’s delivery partners, MCR Active Tennis, Sale Sharks and Lancashire Cricket Foundation.
The aim of the festival, which was organised by CITC’s Outreach Team, was to engage disabled and non-disabled students through sport, to help create a level playing field.
Helene Jawando from Ashgate Specialist Support Primary School said:
Everyone enjoyed the day. The activities were pitched at the right level for our children, they also included challenges for the more able students.
It was great that they were interacting with mainstream pupils and some of them told us that they’d made new friends.
The staff involved were all lovely and took the obvious needs of our children into consideration when talking to them and the way that they responded to them.
Ryan Conroy from Ringway Primary School added:
Thank you so much for inviting us along to yesterday’s event. In the class that went, there is a pupil with Cerebral Palsy, and the opportunity to have the rest of his classmates take part in a range of sporting activities with him will last long in his memory.
The work done by Paul and the disability team at Manchester City is priceless. All their events are excellently organised, inclusive and all children leave with a sense of accomplishment.
Speaking to CITC staff afterwards, 100% of pupils said they’d had fun at the event and most agreed that they had made new friends.
Community Outreach Lead Coach for Disability for CITC, Paul Kelly, summed up the day. He said:
We can see that everyone has had a fantastic day meeting other pupils and doing the sports they enjoy.
We’d like to thank everyone for coming along today, including our brilliant delivery partners and already can’t wait to continue this after the summer break!
