ST Joseph’s School has once again been a proud participant in the Living for Sport project in conjunction with Sky Sports and The British Sports Trust.

This is a project that has the aim of aiding the transition process from Year 6 to Year 7, as well as building confidence and self-esteem at a time that can be difficult for the cohort as they learn to respond to change and adapt to new routines.

During the project pupils have taken part in fun active games with a focus on developing and enhancing people skills and communication. The project concluded with 19 pupils working with athlete mentor, Cassandra Patten, a swimmer who is an open water 10k Olympic medallist, twice silver medallist and a national medallist.

She told her story, then led the group through different team building activities to reinforce previously taught principles and inspire the pupils to continue to develop resilience to change, improve communication skills and polish their teamwork.

During the day, Cassandra also led a diet and nutrition workshop for the Able, Gifted and Talented pupils in PE and food, looking at how to fuel an athlete’s training programme and with a focus on competition. Finally she worked with Year 6 pupils, developing teamwork within their group.

A consistent quote from Cassandra was ‘your best is always good enough’, a message that is reinforced during daily life at St Joseph’s.