We are delighted to announce that we, Woodlands Meed, have achieved the School Games PLATINUM Award for the 2023/24 academic year. The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.

Our sporting achievements this year include:

- Hosting our own JOLF festival: 145 children participated including every primary, PMLD and SLD class at Woodlands Meed, and SEN students from 5 other locality schools, who for the first time, had the chance to participate in an event wholly suitable for their needs. The event was run by Neil and supported by 38 sports' leaders from Burgess Hill Academy, and Woodlands Meed school and college sites.

- 100% of all students experienced an intra-school event!

- 97% of students represented the school in an inter school competition; a massive 30% increase from last year!

- Greatest number of medallists at The Parallel Youth Games

- Ever single student from both our school and college sites who benefit from using a chair participated in the annual Albion wheelchair football festival!

- 100% students received at least one type of training from an external coach. These include AITC, JOLF, Sussex Cricket

- 12 Students trained as sports' leaders; the most ever!

- The greatest number of students completed Bikeability; with 73% receiving on the road training, which is a record!

- Three highly successful and inclusive sports' days

- 100% families have access to weekly physical activities that can be performed at home and thus contributes to their daily active 30

With a record of young people competing in local inter-school competitions this year, we are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.

As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year. A special thanks to: Albion in the Community, Burgess Hill Academy, Friends of Woodlands Meed, JOLF's Neil Plimmer, St Pauls and Sussex Cricket!  We couldn’t have done it without you!

We look forward to our next academic year where we hope to celebrate another fantastic year of sport at WM!

Wednesday 22^nd May 2024 may not be of great significance to the majority of the country, but for Woodlands Meed this is the date that everyone has been looking forward to for months; it is the date of the annual Parallel Youth Games!  Almost 50 students from Key Stage 3, accompanied by 18 staff, travelled to The K2 in Crawley to represent Woodlands Meed at this amazing event which gives young people with a range of additional needs the opportunity to compete against their peers in a sporting arena. 

Our students represented the school in 9 different sports which included street soccer, boccia, table cricket, tennis, swimming and dance.  There were so many successes with lots of students making their competitive debut’ at the games, some were representing Woodlands Meed for the very first time and some were trying new inclusive sports.  Medals were won in boccia, tennis and in the pool, games were won in street soccer, cricket and NAK, but what makes us most proud is quite simply…our students.  Yes they are competitive, yes they want to win, but our students recognise that there is a much bigger trophy on offer, and that is the opportunity to not only enjoy playing sport, but to enable others to enjoy it too.  I am proud that our students were the ones who applauded another school for scoring their first ever goal, that our students congratulated other children when they finished their race no matter what position they finished in, that our students were the ones who picked up others and offered them a supportive comment when they were feeling disappointed.  This is why The Parallel Youth Games, and sport in general, is even more important for our students, it helps to build bonds, create friendships and develop our young people into compassionate adults who, although competitive, will always recognise that there is something much more important than just winning.

Pen Gittins

Woodlands Meed HLTA PE Specialist

On Wednesday the 27th March, Woodlands Meed hosted our very own JOLF Festival and it was an absolute triumph! 

Neil Plimmer, our JOLF guru has been working with Woodlands Meed for a number of years, delivering bespoke sessions to meet the needs of all our students; including those in our EYFS and primary departments, those in KS3 and also our students with more     complex needs.

In partnership with our PE department, Neil and Woodlands Meed delivered an inclusive festival consisting of a range of golf activities for students to explore. 

Students from other schools were invited to attend, with particular focus being on those with special educational needs.  Five schools in addition to Woodlands Meed accessed the event, with 145 children participating!  The event was fantastically supported by 20 sports’ leaders from Burgess Hill Academy, 12 from our year nines, and 6 from Woodlands Meed College.  It really was a collective team effort!

Staff and students really enjoyed the event with one student commenting that it was ‘the best thing ever on the planet!’  This positivity was mirrored by staff from the attending schools who said that they ‘had a great morning; there were lots of great activities, and it was great to meet new people’.  It really was fantastic to see all the students from different schools playing together and being able to access an event which they would normally find difficult.  I appreciate that especially for some students in mainstream education it can be challenging to find events suitable for all their students.  At Woodlands Meed, we are so very proud to have given this opportunity to targeted students and they benefitted so much from it.  We can’t wait for next year!!!

Tom Brown, Deputy Head at Woodlands Meed College, is aiming to break his previous record of running as a Banana in Pyjama in 2019, for a faster group run of 7 Emus all running in costume at this year’s TCS London Marathon.

Seven emus are taking on the London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April to raise money to help fund sporting opportunities and experiences for children and young people with learning, social, physical and communication disabilities at Woodlands Meed School & College in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.

Tom made headlines in 2019 when he ran the London Marathon in a banana in pyjama costume with running pal Andy.  This year, he will be joined by Andy and five other friends dressed in emu costumes who are keen to support Tom in his fundraising efforts.

The 7-strong team will be individually dressed as “emu riders’ and are aiming to break the ‘bananas’ previous record of 3 hours 39 minutes.  They’ve recently been spotted taking part in Hove Seafront Park Run and you may well have seen them out and about locally on training runs!

The Emu’s are hoping to raise lots of money for resources and opportunities to enhance the student’s time at Woodlands Meed, with a special focus on giving the students a summer of sporting experiences - to give the children and young people as many opportunities to try out sporting and physical challenges that ordinarily they might not get a chance to do.

Tom said he was feeling “unbelievably excited” ahead of this year’s marathon.

 “I am incredibly excited about this year’s London Marathon.  We had such an unbelievable experience last time as the bananas, I can’t wait to unleash the emus on to the course!  The atmosphere and the crowd at the London Marathon is just incredible and I feel really lucky to be able to run to raise money for the inspiring students I teach at Woodlands Meed.’

As well as running the London Marathon, Tom will also be undertaking a ‘Tomathon’ later in the week at Woodlands Meed on 26 April, where every student at Woodlands Meed will join Tom to run, walk or wheel to be part of the marathon event and help raise money for the sporting activities.

To find out more or donate to support Tom and friends, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/tom-brown-1710692268145

On Monday 18th March, it was the turn of our female students’ to represent Woodlands Meed in The Albion Cup.  Many were making their full debuts, as students from both our School and College sites joined forces to put on a fantastic show of teamwork, togetherness, and skill!  

Exciting attacking play and clinical finishing, combined with tough tackling, expert goalkeeping and a miserly defence resulted in a very successful tournament for our inspiring girls.  Winning three, drawing two, and losing just two of their 7 games; scoring 12 and only conceding 5 goals are very impressive statistics for any team in The Albion Cup, let alone a team who were playing together for the first time!  Special mentions go to Precious; who was our top goal scorer with 7 (including a hat trick against Lindfield!), and Heidi who was solid and so reliable in goal, the highlight being a fantastic penalty save!

Massive congratulations to all 8 of you, we are so very proud of you all!

Our Inspirational Squad:   

Evie B, Precious H, Holly MF, Rosie MF, Megan S, Keira A, Nia S, Heidi P

Jenny F (Manager) and Mark K (Coach)