Baildon RUFC and Baildon Primary Schools

Intent.

Baildon RUFC approached ourselves to provide primary school tag rugby delivery with the focus on introducing new children and young people to the sport of Tag Rugby and improve the teacher subject knowledge in the sport. This all came with the intent of boosting player numbers at the age groups under 7’s, 8’s and 9’s. At the start of the project Chairman of the Rugby Club Phil Wilson said, “The aim is to grow the foundation of our club to provide a sustainable future for ourselves and introduce some new young people to the sport that we love so much, we think it is imperative that we invest in the local children and help to provide the best possible sports education for them after a very tough few years for the youngest in our community!”

Implementation.

Coaches Tom, Tom and Ben have delivered our bespoke programme of study into Baildon Church of England Primary School and Sandal Primary school to Year 2, 3 and 4, this programme of study includes our own challenging and progressive 6-week tag rugby curriculum and links to the skill-based objectives that we have derived from the Primary National Curriculum. This delivery has been linked with our CPD opportunities to the teachers at Sandal Primary School, who have been engaging and participating in the delivery of this programme. The children have really loved their introduction with one child saying “I have never played rugby before and was a little bit scared but it’s been really fun and I now like it better than all the other sports” and this is echoed by Natalie Robertshaw(Head of PE and Sport at Sandal Primary School) who has told us “The children (and teachers!!) are really sad that the coaching sessions have now come to an end. They have LOVED each session and both Ben and Tom have been amazing.”

This programme is going to culminate in 2 Rugby Roadshows. The first of which will be lead by White Rose Rugby at Baildon Rugby Club, Jenny Lane after school with all children who have taken part in our delivery invited and then the 2^nd on a Sunday morning, which will be run by Baildon Rugby Union Football Club and supported by White Rose Rugby staff, to introduce children to a Sunday morning at Baildon Rugby Club and encourage the transition between the schools and the club.

Impact.

The development of skills all across the board has been fantastic to see with lots of children showing a real aptitude to the sport of Rugby. The teachers have commented on their confidence levels being increased with Natalie Robertshaw adding “The progression of skills for each session has been really evident and it’s been wonderful to see some of the children thriving. All of the sessions have been fun and engaging.”

The children have really enjoyed the programme with one Baildon C of E pupil commenting “It’s been amazing, the best way to end a day!”. All the children have now been invited to the Rugby Roadshows at Baildon Rugby Club to support the transition process. Baildon C of E will continue to have Extra-curricular sessions delivered available to all children from Year 2 upwards.