Athlete Mills helps her old school embrace Olympic spirit

The mini-Olympics even was opened by former pupil, Joanna Mills, who is representing Ireland in the 4 x 400 relay at the London Games. Six Year Eight groups immersed themselves in the language and cultures of six chosen Olympic countries and ‘became’ their citizens for the day.

Mr Knox, headmaster at the school, commented: “We have been planning this event for more than a year and we opened it up to the community. We had cultural displays from each of the six Olympic countries, food stalls with the countries’ signature dishes and the pupils only spoke in the language of their chosen country.

“Connected learning, where the complementary aspects of subjects are highlighted and intertwined, is a focus for us. We have a wide range of disciplines within the school and events, such as this, can offer opportunities to come together to build holistic learning opportunities for the pupils. At our global village, as well as languages and PE being represented, IT filmed the event and pupils from the music department composed the opening ceremony pieces.”

Head of PE, Andrea McCullough, added: “We are delighted that Olympic athlete, Joanna Mills, who left the school after her ‘A’ Levels last year, opened the event for us.

“When she was with us she set, what we believe, was a potential new record for the number of sporting achievements ever attained by a pupil in Northern Ireland and Ireland. During her time with us, Joanna won 28 gold medals at Ulster, Ireland and UK levels and in 2010 was selected to compete for Ireland in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. She is a great athlete who gives sport her all and we were delighted to welcome her back for this event.

“This event was part of the ‘Get Set’ programme, which is the curriculum-driven, educational arm of the Olympics. The school has adopted the Olympic values of respect, excellence, friendship, courage, determination, inspiration and equality as a focal point for its development plan.

“Our mini-Olympic global village was the culmination of a lot of hard work and planning on behalf of all the staff and pupils of the school and is a best practice example of inclusive ‘connected learning’ in action.”