Paralympian helps to inspire students
Pupils at a Walsall school were able to learn new skills and be inspired as part of a special day.
Walsall Wood School holds special days for its pupils throughout the year, helping the pupils to develop along the core principles of the school, such as democracy and tolerance and respect.
It held an inspiration day along the principle of inspiration, with a full day of activities and workshops taking place.
Paralympic archer Mel Clarke, who won two medals in her Paralympic career, was the guest of honour at a special assembly, telling the story of how she was diagnosed with Lyme disease at the age of 11 and, after being told she would never walk again and confined to a wheelchair, she was left out of PE lessons and was inspired to take up archery after one person said to her "let's do something about this".
Mel, who set 17 world records in her career, spent the day running sessions on archery with the pupils, who also participated in workshops on resilience and subjects relating to inspiration.
Simon Bailey, PE teacher at Walsall Wood School, helped to organise the day alongside the Youth Sport Trust and its Mentor Programme and spoke about what the school hoped to achieve from the day.
He said: "What we were looking for from the day was for the children to be inspired and having Mel come in really helped with that.
"The children loved the day and were really buzzing when talking about the day in reflection time and in the workshops.
"We also wanted to show that we can support any child who wants to take part in a unique sport such as archery."
The school has been able to deliver different sports over the last few years, such as archery and fencing, and Simon hopes that this can begin a journey for the pupils.
He said: "What we like to do is give the children a taster of a sport and see if it gets them hooked then, if they find it's for them, we can help them find local clubs to take it further.
"Delivering sports such as archery and fencing are perfect as well because it can appeal to the child who may not be the fastest or most athletic, but still loves sport and wants to try something."
