Healthy Schools Magazine
From MTS-Wiki
Article Printed in 'Healthy Schools Magazine'
Mount Tamar School is for students with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. Students attend from all areas of the city and follow the national curriculum. It is a school described as 'good, with outstanding features' (OFSTED March 2006).
For the majority of students the discipline and social aspects of teamwork can prove very challenging. Over the past three years individual, team, whole school events and challenges have raised self esteem, motivation and impacted on all areas of student health and well-being. Students participate in sport and volunteer for 'out of hours' coaching. They also keep healthy eating diaries coupled with a programme of home study for health.
Last summer term we launched the 'Mount Tamar 10K' challenge. Students attempted to complete ten thousand individual exercises (as allocated by their fitness card and monitored by staff). The uptake was over 95% of students and 50% of staff. Kevin, year 10 said, “The exercises we have to do target all the main muscle groups as well as developing our cardio-vascular fitness. Most of us are finding some things easier than others, but we are improving in all aspects of our fitness”.
Through the PSE programme, a whole school approach to healthy lifestyles was adopted. A healthy sugar free breakfast is offered, in most form groups, during morning registration. Drugs education is provided by the Harbour centre and sexual health and emotional well-being lessons are delivered by Surestart plus. Science focused on the effect of diet on the body and the reasons for growth in teenage obesity in the UK. Food technology covers healthy eating in KS3 and KS4 and looks at all aspects of current dietary thinking including making recipes healthier. At break times, the tuck shop has ceased to sell unhealthy snacks and is now contributing to the 'five a day' of our students, selling a variety of fruit and nuts, as well as healthy oat snacks. Lunchtimes, our kitchen serves a variety of healthy balanced meals and fruit is available every day. Water is available throughout the day assisting with students' hydration and concentration. Milk as well as water is available for each and every student free of charge with lunch. Government is currently suggesting legislation that chips should only be sold in school on two days in any given week. Here at Mount Tamar our kitchen has only provided chips one day a week for the past three years!
With the assistance of SSCO funding, we now have two new Concept 2 rowing machines. As a whole school challenge during the Football World Cup, we attempted to row the distance from Plymouth to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, in time for the final. This is a total of one million three hundred and seventy four thousand metres, or eight hundred and fifty four miles! This allowed the maths department to focus on health within it's curriculum, the geography department to map progress in it's study of Europe and the I.T. Department to track progress electronically. We (students, technical staff and teaching staff) completed the leg from Plymouth to Calais, crossed the English channel, travelled through France and Belgium and headed up the motorway through Germany for the Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately, due to some very heavy traffic and bad weather, we were 60km away on the day of the final!
This summer term we are hoping to complete a similar challenge on static cycles as the Tour de France is starting in London.
All this hard work has paid off for us this year!
- Football team – Unbeaten all year, winners of three shields including the Plymouth shield and the South West shield.
- Indoor athletics – Gold medal winners.
- Cricket team – Unbeaten, tournament champions.
- Basketball team – Unbeaten, tournament champions.
- Indoor Rowing – Team and individual event gold medal winners.
- Ten Tors – Silver medals (45miles)
This year our commitment has been rewarded by the Department for Education and Skills; Mount Tamar has achieved both 'Activemark' and 'Sportsmark' awards for exceptional delivery within the National School Sport Strategy.
We, at Mount Tamar, recognise each individual's difficulties, be it emotional, behavioural or social. We are proud of each and every students contribution and effort in making our school a success.
