AFTERSCHOOL SPORTS CLUBS

LMFC funded teaching assistants, specialist trainers and sports kit for afterschool sports clubs at SEN school through a grant of £5,000 to Greenhouse Sports.

Greenhouse Sports runs sports programmes in schools and local communities, where children and young people can develop important social, emotional and physical skills for life. Their SEN school programme focuses on multisports, as this wide range of activities allows young people to recognise their strengths and to develop skills to help them achieve their best, on and off the sports field.

The LMFC team spent a sunny afternoon with the afterschool club at Highshore School, a special educational needs school in Camberwell, London, where pupils aged 11-16 practised their tennis forearm and competed in a Wimbledon-inspired tournament.

Coach Jo Sykes, who leads the club and also teaches PE at the school, explained that they use sport to not only promote active lives but to also encourage greater independence.

Pupils work towards the goal of going to the gym independently; Jo and her team support this by helping pupils to complete gym membership forms. The club which takes place for an hour after school every Tuesday allows pupils to practise new sports, to develop teamwork and to improve their physical fitness.