On Wednesday 6 December nineteen year 9 pupils, with Jess Banks and Will Tudor, from year 13, went on a trip to the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus,  to see facilities available and broaden their knowledge of the sports industry and higher education courses.  

The visit commenced with a tour of the whole campus, looking at the Sports Centre, Gymnasium, Judo Centre (where the British Judo team are based) and the Performance Hub.

Students then moved onto the Sports Science laboratories where Jess and Will were put through their paces in jump, balance and agility tests using the state of the art equipment. This was the most impressive part of the day, where a whole new world of careers and opportunities in sport were highlighted to students.

The day ended with one of the head coaches putting knowledge presented during the day into practice – starting with a few fun games and moving on to how to professionally teach attacking and defending decision making, via handball. Students really tapped into the knowledge of the head coach and improved their skills and decision making vastly in such a short period of time. 

It is hoped that students take this knowledge into future lessons and into their examination courses (year 9 into GCSE PE and Jess and Will into higher education). All pupils represented the academy very well and the staff at the University were very complimentary. St Edmund’s were asked to visit again, either with the same group or with other students who need such fantastic experiences.