Punggol Primary School

Bright and early on a Monday morning the Sports Challenge team made their way to the first school of the Singapore trip; Punggol Primary School. Greeted by a sea of smiling P3 students, Jeremy Olman, Jacqui Finnegan, Margie Thompson and Christal Ryan began the initial rounds of skill testing. The team rolled, batted and bounced their way through the first week with ease and enjoyment. The start of a new week brought a new set of children; the P1’s, bright, bubbly and enthusiastic they tackled the skills with everything they had. Some very pleasing results eventuated, an absolute credit to the PE Department.
The end of the second week saw the start of the Sports Challenge “Focus” Program with 50 selected P3 and P5 students. Each coach took a group of their own students and ran through some ice breaking games, allowing the students to begin bonding with their group and mentor. The end of day one saw the four teams battle it out on a giant scale swamp crossing; a mad dash for the finish line saw Jeremy’s P5 team victorious over the three remaining crews.
Over the next few days the Sports Challenge activities, both written and physical, saw the children really come out of their shells and challenge themselves by setting goals to be achieved within the upcoming year. The most impressive action was seen when the four groups met in the school gym to complete the Pipeline Challenge. Divided into groups according to their year level, the Punggol students pioneered some elaborate structures. After an intense hour of building, buying and bargaining, construction was called to a halt and each Pipeline was assessed according to naming, budgeting, marketing and excitement factor, with a P3 group taking out the winner’s prize.
For the Mentors, Punggol was an unforgettable school. Both the students and staff were a pleasure to work with and the children seemed to really enjoy immersing themselves in the program.