England cricketer Lauren Bell inspires future stars of sport and dance at Newbury’s St Bartholomew’s School
Future stars of sports and dance were celebrated at the inaugural St Bartholomew’s School Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
And England cricketer and former St Bart’s student Lauren Bell sent an inspirational message to all those dreaming of sporting success.
She had been due to be the guest speaker and present the awards on the night, but was called up to the England squad for the One Day Internationals.
Instead, she recorded a special message for her former school in which she told St Bart’s students: “I was once sat where you are and now I’m living my dream.”
Ms Bell, who has just graduated with a degree in sociology from Loughborough University, spoke of the importance of “doing whatever makes you happy, working hard and having a backup plan”.
The awards, which were held at the Newbury school on Wednesday, July 6, recognised students’ participation in sport and dance and also saw the presentation of individual sports colours and dance colours to Year 10 students.
PE staff presented the awards to the winning students, from a shortlist of five from each year group.
The winners were:
Year 7 Sports Personalities of the Year: Hannah Bosley and Deacon Cullum
Year 7 Dancers of the Year: Ben Ransom and Ellena Clare
Year 8 Sports Personalities of the Year: Isla Clare and Connor Bucknell
Year 8 Dancers of the Year: Toby Youd and Florence Hatton
Year 9 Sports Personalities of the Year: Anna Delavere and James Fenner
Year 9 Dancers of the Year: Oscar Willsher and Edith Rivers
Year 10 Sports Personalities of the Year: India Duly and Jimmy Herdman
GCSE Dancers of the Year: Sam Cooper and Adria Rumbauskaite
Sports Leaders of the Year: Nina Matthews and Lewis Gardner
Dance Leaders of the Year: Sam Cooper and Vaibavi Lakshmi Narayanan
The teams of the year trophies went to Year 7 boys rugby and Year 8 girls netball.
The awards evening followed the school’s recent adoption of a new West Berkshire co-curricular provision programme, which has seen a renewed focus on mass participation and the broadest possible sports offer.
Nicky Ostinelli, head of PE at St Bart’s, said: “The world of PE and dance was hit hard by the pandemic, yet they have such a powerful physical, mental and social role to play in young people’s lives.
West Berkshire heads of PE used the period of lockdown to create and implement this new Programme around Covid recovery and inclusivity.
“I am so proud of how St Bart’s have embraced this new approach and the evening was a celebration of all we have offered and achieved this academic year.”
The evening also included a speech from the Old Newburians’ Association, who organise a number
of annual sporting fixtures with St Bart’s, and included a celebration of the many festivals in which
the school have participated, such as athletics, badminton, basketball, handball, martial arts,
table tennis and tennis.
