Park House head to speak on Olympic legacy

Park House academy school and sports college headteacher Derek Peaple was approached by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to talk about the London 2012 education programme, Get Set, and building a legacy.
“I am absolutely delighted to be involved and it is a reflection on the work everybody in the school has contributed to, it is a reflection of the efforts of the whole team,” he said.
“I will be talking about how we can shape the legacy on many different levels.
“You had the sense the Games were going to have an impact but it has been galvanising in ways that we would never have necessarily anticipated.
“The important thing for the educational program is inclusion; involving and rewarding everyone, from participants to volunteers.”
Mr Peaple said his speech will touch on everything from elite performance in schools to greater inclusion for those who are not naturally sporting in an effort to improve health and get entire families active.
Despite calls from Prime Minister David Cameron to end a culture of “everyone gets a prize” in school sports and to increase competitiveness, Mr Peaple said there were other ways to develop a nation of winners.
“Of course you celebrate sporting success but it is also about rewarding young people who show respect, determination and qualities like that. The difference it can make to young people is incredible,” he said.
“We have the local tier of inter-school competition and that feeds to clubs outside, we do need to look at that more thoroughly, but we need to continue to build opportunities for the young volunteers and look at other areas of development to encourage youngsters, and their families, to take up sport.”
Mr Peaple is no stranger to addressing political luminaries.
In the run up to the Games he spoke to an All Party Parliamentary Group for London 2012, and revealed that Park House had been planning for the Games since pre-2009.
It was one link of many between the school and LOCOG, as several Park House pupils were selected as official Games Makers to help out at events during the three weeks.
Last year the school was one of the first in the South East to join the Get Set Network, the official London 2012 education programme for schools and colleges across the UK.
The Get Set conference will be held at the Mermaid Conference Centre in London on October 4.
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