Sport has always been a central part of life at Prospect House. To enable sportsmen and women to compete successfully, they need to be given a sound foundation and expert tuition. In order for each child to find the sport they do best, they should be provided with a full range of opportunities. Ability is helpful in honing a skill but children also require motivation, enjoyment and focus. All of this is encouraged from an early age at Prospect House.
Sport, of course, plays a key role in developing all-round life skills. Teamwork, communication, testing ourselves to the limit, maintaining concentration and stamina are all important. Our approach emphasises the principle that every child has a skillset which is of benefit to a team.
It is also essential to keep them healthy as they grow. The skills developed at an early age can provide each individual with the ability to stay fit and healthy throughout life.
The PE department at Prospect House is committed to providing a huge range of opportunities for the children and supporting their physical development from Nursery right through to Year 6.
We focus on building skills as well as learning various sports. Our curriculum involves invasion games such as netball, hockey and football, athletics, gymnastics, dance, fielding and striking games such as cricket and rounders and, perhaps most importantly, an emphasis on sportsmanship.
From Year 2 we also introduce Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) to assess the individual movement patterns of each child before putting together a bespoke programme to support coordination, agility and flexibility.
Outside of lessons, we have clubs available for judo, circuit training, football (mixed and girls only), folk-dancing, cricket, crossfit, cross-country running, gymnastics, tennis, rounders, strength & conditioning, fencing, rugby (contact and tag) and yoga.
All our girls and boys, regardless of ability, take part in a very busy fixture list against local prep and primary schools in all sports from Year 2. These experiences are invaluable in forming bonds with their team mates and teaching them to be gracious winners and good losers.
Our more able players are often invited to take part in competitive tournaments including:
AFC Wimbledon girls football tournament
Chelsea FC Premier League primary stars football competition
Epsom College Super 8 cricket tournament
Epsom College netball competition
Prior’s Field gymnastics competition
Wandsworth Borough Sportshall Athletics competition
Wandsworth Borough Swimming Gala
Wandsworth Borough Netball tournament
We also participate in some programmes which are aimed at non-tournament team players with an enthusiasm for sport such as the Wandsworth Cricket Festival and the London Youth Games Inspire Festival.
In addition to all the clubs, fixtures and tournaments on offer at Prospect House, we also have various hotly-anticipated sports experiences throughout the year.
Our annual Sports Day for all year groups is held in early June at Weir Archer Athletics & Fitness Stadium, Kingston. Eagerly watched by their parents, the children compete a large selection of events ranging from hurdles, long jump, water mayhem and an obstacle course to the blue riband event of the sprints. Our sports department are careful to create an event each year which provides a highly competitive environment for our more able athletes while simultaneously being inclusive for all.
All the children involved in Running Club (Year 2 – Year 6) are invited to join the official London Mini-Marathon held once a year on the day before the real London Marathon. This enables children to run the last part of the famous course and win a medal for completing either 1 mile or 2.6km. We were so pleased that last year, 60 students participated in this event from a wide range of our ability groups.
As part of our very active School House system, we schedule fun activities and competitions each term as part of our plan to encourage integration and a sense of community between the year groups. The sports department contribute by organising football, netball and cross-country running inter-house sports competitions.
