Girls Given ‘A Chance to Shine’

At the start of the year GSHS shined up for the cricket ‘Chance to Shine’ programme. By doing this the school agreed to have a cricket coach work in school to deliver a succession of coaching sessions in school time and as after school clubs. The school also agreed to attend various cricket festivals for both boys and girls. Further links would also be created with local cricket clubs so that pupils who enjoyed their cricketing experience would be able to continue playing in the local area.

Daniel Sherben the cricket development officer for North Tyneside was assigned the task of delivering cricket sessions in the school. Since Christmas he has been mainly working with Key Stage 3 girls. The coaching allowed girls to gain more in depth knowledge of the sport and to compete at the local Lady Taverns festival in North Shields. Cricket proved so popular amongst the girls that an after school club was set up to further help pupils.

A year 9 and a year 8 team went to the Lady Taverns competition and thoroughly enjoyed the day out. For many pupils it was their first experience of competitive cricket. On the basis of the talent on show many of the girls will continue to play the sport.