The first event of the revised 2022-23 Morden Cluster took place on Friday 30th September 2022 at the brand-new 4G surface of Harris Academy Morden.
5 schools with a total of over 90 children took part in our KS2 Dodgeball Festival over 2 age groups for the afternoon. The Year 3/4 group consisted of teams from Morden, Hatfeild, St Teresa’s, St John Fisher and two from Poplar and took place over 3 pitches with each team playing 5 matches and each of the other teams once. The Year 5/6 group included Morden, St John Fisher and St Teresa’s with teams playing 4 games and both of the other teams twice.
With the event being a festival and not a competition, the emphasis was heavily on taking part and having the most amount of fun possible. No scores or results were recorded, but teams could tally they amount of rounds won per each match. Teams were reminded of the REFSPECT award on offer and School Games values of Honesty, Respect, Determination, Self-Belief, Passion and Teamwork. They clearly had these in mind whilst taking part with many moments of honesty when being struck out with the ball and various moments of respect at the end of games, congratulating and shaking hands with opposition.
Some children, towards the end, during their certificate presentation, mentioned that this was their first ever school sport event and that they had enjoyed the occasion. Others stated they had fully enjoyed taking part against other schools but with no pressure of winning. As well as this, one lad mentioned he had seen a friend from another school who he had not seen for a while! All these experiences are testament to why we host festival based sports events and urge us on to hosting more in the future.
Thanks must go the children and adults from our 5 schools for attending today as well as Harris Academy Morden for hosting us on their superb new facility.
Well done to our REFSPECT winners St Teresa’s for collecting the most votes from other teams but an all round well done to all schools for their commitment to participating so well.
We are thoroughly looking forward to our remaining 5 Morden Cluster events and hope this standard of respect and enjoyment can continue. We are sure it will!
Many thanks
Nick Osborne