Ten of our Year 8 Sports Leaders set off from school to attend the Dorset Leadership Academy held at Bryanston School in Blandford. This event is an annual event that has been running for the last five years and has grown in popularity tremendously. This year's event was attended by 36 schools from across the county who brought along pupils from years 7,8,9 and 10 to learn more leadership skills and to be inspired to take these new skills back to their own schools.
Our leaders were treated to an opening address speech from ex South African rugby player, Thinius Delport, who spoke about the challenges he faced throughout his career and how he overcame them:
https://www.youthsporttrust.org/thinus-delport

Pupils then headed off to their workshops which were led by a variety of sports professionals from across the county. Sporting their new t-shirts, our leaders stepped up and participated in numerous activities that encouraged them to work together, solve problems and use their initiative. 

We then all met in the theatre to end the day by watching the Dance team perform their final dance and to hear John  Pearce, GB Handball player (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pearce_(handballer), remind the pupils about how to thrive as leaders in the future and to seize every opportunity that comes their way.

A huge thank you to all the School Games Organisers for putting on such a wonderful experience, to Active Dorset for providing the funding for the event, and to Bryanston School for the use of their facilities and staff.

After a very wet and windy morning, congratulations to Cranborne First School who emerged victorious in the recent CMS cluster tag rugby festival. Despite the wet weather, the children enjoyed the experience. The sports leaders had participated in a training session run by Wimborne Rugby coach, Nick Elbourne, so were feeling confident with their newly taught skills. 
The festival was well received and a big thank you goes to all the schools who took part, the parents and family members who came to support the event, the sports leaders for giving up their time to run the festival and to Nick Elbourne for his invaluable expertise.

A small, select group of Year 8 pupils visited St Michael's Middle School, Wimborne to take part in the Active 30-30 initiative. This Youth Sport Trust initiative aims to encourage the least active pupils in schools to take part in up to 30 extra minutes of physical activity every day.
Our Year 8's met ex-paralympic swimmer, Kate Grey, who put them through their paces by challenging them to all kinds of different tasks throughout their day. The group now have to come back to CMS and organise a club for pupils at school. Watch this space for more details of the club!

For Geography homework this week Year 8 need a map of China. Over half an hour, ensure that your map is complete: accurate and neatly coloured displaying five main cities, three main rivers, two mountain ranges, at least one desert and any other features you think are important (but not too many). Add facts around the map from your own research to ensure it is complete to serve you through the unit. Don't forget a title, key, North Sign and scale!