Faculty Leader: Mrs R. Belson
At Friars Academy we passionately believe in the positive impact that Sport and Leisure can have on young people’s lives. High quality teaching and extra-curricular activities create an environment that inspires all pupils to succeed and reach their full potential.
- "The Academy provides students with a wealth of opportunities in Sport and Leisure and meets with a high level of success in competitive sport. It takes a lead role locally in promoting sporting achievement and has gained prestigious awards for the contribution it makes.”
- “Students throughout the Academy make outstanding progress in Sport and Leisure and gain a wide range of skills.”
- “Involvement in sporting activities contributes a great deal to students’ confidence and ability to work as a team, especially for the many older students who train as sports leaders and help with events that are organised for other schools.”
Curriculum
The Friars Family believe that Sport and Leisure is more than just another lesson. We think that alongside developing physical skills, sport can help us to understand and practice our school values of honesty, integrity, kindness, resilience and respect. All students participate in three lessons each week, including a health and wellbeing lesson where students get to experience alternative sports and a fitness lesson, utilising our well-equipped fitness suite.
We deliver a range of team and individual sports-based activities to practice core skills and to develop leadership skills. We treat each child as an individual nurturing and encouraging their personal development through accessing a variety of opportunities. We welcome healthy competition both within the academy and on tour, taking part in various regional competitions.
We look to encourage every single student to achieve their own personal impossible by encouraging everyone to strive for success through hard work, commitment and humility. We believe that the best part of the game is the ability to play.
Key Stage 4
As students move into Key Stage 4 we focus on developing their leadership skills at varying levels, depending on their ability. As students prepare to leave Friars Academy towards the end of year 11, we change our focus to supporting them in understanding the benefit of a lifelong participation in sport and how they can be physically active outside of education.
Extra-curricular Activities
Our school ethos is that Every child should be given Every Chance, Every day. The Friars Family look to instil a passion for sport and exercise, alongside an understanding of the health benefits of an active lifestyle. We hope that these lessons will encourage a wider participation in our extra-curricular activities and lead to a passion for Sport and Leisure that lasts beyond our student's time at Friars, leading to an active and healthy lifestyle. These are lessons that we feel are key to a happy and successful life.
Within lessons we engage with outside community sports groups, conducting taster sessions of various inclusive sports, and provide signposting to sports and leisure activities operating within our wider community. Details of our extra-curricular timetable and community clubs are available below:
Competitions
The Sport and Leisure department feel that participating in sports competitions and fixtures against other schools is a valuable experience for our students. We provide competitive opportunities in a variety of sports for students of all abilities. We participate in competitions at a county, regional and national level.
Lead Inclusion School
Friars Academy has been the lead inclusion school for Northamptonshire since 2011.
"A network of sixty Youth Sport Trust lead inclusion schools from across England have been established, each selected for their recognised expertise in engaging young people with special educational needs/disabilities (SEND) to compete, participate and lead through Sport and Leisure. They are inclusion champions and are visionaries for what high equality, meaningful and inclusive school Sport and Leisure should look like for every child.
They work to empower teachers to be more inclusive in their practise, provide meaningful competition and competition pathways for young people, raising their aspirations and providing inclusive leadership opportunities.”
Youth Sport Trust