Deer Park School’s Primary Sports Partnership was established in 2004 with the aim of supporting local primary schools to provide a high quality programme of physical education, in line with Government targets. In addition, the partnership aims to maximise participation in competitive sport by providing a varied range of extra-curricular competitions and festivals for students in Key Stage 1 and 2, whilst signposting local sporting opportunities.

The Partnership’s vision for all schools within Cirencester is that physical education is seen as an important aspect of school life, making a significant contribution to the personal well-being, academic development and overall enjoyment of school life. For this reason, the ‘Deer Park Primary Sports Partnership’ endeavour to support partner schools in the provision of an outstanding, innovative physical education curriculum that inspires the development of a culture where pupils, together with the wider community, engage in physical activity and develop a lifelong active lifestyle.

The current programme includes a variety of sporting activities such as Football, Netball, Multi-sports, Cross-country and Athletics. Deer Park also hosts the Area Primary Athletics which involves the best primary pupils in the county competing. This allows primary pupils to develop key sporting and physical skills such as speed, agility and endurance in a fun and competitive manner.

All primary sports competitions and festivals at Deer Park involve the use of our Sports Leaders to help organise and manage each event. The Year 9 Young Leaders, through specific training, help with organising and managing each event. Roles and responsibilities include coaching, officiating and the administration. This allows pupils to develop key skills including communication and teamwork.

Cirencester Deer Park has a long history of delivering high quality Initial Teacher Training  in partnership with the Gloucestershire Initial Teacher Education Partnership (GITEP). GITEP is a unique collaboration between all the secondary schools in Gloucestershire and the University of Gloucestershire. The GITEP programme is designed to recruit, train and retain the best teachers for our partnership schools. Almost 100 trainees completed the programme across Gloucestershire last year and all are employed in schools, well over half within our partnership. Employment and completion rates are both well above the national average.

For more information on Training to be a teacher, go to the GITEP website.