192 children from local schools, including Hanley Swan St Gabriel’s with St Mary’s C of E Primary School and Malvern Parish C of E primary School,recently took part in Malvern St James Girls’ School’s Junior Olympics and were welcomed by the school’s Prep Department for this annual event.

The children who took part were mixed up into teams and represented countries including Great Britain, Brazil, Iceland, Spain and the USA. Events included Shotput, Javelin, 60m Sprint, ‘Marathon’(a lap of the track), Beanbag relay, Long jump and High Jump.

Schools that took part were Hanley Swan St Gabriel’s with St Mary’s C of E Primary School, Birchfield School (Albrighton), The Manor Preparatory School (Abingdon), The Richard Pate School (Cheltenham), Malvern Parish C of E Primary School, Much Marcle C of E Primary School, Prestfelde Preparatory School (Shrewsbury), The Kingsley School (Leamington Spa).

Certificates and medals were presented to the winning competitors by MSJ’s Headmistress, Mrs Olivera Raraty. “The Junior Olympics is a wonderful event and we were delighted to have so many children from local schools taking part. There was a real sense of determination and sportsmanship all day and everyone had great fun,” commented Mrs Raraty.

One visiting competitor summed the day up in three simple words, “fun, fantastic and joyful”.

Roseanna Gray (Year 6, MSJ) said, “We would liketo say a big thank you to the teachers for making the day such a fun experience, all the schools for taking part and to the Catering Department for providing a delicious lunch.It was a really wonderful day.