ZigZag teams with School Sports Partnership
ZigZag teams with School Sports Partnership
The eight-mat system was funded by the SSP along with money from Sport Unlimited, a £36 million Sport England initiative to get more children and young people taking part in sports that interest them most outside of school. Two local leisure centres also contributed towards the system, and will have access to the mats during evenings and weekends as well as school holiday times. The partnership’s aim is to engage disinterested students, particularly girls, who may not be inspired by traditional PE and so far they haven’t been disappointed. Assistant Partnership Development Manager, Paul Mitchell said: “The dance mats have gone down a storm! They’ve certainly engaged some uninspired students, have had excellent feedback from all the staff, and surprised a few as well! “We’ve been so impressed. ZigZag’s demo day showed us, and the children, just what fun exercise can be with the right equipment and inspired us to use the mats for all sorts of activities. So far they’ve raised much needed cash for a local school swimming pool, featured in a year 12 sports day, a middle school fair, a citizenship festival and been used across our PE lessons!” Queen Elizabeth’s School in Wimborne, Minster, is the hub site for the portable system, which will also be used by the partnerships’ two other Upper Schools, Ferndown Upper School and Lychett Minster School. East Dorset SSP has 35 schools, including one special school, three upper schools and six middle schools, which will all have access to the dance mats.
