Kielder Challenge Success
A team of eight young people from Belfast High School and Jordanstown Schools for Hearing and Visually Impaired Children in Newtownabbey won the 2010 Kielder Challenge against UK wide competition.
The Kielder Challenge - managed by the leading outdoor access charity Fieldfare Trust – is a national competition for teams of 13 to 16-year-olds with and without learning, sensory and physical disabilities, and aims to integrate youngsters in an outdoor environment.
In an initiative led by Gareth Adams and Derek Wilson from the PE departments of Jordanstown Schools and Belfast High School, four children from each school came together to form a team to enter the Northern Ireland heats under the auspices of the YESIP/Peace III initiative. During the heat in May at Barnet Demesne in Belfast, the team was set a series of interactive games promoting teamwork and integration between team members. The activities are all designed to give young people with and without disabilities the chance to compete on equal terms, promoting teamwork, leadership and a positive attitude. The teams score in each event is recorded, compiled and compared to that of all other teams across the country, the top six competing for the Kielder Challenge Cup.
The team from Jordanstown Schools and Belfast High School travelled to the Kielder Forest in Northumberland for the finals on Friday 24 September. After an intensive weekend of competition the team won the overall competition by one point, becoming the first team to win the event from Northern Ireland.
Both schools would like to thank the volunteers from HSBC, the funding from YESIP and the Fieldfare Kielder Trust for providing their pupils with what is truly a life challenging opportunity.
Team:
Belfast High School:
Adam McConkey, Megan Sexton, Bethany Sloan, Adam White
Jordanstown Schools:
Scott Baird, Emma Davey, Nathan Marno, Christopher Armstrong
