My colleague Andrew Hodkinson who heads up the West Oaks School and Technology College (NE SILC) sent me this e-mail after the Paralympic Regional Handover event at Millenium square...

"Dear Chris, Thought you may be interested to know that West Oaks pupils attended the Paralympic Regional Handover event at Millenium square this afternoon and had a fantastic time. As you will be aware the Paralympic Flag was handed from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London this afternoon to mark the start of the build up to the London 2012 Games.
Our children and young people from West Oaks School and Technology College (NE SILC) joined other schools and college across the UK in marking this special moment by taking part in "Blind football," "Wheelchair tennis" and " Wheelchair Basketball against Leeds Spiders. They also had the opportunity to meet some talented atheletes and the GB Tennis coach Kevin Plowman. The group really enjoyed themselves and we are all looking forward to 2012 and the lead up to the Olympics and Paralympics in London. These local events will hopefully give us an opportunity to showcase the talent we have in all our schools and will help motivate all our pupils to achieve even greater things. Regards Andrew."

I think everyone has been inspired by the Olympics and the Paralympics and whever I go at the moment people are talking about the opportunities we have as we build up to the London Olympics in 2012. We must find more ways to showcase the talent in our schools and to use the energy, passion and excitement to help all our young people achieve great things.
Chris