Participation in sports and physical activity is a key part of life at Preston Street for all pupils. Our children and young people enjoy a range of opportunities to participate in sports, both within and beyond the school day.
Action from one of our relay races at Sports Day.
Competitive Sports
All pupils participate in inter-house sports competitions on a regular basis throughout the year. There are also regular opportunities for pupils in our upper school (P5-7) to participate in competitive sporting events with pupils from other schools. We encourage as many pupils as possible to participate in such events and, as far as possible, ensure that everyone who wishes to take part is able to do so – we do not solely select by ability.
Senior pupils participating in the Junior NBA basketball competition.
Extra-curricular sports
We offer a range of extra-curricular sports clubs and activities for pupils. These vary from time to time but cover a wide variety of disciplines including running, rugby, dance, football, martial arts and basketball.
Older pupils enjoy the opportunity to participate in inter-school sports fixtures after school and at weekends. These include cross-country running, football and basketball.
Edinburgh University Orienteering Club are one of our regular partner providers.
Partnerships
We enjoy partnerships with a number of local sporting clubs.
These clubs help us provide a wide range of sporting opportunities during and beyond the school day.
They also help provide pathways for pupils who are keen to take their interest further.
Our current partners (August 2023) include:
- Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club and Edinburgh University Orienteering Club
- Blaze Basketball
- Boroughmuir RFC
- Meadows Tennis
P6 and P7 girls participating in the special Junior WNBA girls’ basketball programme.
Provision for girls
We place key importance on providing opportunities for girls to participate in sports and physical activity. This includes:
- Opportunities for some ‘girls only’ PE lessons for older pupils as part of the overall PE programme;
- Sports clubs for girls;
- Opportunities for girls to meet, and learn from, female coaches and sportspeople.
We recognise of course that some girls may be happier in mixed gender groups, or participating with boys, and that providing gender-specific activities may be challenging for some children. As such:
- Some of our sports clubs are mixed gender, e.g. our running club;
- Where girls and boys participate separately, we are sensitive to the needs of individual pupils – e.g. some girls may prefer to compete in a boys’ team;
- The majority of our PE lessons continue to be mixed gender.