Dumfries and Galloway Council officially recognised the achievements of Newington Primary School for winning the Scottish Sports Awards School of the Year during a special assembly last week at the Annan school.
Chair of Annandale and Eskdale Area Committee, Councillor Ronnie Ogilvie was joined by other council officials to make the presentation in which all the children in the school were shown footage for the first time of the presentation from the awards evening in Glasgow, which brought loud cheers.
Sports-mad Newington Primary, in Annan, boast 14 clubs for 396 pupils. It was third time lucky for the school which had been nominated for School of the Year twice before.
After travelling to the awards evening in December the P7 pupils were presented their award by Scotland boss Gordon Strachan who told the audience that “schools like Newington Primary should inspire a new drive to put sport at the heart of our schools”.
Councillor Ogilvie said “One of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s top priorities is to support children to be healthy and active. You cannot underestimate the magnitude of Newington Primary’s achievement, with the school up against all other primary and secondary schools from across Scotland.
The school sees sport as an opportunity to shape the lives of the young people they work with and recognises how taking part in sport can promote self-esteem, develop sportsmanship and broadened horizons. It is important for the council to recognise such a significant achievement and congratulate the school, its teachers, the staff and the pupils on this success.”
