May 2012

Children are All Stars at Leeds Met

With the Olympics and Paralympic Games now only weeks away, five Sport and Recreation Development students at Leeds Metropolitan University are set to host an All Stars Sports Festival for children with special educational needs and physical disabilities on Tuesday 8 May at the Universitys Headingley Campus.

The students, who are all in their second year of study, have created the event as part of an Events Management module, and will be joined by Leeds Rhinos players, Lee Smith and Luke Ambler, as well as Ronnie the Rhino, who will present awards to the children during the events closing ceremony. The All Stars Sports Festival aims to get around 250 young children with special educational needs and physical disabilities from specialist inclusive learning centres (SILCs) across Leeds together to celebrate diversity and promote inclusivity in sports. The children will have the chance to get involved in a variety of activities including boccia, curling, basketball, football, gym and dance, parachute games and athletics, as well as a session on arts and crafts where the children can make Olympic flames and flags to represent their country. Lucy Barlow, one of the student organisers, commented: Whilst this is for our personal and professional development in terms of contributing to our degree, since taking on this project, the children have been the only focus throughout. Having met them in their Learning Centres, it is inspiring to see their courageous attitude and positive outlook. We hope to use the staging of the

Olympics and Paralympics on our home soil to promote sport and wellbeing, whilst focusing primarily on a fun and enjoyable experience for the children.

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For further details please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the Communications team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk

Notes for editors: Leeds Metropolitan University has over 25,000 students and around 3,000 staff. The Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University is Professor Susan Price and the Chair of the Board is Lord Woolmer of Leeds. Leeds Metropolitans four faculties are: Arts, Environment and Technology, Business & Law, Health and Social Sciences, and Carnegie. Leeds Metropolitans heritage can be traced back to the founding of the Mechanics Institute in Leeds in 1824. International students rated the University top in the UK for language support, accommodation quality and learning spaces in the 2010 Autumn Wave of the International Student Barometer and sixth in the world for the quality of its lectures. We have over 1,500 international students from 122 countries around the globe. The Universitys award-winning learning environments include

Broadcasting Place, which was voted the best tall building in the world in 2010 by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and also winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building category.