By Flora Lepage, Year 11
Sports brings people together, and what better way to bring our three campuses together than through a foundation-wide Sports Day? On Thursday 12th and Friday 13th of October, for the first time in our school’s history, Ecolint hosted a Sports Day that included all of the campuses. On Thursday, Years 11 and 12 from all three campuses gathered, followed by Years 9 and 10 on Friday, at the Centre Sportif du Bout du Monde. This was a surprising yet exciting change from our previous sports days. It should also be acknowledged that our very own P.E. Department worked extra hard to allow this event to occur.
Under a sunny sky, several hundred students participated in a range of sports and activities. From dodgeball and basketball to cross country running and volleyball, students mixed and mingled with peers from other campuses, giving a chance for socialising between campuses. The sprint challenge created a sense of friendly competition and was a highlight of the day as all of the students sat on the bleachers cheering for their friends who took part in the sprints. The well-organised schedule of the day also gave the opportunity for students to be able to meet up with friends from other campuses as well as allowing time to make new ones.
A lot of hard work and dedication was put into these two days by the P.E. department in order to create activities and a schedule that would truly allow the students to interact with each other. Many more staff members were involved in the organisation and were also present on the actual days, which helped the two days to be as successful as they were. It was arranged so that each mentor class from each campus and year was assigned a colour such as red, green, blue, or yellow. These colours then competed against each other throughout the entire day and at the end of each day it was announced which colour had obtained the most points.
Many students brought a packed lunch or bought lunch on-site, and sugary treats were available throughout the day at the PTA stand for an extra energy boost. The home-baked goods were sold by a group of PTA parent volunteers, who enjoyed seeing the students having fun and exercising. The money gathered from the PTA stand has now been donated to help with the finishing touches of our new sports centre. “It is a great way for the kids to breathe fresh air and bond with others in less of a school setting”, one mother said.
The creation of a Foundation-wide Sports Day is in line with Ecolint’s aim of community building, which enables conversations between groups of students who might not meet each other often. Despite having similar lifestyles, the lives of Ecolint students naturally revolve around their own campuses. This new initiative is a welcome step towards interaction between students, allowing for our campuses and students to become closer than ever before.
