Children in Need: Manor Infants School in Portsmouth holds penalty competition for youngsters

Pupils at a Portsmouth school were put on the spot to raise money for Children in Need.
By Robert McCaul
Published 18th Nov 2022, 15:42 BST
Updated 18th Nov 2022, 15:58 BST
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Youngsters at Manor Infant and Nursery School in Fratton, had 20 seconds to score as many penalty kicks as possible.

Parents were also invited, after school, to test their footballing ability against a mystery guest.

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The football-themed Children in Need day at Manor Infant and Junior School, Fratton. Head of Year 2, Romany Shairp and sports coach, Sarah Jepson with reception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils Picture: Habibur RahmanThe football-themed Children in Need day at Manor Infant and Junior School, Fratton. Head of Year 2, Romany Shairp and sports coach, Sarah Jepson with reception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils Picture: Habibur Rahman
The football-themed Children in Need day at Manor Infant and Junior School, Fratton. Head of Year 2, Romany Shairp and sports coach, Sarah Jepson with reception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils Picture: Habibur Rahman

Costing £1 to enter, money will go towards Children in Need and renovating the school’s library.

Pupils were all involved in deciding how the school raised money.

Head of Year Two, Romany Shairp, said: ‘Our pupil school council is called young MPs and they discuss different things around the school. They discuss what they’d like to do differently, they talk about which games and toys they’d like, and the discussion was how can we raise money.

‘We have a lot of cake sales, but we actually want to promote healthy living and that’s what steered us to do something active.’

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Reception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils at Manor Infant and Junior School, Portsmouth Picture: Habibur RahmanReception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils at Manor Infant and Junior School, Portsmouth Picture: Habibur Rahman
Reception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils at Manor Infant and Junior School, Portsmouth Picture: Habibur Rahman

The charity event has inspired pupils, Romany added: ‘We have pupils saying why they are in ‘this’ football kit and that they support ‘this’ team. It’s not just football – we have children talking about the fact they go to rugby, they go to gymnastics, they go to ballet.’

‘It’s opened up the opportunity for children to talk about their favourite hobbies.

‘It’s our job to give children lifelong skills not just skills they need now. For us our values are respectful, resilient and happy. That’s been clear today. What we found was some of the children weren’t able to score within the 20 seconds, but in life we have to be resilient, and you have to try again, so we gave them a bit longer to have another go.’

On the library, Romany said: ‘We’d like the library to be renovated. We are aware it’s not as nice as it could be. We’d like it to be a calm space and something for the local people to use too.’

Reception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils putting their skills to the test at Manor Infant and Junior School, Portsmouth Picture: Habibur RahmanReception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils putting their skills to the test at Manor Infant and Junior School, Portsmouth Picture: Habibur Rahman
Reception class, year 1 and year 2 pupils putting their skills to the test at Manor Infant and Junior School, Portsmouth Picture: Habibur Rahman

The school is hoping to raise £5,000 for the library.

Children in Need is a BBC-organised appeal that has run for more than 30 years. It funds charities and projects across the UK, that support children and young people .

Related topics:ParentsMPsPortsmouthYoungsters