A school in Caerphilly County Borough has marked its inclusion into the WRU School of Rugby initiative – by teaching every lesson through aspects of rugby.
Lewis Boys Pengam is one of 22 schools in Wales to be recognised for its commitment to the development of rugby in this way and the only school in Caerphilly.
To mark this, the school used rugby as a vehicle to teach every subject throughout the timetable for a whole day, along with holding skills and introductory sessions for everyone.
Every discipline took part in the event, with pupils learning about the construction of the Stade de France in French to linking sport and science, discussing rugby articles in English, using rugby data in maths and learning about intelligent rugby shirt fabrics in engineering.
There was also coaching from former Wales hooker Lloyd Burns and WRU development officers alongside the school’s PE staff introduced cage rugby and other alternative forms of the game.
Former Wales and British and Irish Lions player John Dawes, a former pupil of the school, was there to take part in a Q&A session and present the official plaque to the school in morning assembly.
Gareth Richards, one of the school’s PE teachers and coordinator of the rugby programme said: “We at Lewis School Pengam are pleased to be recognised for our work in developing a positive rugby programme and are proud to be awarded the WRU School of rugby plaque.
“We are unique in the fact that we are an all-boys school (the sixth form is mixed) and we like to use sport as a clear pathway to help engage, reward and enthuse our pupils, with rugby at the forefront of this.”