Eastern Counties Rugby Union

On Saturday 16th March, the Nation will be watching England take on Scotland at Twickenham, battling it out for the prestigious Calcutta Cup and final game of the Guinness Rugby 6 Nations Championship 2019.

For most avid England Rugby fans, this will be an incredibly exciting day, however for two of our CBRE All Schools in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk this occasion will be unforgettable, as they have been nominated by the Local RFU Team to lead England and Scotland out to form the ‘Guard of Honour’.

Springwood High School, Kings Lynn and Soham Village College, Ely have been selected due to their impressive utilisation of the CBRE All Schools Programme to develop and instil rugby provision within the school and proactively transition players to identified rugby clubs.
The CBRE All Schools Programme is initially a three year intervention, where each school is provided with a fully funded and bespoke delivery plan, package of resource and support, linked to the local club, which helps to onset and then sustain rugby union.

The aim is to create a self-sustaining rugby-playing school with strong club links mapped as part of a Local Rugby Partnership. All Schools, is essentially a targeted club-school outreach solution to bring the game, culture and ethos to new audiences, strengthening our clubs and growing the game in the communities surrounding them.

Throughout the programme students are educated about the core values. Values that go beyond the training ground and the playing fields:
Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.
Springwood High School were introduced to the programme back in 2014, successfully moving into Chapter 2 (a funding extension of three years). During this time the school has embedded rugby and upskilled both staff and pupils; attending numerous courses; including Rugby Union in Secondary Schools and KidsFirst Refereeing Children.

Rugby is now part of the curriculum for both boys and girls, with more teams now accessing regular fixtures. Springwood have been great advocates for the growth in girls rugby, linking with West Norfolk RFC to transition players, which has resulted in the Club introducing a new girls section.
Soham Village College, now in their second year of the programme have utilised the initiative to successfully extend their curriculum and extra-curricular rugby delivery from six weeks to throughout the rugby season. This has been supported by the enthusiasm and drive of three staff, all attending an England Rugby Coaching Award course as well as further Continuous Professional Development opportunities.

As well as the All Schools programme enhancing provision for male students at Soham, there has been further success with growing both girls’ U13 and U15 squads at the school, as well as transitioning a number of these girls to Ely Tigers RFC. As a result of this fantastic transition and embedded school-club link, a member of staff from Soham Village College is now heading up the girls section at the Rugby Club and has become involved in the County Schools Union, driving further growth in the girls’ game in local schools.

Charlotte Pindar from Soham Village College went on to emphasise the impact of CRBE All Schools; “A year into the programme and due to the additional qualified staff, we're now able to run rugby club all season long. We have delivered two annual Rugby Taster Days for our Year 7 students as part of their PSHE day. We have incorporated a form of multidirectional, non-contact rugby into our Inter-House competitions, to encourage inclusivity and accessibility, and have trialled this with our Year 11 students. The 'Algebra Cup' was well received and the engagement was really encouraging, with over 100 boys and girls representing their bands.”

Thirty Year 7 & 8 girls from both Schools will form part of the Curtain Raiser at Twickenham, getting the opportunity to play a game of Touch Rugby during the build up to kick off and then have the honour of leading both the England and Scotland Senior Men’s Teams out on to the pitch…and if that wasn’t enough, after watching the Men’s game, both Schools will be doing it all again for the Red Roses; England v Scotland Women at 19.30.

As the excitement is building towards next weekend, Charlotte Pindar encapsulated that by going on to say “the incredible experience of playing on this prestigious pitch and watching their rugby heroes in action, the girls have not stopped beaming since I told them about it! I’m sure this will be a day they will never forget.”

If lucky enough to be at Twickenham for the game next Saturday, please ensure you give the Schools your full support, an keep an eye on social media for regular updates throughout this prestigious occasion.

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Chloe McMorran (Rugby Development Officer)