Students from Woodlands Park Primary School in Ivybridge have competed at the national English Schools swimming finals held in Sheffield.

Four students from year six were accompanied to the finals by PE teacher, Paula Clough after qualifying for the finals in two previous rounds held at Plymouth’s Life Centre and Somerset’s Millfield School.

The swimming team consisted of Jasmine D’Cunha, Sophia King, Megan Harris and Thomas Jones. A fifth member of the team, Madison Oman, who helped the team qualify for the finals was unfortunately unable to attend as her father, local fireman, Ben Oman, was competing for team GB in a triathlon in Austria.

Twenty-four teams competed in each category, and the students from Woodlands Park made it to the ‘B’ finals for both events. The team achieved a 3rd place in the freestyle relay which ranked them as 11th nationally and then went on to win the medley relay, earning them 9th place nationally.

The students competed against many private and sports schools from all over the country, so the team and everyone at Woodlands Park Primary were thrilled with their results.

The team train at Dinnaton Swimming Club in Ivybridge and Devonport in Plymouth, and a local engineering firm ‘Tooltech’, kindly supported the team by providing them with matching kit for the occasion.

Paula Clough is optimistic that the students’ success at the English Schools Swimming finals will inspire further great sporting achievements at Woodlands Park Primary with many younger swimmers coming up through the school.