"I would like to thank all the coaches for their dedication, hard work and making my son's week fun and enjoyable! Thank you very much...10/10"
"It's such a relief to leave my son knowing that he is in a safe, fun environment. Thank you Sportstars!"
"The staff were extremely friendly and had a great rapport with the children."
"A really good week - excellent value, the girls were really happy, we knew they were safe and the performance was great! This is our second time and we'd definitely come again."
"I brought four children to the scheme, ranging from 5 to 10. They all loved coming and ran in every morning. Excellent...10/10"
"I was a bit concerned about leaving my son as he's only just four, but the coaches were so friendly and confident it put my mind at ease straight away. Thanks all. 10/10"
"The coaches have all been fantastic with the children - an excellent balance of fun, learning and discipline. They really manage to communicate with all the children regardless of their age or ability - very impressed indeed!"
"(Sportstars) supply extremely high quality planning, preparation and assessment cover and after school activities, all at a reasonable cost to already stretched school budgets".
"As a Headteacher I have been challenged by the latest educational reforms of providing good quality cover for staff while they have their 10% Planning Preparation and Assessment Time. I tried a range of providers before and themes for the pupils before employing the services of Sportstars... I have now decided to use Sportstars to cover all the schools PPA requirements for next year and have been very impressed with the company...the services they provide have been a real godsend to Headteachers and the quality of staff are of a high standard".
"Sportstars has been working in Kitchener Primary school for the past year. The enthusiastic and energetic coaches are well trained and motivate the children in a wide variety of sports during the year. Sportstars also provide end of year reports for the teachers with whom they have been working."
"Sportstars is very well organised, has excellent coaching personnel, offers a diversity of sports and is excellent value for money! Sportstars has addressed the Health and Safety issues and the coaches have a code of conduct - both of which are so important where the safety and security are concerned'.'The work being done by Sportstars in schools and in holiday clubs, will play a major role in the fight against obesity and also encourage children to take a more active role in sport".
"We are a small school and it's been fantastic to receive fresh new faces bringing in their expertise. Sportstars is a very dependable company and we have never been let down. We had been having great difficulty covering PPA in the past but now we have no worries."
"I have been extremely impressed by the professionalism and enthusiasm of the staff of Sportstars. They enthuse and engage the pupils which will lead to them continuing to enjoy the benefits of sporting activities throughout their lives."
"We have been working with Sportstars since September 2006, when financial pressures meant we were unable to fund a qualified teacher to provide PPA cover. Coaches work closely within existing school policies and frameworks. They have proved extremely popular with our pupils and are highly respected by staff as they bring extra specialities into our school routines."
"The qualified coaches of Sportstars are making a significant contribution in our school, both through covering classes for PPA and also by raising standards of achievement across all year groups. With their detailed planning, accurate assessments and good class management, they have quickly won the respect of teachers and the trust of pupils. I recommend them highly."
"Sportstars is a well organised and very efficient service. They have excellent coaches who cover the full range of the PE curriculum. Detailed lesson planning is provided and is tailored to suit our school's individual needs."
Sports specialists to act in Africa
04/06/09
The 12-strong team from SportStars, a company which provides high quality sports coaching for children aged 4 -12, is partnering up with dedicated health education charity Act4Africa to deliver education and behavioural change programmes in an effort to arrest the AIDs pandemic that is threatening the whole continent.
During the three week trip, the team will be working in the slums of Nairobi and in the rural villages and communities of Uganda on the shores of Lake Victoria where they will use sporting activities, like football training, to educate young people about the deadly diseases.
Director of SportStars James Taylor says: “At Sportstars our core vision is to develop bright futures for all children and we are delighted to be sending a team for the first time over to Africa.
“With one in five teenagers in Africa being HIV positive, organisations such as Act4Africa help provide the education needed to prevent HIV spreading further.
“Teaching through sport is a concept that we use with the schools we work with in this country but in this instance we are educating children about preventing and fighting HIV, and also showing that having HIV isn’t a barrier to participating in sporting activity.
“Not only is this a great way for us to do something positive for a very worthwhile cause, but it is also a great staff development tool for us. The only way we can achieve our aim of developing bright futures for children is to have a team of passionate, well rounded individuals with the necessary skills and experience and this trip will undoubtedly hugely benefit and open the eyes of our talented team.”
Needing to raise over £15,000 to fund the trip, the team have already begun fundraising and gathering sponsorship. The team have taken part in charity football matched, held golf tournaments and taken part in several talent shows in a bid to raise as much money as possible for the trip ahead.
As one of the twelve members of the team heading to Africa, SportStars team member Emma Knight, 23, from Cardiff says: “If we are to stop the spread of HIV we need to educate about prevention. I am looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead and I am thrilled to be a part of the team helping to educate young people about the importance of prevention.”
Says Martin Smedley, the CEO of Act4Africa “SportStars aims and objectives are very much in line with our own; to alleviate poverty through giving young people life skills and confidence building.Raising awareness about how to fight and prevent HIV is so important and we encourage all projects that can harness the global power of sport to help teach young people how to protect themselves and their partners.
“Without the support from companies like SportStars we would not be able to carry out the important work we do and we are grateful for their support. Just like us, SportStars is committed to developing bright futures for children and we’re looking forward to working closely with the team whilst in Africa to help make a brighter future for the children of Nairobi and Uganda.”