26/11/2004 - Kids rap for new kit!

Kids in South Cumbria have been putting their creative skills to the test in a new competition to raise awareness of school attendance. They were asked to design an attendance poster or come up with a poem or rap about the importance of going to school. 

The judging will be on Monday 29 November at the Nan Tait Centre in Barrow. Over 500 entries have been sent in from primary and secondary school children from across the area. Judging the entries include representatives from the Police, and Barrow and Kendal football and rugby clubs.

At the next Kendal and Barrow football and rugby home games, winners will be presented with a full football or rugby kit for their school. The kit will be customised to include a picture of SAM on the front saying school attendance matters. 

The county's school attendance campaign - SAM was launched earlier this year at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton. The campaign is based on the Park's animals. SAM (School Attendance Matters) is the main character. Sam is a cheetah and his message is 'don't cheat on your child's education'. 

Councillor Joan Stocker, cabinet member for education said:

"Regular school attendance is so important for children to make sure they get the best possible opportunity to achieve their full potential. They develop good habits which are important at school, further education and work. The county council's education welfare service work extremely hard to ensure parents fulfil their legal duty in relation to pupil attendance. It was a great idea to get the young people involved in this competition to go alongside our campaign to promote school attendance. It's a fun way to get an important message across."

Nicky Braund-Smith, education welfare officer has been delighted with the response to the competition. She said:

There has been a fantastic response from across South Cumbria. Entries have been received from large secondary schools to tiny primary schools in the Lakes. It’s a wonderful prize for the winning entry to get a whole strip for the team of their choice. I was delighted to see how many girls play both football and rugby. Some entries are very large and imaginative, but all were clear in their message that school attendance really does matter."

Special thanks must go to the local football and rugby clubs in both Barrow and Kendal for their support in this campaign. Also to Chris at BL Sports who will produce the customised strips.