LYNG Hall School enjoyed a dream trip to Twickenham as they were honoured ahead of England playing Wales after graduating from the CBRE All Schools programme.
Long Hall adopted the CBRE All Schools programme in 2013 and have since successfully engaged with girls and boys aged between 11-16 years old.
One hundred schools from across England were celebrated at Twickenham for helping to introduce over 130,000 new students to rugby, thanks to completing a three-year programme developed by England Rugby.
Each of the 100 graduating schools were awarded a personalised plaque presented by England Rugby Player Jonny May, to mark their individual achievements.
Long Hall introduced children to the sport, by running rugby training sessions during curriculum time and after school, so that thousands more pupils can experience and enjoy rugby throughout England.
“It is fantastic for children to be given this opportunity,” said Daniel Ward, PE teacher at Lyng Hall.
“A pupil from our school won a journalism competition run by CBRE and he got to sit in a directors box and watch a game here – he loved it, he’s not stopped talking about it since.
“The scheme has massively boosted the profile of rugby within our school.
“It wasn’t that big before but it has started to develop, it has been perfect for us, the programme worked so well and enabled us to promote the game within the school.
“A lot of the pupils are joining external clubs now as a result of it.”
Whitley Academy is another school who took part in the nationwide programme after also adopting it back in 2013.
Steve Grainger, Rugby Development Director at the Rugby Football Union, hailed the efforts of Whitley and outlined the significant benefit the CBRE All Schools programme had been making across the UK.
He said: “It is great to see so many more people playing and engaging in rugby thanks to CBRE All Schools.
“The 100 graduating schools should be immensely proud of what they have achieved over the past three years.
“We are determined to keep the momentum up as we expand the programme further and work towards meeting our target of introducing 750 schools to the programme by Rugby World Cup in Japan 2019.”
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