By Alison Metcalfe
As my son Jack approached his last year in his mainstream school, I asked if it would be possible if they could do something to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day and his time at the school. This was agreed and I initially thought that money could be raised by holding a non-uniform day and wearing ‘Lots of Socks’.
I then had the idea of setting Jack a challenge to make it a bit more fun. To make it more of a challenge and to fit with the theme of WDSD, I came up with three challenges all with the 21 and 3 theme:
- 21,000 steps in 3 days
- 21 goals in 3 minutes
- 21 tricky words to read to 3 different teachers
The school SENCO was a great help and support to all of these ideas, as was his TA and the rest of the school staff.
The first day of his walking challenge didn’t start well as it was raining, but off he went. He had a sign on his back to say what he was doing. He managed over 7000 steps that day (he stopped at the end of the school day).
The second day (WDSD) he managed over 11,000 steps so was well on target.
This was also the day of the football and reading challenge.
During the school day, he read to three of the teachers with no problem.
The football challenge (and he is a keen footballer so knew this would be his favourite) was held at the school early afternoon and I went to watch as well. It was AMAZING! The whole of UKS2 came down to support as well as several members of staff. Soon very loud chants of “Jack” could be heard from the children as he fired in all 21 goals which he celebrated by running around high fiving all the children.
He came out of school that afternoon proudly clasping a trophy he had been presented with by the Headteacher for all of his achievements. A trophy he held on to ALL night #InclusionMatters.
On the last day of his walking challenge, he was able to do all of his steps on the way to school. He got so many comments from people, including a woman we didn’t know, stopping and donating!
It really was a true celebration of WDSD and Jack’s time at his wonderful school. To date, he has raised £926. AMAZING!
From one very proud Mum.
A big thank you to Alison for sharing this with us and a HUGE well done to Jack for all his incredible fundraising efforts! If you would like to donate to Jack’s fundraising page, you can do so here.