LEYTON ORIENT were honoured to receive two very special guests at the recent Celebration Evening held at the ground.
The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascot Mandeville and the O's manager Russell Slade were on hand to give out the awards to celebrate the culmination of a number of different education projects run by Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP).
Pupils from Mayville, Mission Grove, Riverley, Thomas Gamuel and St Mary's were all rewarded for their achievements on the Playing for Success (PFS) scheme which aims to improve numeracy, literacy and ICT skills for pupils in the local area by using football, sport and the Olympics to motivate the children to get involved in their learning.
The night also saw Year 11 students from our full time vocational Alternative Provision Course Contemporary Pathways in Sport graduate with a host of qualifications they had achieved in the last year. Many will be moving on to further education courses next year in mainstream education. Highlights have included meeting Desmond Tutu on a tour of the Olympic Site, the creation of a short film about 'Reputation' produced by work with the Headliners Charity and a bike ride organised by the students for the Great Ormond Street Charity.
Year 10 students were awarded for their efforts on the Sport and Leisure Project, which they had been attending two days a week over the Spring and Summer term. Year 11 Additional Provision students also graduated from their BTEC National in Sport after two years of studying one day a week at the Leyton Orient Education Centre.
The night was covered by our latest recruit of S2R (Supporter2Reporter) Leyton reporters who were also recognised for the time they volunteer on the project and they showcased their most recent report from the PFS Mini Games event that took place in June.
As always the event was extremely well supported by proud parents, family, teachers and friends of the students to celebrate in their achievement.
Russell Slade, who was attending his first community event, said: "I am very impressed by the achievements made by all of the young people I have met tonight and am proud of the work that the O's do in the community. I look forward to supporting the work further over the coming season."
