Wiltshire pupils set for Olympics opening ceremony (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Chippenham, Devizes and Calne children to form guard of honour for athletes

10:14am Friday 27th July 2012 in Wiltshire

Wiltshire pupils are getting ready to take part in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics tonight.

Abbeyfield School has been chosen to take part alongside John Bentley School, Calne, and Devizes School alongside 247 other schools.

Eight pupils from each school will make up the 2,000 student guard of honour which will line the route, holding lanterns and banners they have created to support one of the 204 competing countries.

For many of the 10,500 athletes, the guard of honour will be their first experience of the London 2012 Games.

Abbeyfield School PE teacher Rebecca Wood, who will be attending with the students, said: “The students were really chuffed that they got the opportunity to do this and they are really excited about it.

“Each school welcomes athletes from one specific country and we have been chosen to support The Gambia as we have a partner school out there. It’s a bit more meaningful for the students.”

Eight youngsters from Devizes School’s Years 7, 8 and 9 have been selected for the honour.

Sophie Cutting, Jed Dark, Alice Eaves, Samuel Lowe, Thomas Marshall, Hannah Pickford, Rebecca Quinton and Elliott Wray will be supporting the athletes from the Republic of South Korea. They will be accompanied by members of staff Colin Herring and Lizzie Myers.

The school signed up to be a Get Set school some years ago, joining in with the special education programme set up as part of the preparations for the Olympics.

Sue Marshall, assistant head teacher at Devizes School, said: “When the Olympics were first granted to London we were given the opportunity, as a specialist sports college, of becoming an Olympic school and joining the Get Set Network.

“We incorporated the ideals of the Olympic movement into our school curriculum and will continue to do so well after 2012.”

The eight students were nominated by their heads of houses and they were allowed to go to Bristol to watch former pupil Joe Hutchinson carry the torch along Southmead Road.

John Bentley School became involved after London 2012 helped fund the Calne Games, a mini Olympics-style event run by John Bentley for primary school pupils in the town.

Sam Shuker, school sports coordinator at John Bentley, said: “We will be lining the Olympic Park as the athletes pass through, along with children from lots of other schools.

“It will be a great chance for the children to soak up some of the Olympic atmosphere. It is great for them to be directly involved in what is going on.

“The children who are going have been selected because of their positive attitude towards sport and other areas of school. And we wanted the pupils we felt would be most inspired by being involved.”

The eight pupils selected by the PE department are Rhea Stokoe, Rhodri Campbell, Dan Smart, Mia Brady, Courtney Masson, Beth Sawyer, Dan Foster and Dan Welling.

Mrs Shuker will also be attending, as will fellow PE teacher Bethan Good.

All the chosen students will be given a tour of the Olympic Stadium followed by a meal and entertainment before they prepare for the guard of honour.