We were very pleased to have Andy Lewis, a Paralympian triathlete, to come to King’s and talk about how he not only recovered from an accident with a lorry which meant he lost his leg at age 19 but went on, through utter determination, to win major athletic events both in Europe and all over the world.

He told pupils how he had put down his dreams on a scrap of paper and visualised these in his mind. He described how he had to be flexible on the way, changing and adapting as he went. He described his many failures – simple things like not asking more questions before a race because he did not want to look stupid, resulting in him doing an extra lap and moving from 1^st to 8^th position. He vowed never to do that again.

The talk was enjoyed by pupils who thought his message was important to them, that set backs are not the end but the beginning and certainly a lesson learnt.

George in the U6^th Form said ‘It was a good and simple message. He was an ordinary man doing extraordinary things’.

Sam in the L6^th Form stated: ‘It made you think that if he could do things, I could do them too.’ 

Emily in the 4^th Form thought ‘I need to stop worrying about the small stuff’.

Later in the year, we are looking at following this up with a week of challenges; of trying new things that we didn’t think we could do.

Alison Grant - Deputy Head