Meet the Team Behind Sport at The Oratory Prep School
Sport is a big part of life at The Oratory Prep School. From a child picking up a hockey stick for the first time to representing the school at national level, we want every pupil to have the opportunity to get involved, develop their skills and find a sport they genuinely enjoy.
Behind that is a team of staff with an extraordinary breadth of sporting and coaching experience.
While putting together our new Excellence in Sport Booklet, we asked our staff to tell us a little more about their own sporting backgrounds. We knew we had an experienced team, but even we discovered a few things.
Among our staff are former international sportsmen and women, national champions and county-level players, alongside coaches with decades of experience working with children at prep school level.
We have staff who have competed at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships, represented Great Britain and England in swimming and Hong Kong in rugby, played hockey for British Universities and been part of the GB Athletics Development Squad.
And then there are some of the slightly more unexpected achievements.
One member of staff has completed 28 marathons, two ultramarathons and an Ironman, including running 75 miles across the Namib Desert carrying his own provisions. Another has a sub-18-minute 5K to his name. We have a former Millfield tennis scholar, a Scotland U18 lacrosse player and even members of staff who have played Gaelic football and camogie.
The coaching experience is just as broad. Our team includes qualified coaches across rugby, hockey, cricket, football, swimming and tennis, staff who have coached teams at national competitions and others who have spent many years developing sport within prep schools.
But impressive playing careers and qualifications are only part of the story.
What matters at OPS is how that experience translates into opportunities for our pupils. Not every child will want to compete at the highest level and they don’t need to. We want children to experience different sports, learn how to be part of a team, challenge themselves and discover the activities they want to continue long after they leave us.
For those with the talent and ambition to go further, we also want them to have the coaching, competition and encouragement to see just how far they can go.
That combination – participation alongside ambition – is at the heart of sport at OPS.
Our new Sports Booklet introduces our staff, facilities, teams and sporting programme in more detail. It is well worth a read – if only to find out which member of staff achieved what!