A Welwyn Garden City school for deaf children is celebrating two big sporting achievements following “amazing” performances by pupils.
A team from Knightsfield School recently attended the National U19 Hearing Impaired Swimming gala at the Olympic pool in Stratford.
This was the first time that Knightsfield had put a team in with the eldest participant being 15.
One member of the team was a Monk’s Walk pupil who also has a hearing impairment.
Knightsfield won most of their heats with a couple of close seconds.
With the final scores being revealed in reverse order the anticipation was all too much for the headteacher Suzanne Thrower, who said: “I was so excited and nervous at the same time.
“When we got to fourth place and our name still had not been called I realised what an amazing feat our team had achieved for their first time and with minimal training.
“They only swam in their PE lessons for about six weeks.
“They were amazing.”
Knightsfield School received the bronze medal behind Heathlands in St Albans and Great Baddow in Essex.
Other schools travelled from Derby, Middleborough, Suffolk and beyond.
On Wednesday, February 7, Knightsfield sent a team of five to the regional Boccia tournament sponsored by the Lords Taverners.
The team played well and made it through to the semi-finals where they were unfortunately beaten by the eventual winners.
They also went on to bring home the bronze medal in the U19 event.
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