PICTURE SPECIAL: Bedford's celebration of PE and sport

The popular event is a celebration of PE and Sport in schools and a culmination of year round school sports competitions.

The games opened with a bang featuring the Extreme Mountain Bike Show which energised, excited and enthused all the competitors and staff before the day commenced.

Their unique talent generated a buzz for the children with the young host, Lily-Maie Wilson, taking to the stage to welcome all the participants and 84 leaders who have trained over the year leading up to the pinnacle event.

Lily-Maie spoke about the legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games and the six values of school sport and competition. These included passion, respect, self-belief, team-work, honesty and determination.

The team representatives who had designed the team logos based on each of the values then walked on to stage and presented their team flags to the audience. The School Games Oath was then read by Lily-Maie.

Haynes Lower School performed a street dance with a variety of music with Paralympic silver medallist Alistair Patrick-Heselton giving an inspirtional speech ahead of the events.

He led a countdown to begin the games which is supported by Fusion Lifestyle.

The event, held last Tuesday at the stadium in Barkers Lane, Bedford, was organised by the Beds & Luton County Sports Partnership.

Gill Morrow, school games event manager, said: “The Summer School Games is a fantastic event bringing together so many children from mainstream and special schools to compete at the same time at the same venue.

“It is a unique event within the year that celebrates the diversity of school sport in Bedfordshire and Luton.

“The legacy of 2012 was to inspire a generation and we hope that through the School Games we are doing just that – developing the heroes of the future and giving as many young people the chance to compete.”