Kent School Win Award for Chance to Shine Campaign at Brit Insurance Annual Achievement Awards

Ridge View School in Tonbridge, have been recognised nationally for their work on the ‘Chance to Shine supported by Brit Insurance’ campaign.

Ridge View School was awarded the School of the Year award at last Thursday’s Brit Insurance Annual Achievement Awards, held at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

The award recognises how the school has embraced the Chance to Shine philosophy in working towards both sustainability and competition.

Chance to Shine is the Cricket Foundation’s charitable campaign to educate two million state school children through cricket by 2015. The campaign is now running in 4,500 schools and 1.8 million children have enjoyed cricketing opportunities as a result.

The award judges were impressed with Ridge View School’s outstanding support of the Chance to Shine programme. They praised how the special educational needs school had fully embraced the philosophy of the Chance to Shine programme and have witnessed fantastic physical and personal development of the pupils who have taken part. They also paid credit to Kent Cricket Board for their work delivering Chance to Shine in the school.

Ridge View School were presented with the award by England star Matt Prior at the star-studded Lord’s event. Also in attendance was former England captain Alec Stewart along with Charlotte Edwards and members of the England Women’s team.

Collecting the award for the school, Cathryn Falconer commented; “It’s fantastic, and given the level of disability of our students, it’s great that they have been able to win this award.”

Alex Farmer, Inclusive Cricket Development Officer for Kent Cricket Board commented; “It is very rewarding to see the school collect this prestigious awardfor embracing the role cricket can play as a catalyst to help children with disabilities develop key personal, social and life skills. I look forward to going back to Ridge View soon and I am proud to be part of a team making a major positive impact on the lives of disabled children across the county through cricket and Chance to Shine.’’

Wasim Khan, Chief Executive of the Cricket Foundation, the charity behind Chance to Shine said; “The Brit Insurance Annual Achievement Awardsare a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight and say thank you to all the people in clubs and schools around the country who make the Chance to Shine campaign possible.”