Pupils on their marks for the summer games

FAILSWORTH School's girls' rugby team last year

MORE than 2,000 school pupils are set to take part in the Greater Manchester Summer School Games which get off the starting blocks tomorrow.

They include youngsters from eight Oldham schools who qualified: Newman RC College, Mayfield Primary School, Failsworth School, Radclyffe School, Hodge Clough Primary School, St Paul's Primary School, Mills Hill Primary School and Waterhead Academy.

They will be joined by councillors, mayors, previous Olympians and young volunteers.

Iconic

Participants have qualified for the Greater Manchester School Games after success in their local area event. The athletes will be competing against schools from across Greater Manchester to become Greater Manchester champions. There will be 15 sports on show, including golf, dodgeball and basketball, across a number of iconic sporting venues from across Greater Manchester.

The athletes will experience an opening ceremony inspired by Manchester after the recent terror attack at the Manchester Arena. Support will be shown for Manchester through the 'This Place' poem being read by pupils from Tottingham High School, the school which Manchester attack victim Olivia Campbell attended, and Street Shakers dance group dancing to Ariana Grande's 'One Last Time'. After the opening ceremony the young people will make their way to their sporting competitions, where they will compete to become regional champions.

The event is organised by Greater Manchester charity, GreaterSport, on behalf of the local organising committee for the event, who supported on the day by over 200 young volunteers, the majority of which form the School Games Crew recruited from schools across the county.

Yvonne Harrison, chief executive of GreaterSport, said: "Our Greater Manchester Summer School Games event brings schools from all 10 boroughs together for an Olympic style competition. The Games is something we look forward to every year and we are delighted to welcome our competitors and volunteers."