What an exciting day at Bede Burn! Today we were visited by the celebrity footballing free-styler Colin Nell, who has featured in films, computer games, promotional campaigns and more. We brought him in as a thank-you for the children’s hard work and motivation this half-term, and to inspire the children to further build on their achievements in the future.

Colin talked to all of the children about the power of ‘dreaming big’…of believing in themselves, aiming high and working hard to make their dreams a reality. As Colin quoted, “The road to greatness is not marked by perfection, but by the ability to constantly overcome adversity and failure.”

Colin also showed us some of the amazing free-styling tricks for which he is famous…we were all flabbergasted by his skills! It was as much of a treat to see the children’s faces light up in delight and amazement as it was to see the show itself!

The school was also fortunate enough to be given a signed copy of Mo Farah’s autobiography (Colin is his brother-in-law). We will be reading some inspirational excerpts from it in future assemblies. We were also given some signed photographs of Colin and he even signed our ‘classroom code’ poster in the hall.

After the fantastic assembly, Colin spent time with each class individually, teaching them some tricks of their own to practice at home. I am looking forward to seeing some of these tricks once children have practiced and mastered them!

All in all, it was an inspirational day for the pupils and the staff…we were all left with the feeling that anything was possible, if we believe in it enough and work hard at it. Thank you to Colin Nell; he helped me to greet the pupils at the gate, was amazing with the children and was even spotted helping the kitchen staff sweep up after dinner!

The positive message given by Colin today ties in perfectly with our new ‘classroom code’ posters which encourage the children to ‘think big, dream big, go for it!’ I hope that today’s phenomenal boost of self-belief and positivity continues to grow and flourish next half term….I can’t wait to see what our amazing pupils will achieve…

Nicola Faulkner