MORE than a thousand students from all over the county have come together for this year’s Dorset School Games.

Pupils from schools across Dorset went to the Oak Academy to take part in all sorts of different sporting events.

Nevil Jeffery, Community Rugby Coach at RFU organised the tag rugby tournament, with: “Winners of local area festivals across Dorset” convening at the academy to compete for the winning title.

Year 5 and 6 pupils made up the 24 teams which took part, with secondary school pupils refereeing and Bournemouth University students managing the results.

Mr Jeffery added that the whole point of the day was to include every one of all age ranges and aimed to “develop good wholesome people”.

Tag rugby wasn’t the only sport being played, the Year 3’s and 4’s had their own ‘Megafest’ which was made up of a combination of fun activities and mini obstacle races, and inside the under 15’s were playing beach volleyball.

Abi Chamberlain, former Women’s 7’s England Rugby Captain gave a speech at the opening ceremony and spent the day cheering on the students.

She said: “Events like this stick in the mind, they’re just as memorable as playing for England.”

“It brings them out of their comfort zones and drives them to be part of a team.”

Children are used to playing against other people in their schools but events like this: “Expose them to a much larger dynamic environment.”

The event is not just for the students into sport, it encourages the involvement of all pupils through different mediums.

Kira Green, aged 14, is part of the student media team and had the job of talking to the competitors and taking pictures of the day.

“For people like us who aren’t really into sport it’s nice to do something other than sport but still get involved as much as anyone else.”

Kathy Rudd, the school games event manager said: “This is just one of the many events we run.

“We try to cover all age ranges and all sports over the year.”