Schools Festival, Thursday 31st May 2012, Co Antrim

The inaugural Schools Festival in Northern Ireland was a roaring success with 120 pupils from local Primary Schools competing for the top three places in the closed championship.

The festival was a culmination of the partnership of Antrim Borough Council, Sport NI and UKCA.

Local schools were invited as part of the ongoing Active Communities Programme which encourages participation in sport and healthy lifestyles, whilst encouraging mutual trust & respect, an integral part of the UKCA Mission Statement.

This very important event was part of UKCA’s on-going LTAD Programme to encourage a sustained growth of grass root Cheerleaders and set a goal to compete at the annual UKCA Northern Ireland Schools National Championships.

This can only be achieved with the ongoing successful working partnerships UKCA holds with local sporting agencies and council authorities.

Schools within the Antrim Borough Council areas were invited to register for this exciting inaugural event and the day proved to be a great success with all teams wining an award.

Antrim Borough Council Coach Samantha Burrell (trained by UKCA) not only choreographed the schools competition routines, but trained the pupils over 6 weeks in preparation for the 31st May event.

Northern Ireland UKCA Representative, Karen Graham, was delighted to be involved with mentoring Samantha and also delivering a stunt workshop. Karen also had the pleasure of judging all performances.