Ross Jones and Dan Suter attended Cwmnedd Primary School in Glynneath as part of the ongoing Ospreys Schools Programme this week.
The programme, designed with the help of the three education authorities in Ospreylia, covers different areas of education and learning including numeracy and literacy in Year 5 and 6 pupils.
A 6 week period of learning, which sees pupils completing a specially designed workbook that meets National Curriculum guidelines, runs in conjunction with a series of weekly rugby coaching sessions led by a WRU/Ospreys Development Officer.
It concludes with both an educational visit to the Liberty Stadium where the pupils go behind the scenes to learn more about the region, and they also receive a player visit to their school.
Cwmnedd pupils, who showed a very obvious passion for the Ospreys and the game of rugby, welcomed Ross and Dan into their classroom and had some great questions lined up for the two players. They wanted to know how the players kept fit and how hard they had to work to become professional players. There was even a cheeky question about playing against George North recently from the solitary Scarlets fan in the class!
The players had a really enjoyable meeting the pupils and getting to chat with them. Ross Jones commented on the visit:
"It's great coming into the schools and meeting all the pupils. Cwmnedd Primary is obviously a really big rugby school and it was brilliant to see all the children who had match tickets for us to sign and wanted to talk to us about games they had been to. It's a really important part of being an Osprey to me to get out into the community and it's great to be able to be a positive influence on the children and encourage them to work hard in their school and sports life.”
Mr Herbert, Head teacher at Cwmnedd Primary School also remarked on the Ospreys School Programme and the players visit:
"The project with the Ospreys is fantastic because it gets the players up close and personal to the pupils. It's a fantastic experience for the children, they have the sense of excitement and I think the whole link in with the Ospreys really puts the club at the heart of the community here in Glynneath as well. The pupils have had a fantastic day today and the players have been brilliant especially in encouraging them and showing them what hard work can result in.”
The Ospreys Schools Programme was devised in partnership with RWE npower renewables,
a leading renewable energy company in Wales, and supported by Sony Technology Centre and Save Britain Money.