A Coventry academy has held its first ever ceremony to recognise the sporting successes of its children and staff.

The Romero Catholic Academy, made up of seven primary schools and one secondary school based across the city as well as the Blue Sky Teaching Alliance, has held its very own Romero Sports Awards.

Children and staff were able to rub shoulders with Wasps rugby stars Will Stuart and Ben Harris who handed out awards, as well as former Coventry City Academy Director George Mackie, of the Strachan Football Foundation, who was a guest speaker at the event.

The academy, which includes Corpus Christi, Good Shepherd, Sacred Heart, St Gregory’s, St John Fisher, St Patrick’s and SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary Schools and Cardinal Wiseman Catholic Secondary School, held the evening to celebrate achievements in sport.

Each school made their nominations before the winners were picked by a judging panel which included former Olympian and marathon runner Dave Long and Coventry Rugby Club’s Phil Boulton.

Categories included Sports Achiever of the Year which was presented to one pupil from each key stage, School Sport Team of the Year which was awarded to one primary school and one secondary school team as well as Sports Leader and School Staff Member of the Year awards.

The top award of the evening recognised the School of the Year for Sport and was presented to SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School for its outstanding achievements, with a focus on providing a rich curriculum which includes varied physical education lessons and developing talent through team sports.

Rhye Parry, PE and Wellbeing Co-ordinator at The Romero Catholic Academy and one of the sports awards judges, said: “Sport and the promotion of health and wellbeing is a key strength in our schools and we wanted to hold an event to recognise this.

“It was an opportunity for us to celebrate the successes of the students and staff, and we were lucky enough to welcome some high-profile Coventry sports stars to the evening.

“It was also a great way to celebrate the new Cardinal Wiseman Sports Academy which we have launched in conjunction with the Strachan Football Foundation which will offer a BTEC Level 3 National Certificate in Sport from September.

“I would like to thank everyone involved in our inaugural Romero Sports Awards and congratulate all the winners and nominees. We are already looking forward to next year’s event.”

Caption: Individual winners and members of the winning teams join special guests Will Stuart, Ben Harris and George Mackie.