Welcome back to a brand new term at Box Primary School! We had a sparkling return, with Paralympic gold medallist Stephanie Millward our guest of honour at this Friday’s assembly. As well as wowing us with her medals (apparently over 750 of them though not all were brought) and footage of her gold medal winning swim, Stephanie had a powerful message of perseverance and courage.

After receiving a diagnosis of MS- waking up one morning blind and paralysed- Stephanie thought that her dream of winning an Olympic medal was over. But struggling to walk some mornings did not stop her from swimming and fighting for her dreams. Stephanie told us that she didn’t let disappointments in Beijing or London stop her belief that her dream was still in sight. And sure enough, it was in Rio that she achieved not one but two gold medals and world record to boot! It was a very passionate and compelling assembly- bad things may happen to you in life but you are in control of how you let it affect you and your dreams- nothing is impossible!

And if that wasn’t enough, children also had a chance to hold her medals. They were much heavier than we thought and each had a different sound when we rattled them- an interesting adaption for blind athletes.

What an incredibly empowering and motivating start to the term!