Launch of World Peace School Sports Day – from Sydney to Seattle. Supported by Sporting Legends. “Peace is the Prize”

Embargoed until 00.01 Thursday 30 June 2022

World Peace School Sports Day - Inaugural event to be held on 21 September 2022 to coincide with the United Nations World Peace Day.

Schools and youth groups worldwide are invited to participate. Individuals will donate a £1/E1/$1 (or equivalent) to take part in a school or group-based sporting event or e-sports coding challenge.

Supported by international partners including EU Code Week and Computing at School, and in the UK by the Association of School and College Leaders, the Youth Sport Trust and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

In addition to ‘traditional’ sports activities, World Peace School Sports Day (WPSSD) will give young people the option to engage in e-sports through coding, nurturing the innovators and game developers of the future and making the day even more inclusive.

An opportunity for children and young adults worldwide to show their support for peace and, in the inaugural year of WPSSD, to consider raising funds for Ukraine.

Funds donated through WPSSD will be distributed to charities through The Gorta Group as part of an umbrella group of aid agencies working in Ukraine and other conflict zones (http://www.gortagroup.us).

Paula Radcliffe MBE, former Marathon World Champion and World Record Holder voiced her support for the launch of WPSSD and for the people of the Ukraine.

“I love this idea: Sport is such a power for Peace and Solidarity and is a strong vehicle for breaking down barriers in society and bringing people together. I can’t think of a better way to get our children involved in sport while making a difference, than by harnessing the power and camaraderie of sport to support Ukraine and let them know that we stand in solidarity and support of them”, she said.

Steve Cram CBE, former World Record Holder at 1500m, 2000m and the mile and multiple medalist at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and European Championships said:

“Sport is our universal language across the globe and because of that it has the power to do so much good. I fully support this initiative of a World Peace School Sports Day and urge as many teaching staff to buy into this force for good, encouraging their young people to get active while standing in solidarity and support of Ukraine.”

WPSSD

Using the universal language of sport, schools and youth focused groups around the world are being encouraged to use UN World Peace Day on 21 September to show the power of youth to make a positive difference.

The simple act of playing a sport or engaging in e-sports through coding, will show the world the unity of young people in standing up to inhumanity and violence. In this first year of WPSSD, children will be asked to dress in the blue and yellow of Ukraine to show global support for the humanitarian crisis affecting that country.

WPSSD is the brainchild of: Derek Peaple, a former UK Headteacher of the Year nominee and now an international educational consultant; Mike Molloy a leading international political adviser; and Pete Marshman, EU Code Week ambassador for the UK.

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We are delighted to support this initiative. Young people want to see the world change for the better, free of war and the horror that has been visited upon Ukraine. And schools are a tremendous force for harnessing that energy and providing a positive environment which nurtures the values of tolerance, freedom and respect. World Peace School Sports Day is a great way of reflecting the ambition for a more peaceful future while providing practical support for the victims of warfare in Ukraine.”

Bob Breen, President, US,The Gorta Group said: “We at THE GORTA GROUP feel that World Peace Sports Day is a fantastic and very timely concept. It has huge enduring potential to both raise much needed funds to relieve suffering. It will also raise awareness and create connections amongst the next generations, both of the plight of children like them who often just happened to be born in less fortunate circumstances, and also that there really are direct, effective, and increasingly measurable ways to alleviate some of the human cost of conflict and natural disasters”.

Derek Peaple continued: "As the Head of a specialist Sports College for 20 years, our culture and ethos was based on the positive values of sport and the role they played in building a focused and optimistic community. Now is the time to amplify that approach and demonstrate how both sport and the participation of young people can show the best of humanity in response to the worst of behaviours. Playing hockey, walking or running around the school fields, playing ultimate frisbee dressed in blue and yellow. It doesn't matter what schools do, it’s the message that will count."

Mike Molloy who has worked for 2 UK Prime Ministers and the Catholic Church added: "Growing up in an Ireland that suffered much bloodshed, I witnessed the power of reconciliation and peace there as a child and then as an adult in other nations through my work in politics. This means I know more than most about how important it is for children to learn early on the values of peace, tolerance and understanding. Working with Derek and Pete to use the unique power of education and sport to unite the world is more urgent than ever given the situation in Ukraine. I hope ‘World Peace School Sports Day’ will become a fixture in the calendar to coincide with UN World Peace Day. It sends such a powerful message that a different kind of world can be built where our common humanity is all that matters, one human race".

Peter Marshman, EU Code Week Ambassador for the UK commented: "The need for future digital skills where young people are creators, developers and discerning users of technology is of increasing importance. Where girls as well as boys can develop self-efficacy and self-confidence to be digital leaders of the future, designing and developing systems and applications. How sports are defined becomes ever expanding, as young people compete, build friendships and online through e-sports, becoming athletes who must keep in good physical shape, maintain a healthy diet and train. Through ‘World Peace Schools Sports Day’ young people can send a message of support through physical and online activity sharing the message of sport to bring people together locally and across the globe".

-Ends-

Notes to Editors:

For further information regarding WPSSD please contact:

Derek Peaple. Tel +44(0) 7873 223 282

Mike Molloy. Tel: +353(0) 89 4381675

Pete Marshman. Tel +44 (0)7500 005043

Bernard Sparkes. +44 (0) 7794 486 602 - Media Lead

For further information concerning the Gorta Group please contact : Ray Jordan, CEO, The Gorta Group. resources: Link to google drive Photographs of spokespeople and company logo keep up to date with the latest news about WPSSD please information concerning WPSSD and registration details are available from: Molloy born in Dublin in 1982 is an Irish businessman, political advisor and campaigner. He previously worked for British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and at the UN and EU for the Catholic Church. Molloy is Co-Founder of Orion Global Technologies working with leading UK Cybersecurity company Cyberhive.

Early Life: Molloy was born in Dublin in 1982. His dad died when he was 11 months old and he was reared by his mum. His aunt Dr Mary Kelly was Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Trinity College Dublin. He attended Sandford Park School in Ranelagh and University College Dublin (UCD).

Career: His Family were involved in the Irish peace movement and he was an intern with the International Institute for Peace in Vienna on the Balkans peace and reconciliation process. Molloy then worked for New Labour under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, including on foreign policy, Prime Ministers Questions, the Pre Budget Report, and the 2010 UK General Election. He was a member of David Milibands ultimately unsuccessful campaign against brother Ed Miliband to win the UK Labour Party leadership in 2010.

Subsequent work for Caritas Internationalis and the Holy See in Geneva and Brussels saw him write the response to the High Level UN Panel on Sustainable Development goals as well as the response to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moons report on the matter. Molloy campaigned as part of Stronger In arguing for the UK to remain in the EU.

In 2016 he started a company (Orion Global Technologies) with two friends.

Personal life: Molloy is unmarried, a passionate supporter of Liverpool Football Club, an avid traveller and lover of music and movies as well as history.

Derek Peaple is CEO of his own education consultancy company, set up following twenty years’ experience as a secondary headteacher. Under his leadership, Park House School in Newbury developed as one of the country’s most successful Specialist Sports Colleges, subsequently being identified in the top 100 state schools in the country for continuous improvement. In 2019 it became one of the Department for Education’s first National Computing Education Hubs, providing professional development for teachers across the south of England.

Derek has played a leading role in regional, national and international sports education initiatives. He helped to devise the London 2012 Get Set Education programme and additionally developed online learning materials for the global learning BBC World Olympic Dreams initiative. Based on this experience, he went on to support the design of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic education programme

After London 2012 Derek was appointed as the first Chair of the Youth Sport Trust’s national Headteacher Strategy Group to promote the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy and received the inaugural Sir John Madejski Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Sport. His advice featured in the House of Commons Education Committee’s influential Report, ‘School Sport following London 2012: No more political football’ and he regularly presents nationally and internationally on the role of sport in shaping school culture.

Derek’s championing of the values of sport to build confidence in learning across the curriculum featured as a case study in Demos’ 2015 Report, ‘Character Nation’. In this context, his ‘values-driven ambition for students’ was praised by Ofsted as a distinctive feature of his leadership. He continues to work as a School Improvement Adviser and national and international leadership development consultant.

As a result of the breadth of his work and influence, Derek was recently shortlisted for the Times Education Supplement National Headteacher of the Year Award.

Peter Marshman is CEO of a new charity digit , working with young people, teachers and communities to promote essential future skills such as coding and data science, whilst promoting the importance of physical activity, enabling them to be digitally active. Peter leads the top performing Department for Education Computing Hub, upskilling to develop their competency for delivering the Computing curriculum and has been a teacher for over 15 years and a senior leader, advanced skills teacher, and master teacher during that time.

In 2018 Peter won the Education Business award for his work bucking the national trend, engaging girls in computer science and STEM education whilst developing a digital leaders programme for girls to become digital leaders resulting in their contribution to the UK Young Digital Taskforce, advising the shadow cabinet with Maggie Philbin to benefit all sectors of the opportunities offered by the acquisition of digital skills.

Peter contributed to the Royal Society ‘After the Reboot’ report as part of the working group, highlighting the gaps and opportunities for Computing education, primarily focusing on best practice with engaging girls in computing. This report formed part of a proposal for the central government to create the £100m National Centre for Computing Education to train and upskill 8000 new teachers.

Peter is a well-known educational author, creating engaging and contextual resources and textbooks to enable teachers to build the self-efficacy and self-confidence of girls in the computing classroom. These resources were created in partnership with the BBC, INEOS, Hodder Education, IBM, Cambridge University Press and the European Space Agency alongside his appearance and contributions to BBC Panorama and the BBC2 series ‘Cracking the Code’.

As the UK ambassador for EU Code Week, Peter promotes computing education for girls world-wide and works with other schools across the South of England in his role as Secondary Sector Expert for the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.