Team GB Paralympian Visit

On Monday, we were honored to welcome a very special guest to The Beacon; Jordanne Whiley MBE, who is a Team GB Paralympic Tennis player. Jordanne was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, her father was also a Paralympian who inspired her after he won a bronze medal in New York 1984. Throughout her career, she has won an outstanding array of medals and is an excellent role model for people all over the world. Jordanne is also a 12-time Grand Slam champion winning her singles Grand Slam at the 2015 US Open.

Year 6 Beacon boy, James J, proudly won a competition organised by Toyota called “Start your impossible” where he designed an image based on a “City of the Future”. His award was a school visit from a Paralympian and our boys in Years 3-8 were extremely excited about the rare opportunity of meeting a Team GB Paralympian Tennis player.

Our boys were given the chance to submit some questions for Jordanne prior to the Assembly visit on Monday morning. Jordanne discussed highlights of her career and highlighted how ecstatic she was to win a silver medal in the woman’s singles in Tokyo 2020. She also talked about her experience of playing in the London 2012 Paralympics and explained that she believes nothing beats a home crowd.

After the questions and answers, there was a quick fire round of which all our Beacon boys found amusing. They were very interested in finding out her favorite superhero, food, animals and of course what football team she supports. Jordanne finished off the Assembly with some top tips for the boys ahead of Sports Day. She shared that being nervous is a good thing because it shows you care and when you lose, you learn valuable lessons. She also expressed that it is important to never give up If you are passionate about something and to exploit every opportunity that will enable you to succeed.

It was a privilege to have such a talented athlete visit The Beacon to tell us her story and inspire our boys.