Karate's a hit at Hurlingham! (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Karate's a hit at Hurlingham!

9:28am Monday 31st January 2011 in Your Neighbourhood

Hurlingham School in Putney is celebrating its success in recent national karate examinations. The School has known for a while that it has one of the largest in-school extra-curricular karate programmes in the country, but the 100% success rate from all 110 candidates (over a third of the entire school population) in this term’s gradings has surpassed all previous records. The assessors commented on “very high standards in a maturing club” and the award of a green-and-white belt to Danielle, one of Hurlingham’s Year Six pupils, heralds a lockstep forwards as she has gained the first of the kumite (or fighting) levels: at the age of eleven, she is now only four steps away from achieving the coveted 'Shodan' (black belt) and well on her way to mastering this ancient discipline.

Sensei Matt Jardine, the school’s karate instructor, expressed pride in all the children’s attainments, but was particularly impressed with several children who had made so much progress since September that they even succeeded in skipping a belt and gaining an award two steps higher than their current rating, as well as the large number of pupils gaining yellow and orange belts. These stages are notoriously difficult as “junctions” are assessed, which require high levels of coordination, mental dexterity and commitment. Whilst Sensei Matt acknowledges that many parents choose for their children to participate in Hurlingham’s optional karate programme as it will teach them self-defense skills, he comments that pupils gain far more benefit in his lessons from improvements in their self-respect, respect of others, discipline, confidence and mental, physical and emotional dexterity. He also knows that participation in karate has a positive impact on a child’s educational achievements across the curriculum.

Jonathan Brough, Headmaster of Hurlingham, was delighted with the pupils’ success as it is a key ingredient in the whole-school policy of celebrating children’s achievements wherever their interests and talents lie. Hurlingham plans to introduce its own annual championships from this summer term and, like all aspects of the school’s provision, this shows that the karate department is sure to progress from strength to strength.

Based on information supplied by Jonathan Brough.