An Olympic debut for Teesside University’s Darlington campus

Teesside University’s new £13m five-storey Darlington campus will host its first official event on Wednesday 20 July - and there will be a special visitor - Charles Allen CBE, Chair of LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Paralympic Games) Nations and Regions.

Mr Allen will be meeting Darlington primary school pupils at 2.00pm to celebrate their Olympic-related activities at the University. LOCOG is responsible for preparing and staging the 2012 games.

The 15 year six (aged 10-11) pupils from Heathfield primary school and ten from Corporation Road recently took part in Teesside University’s annual Meteor Summer School, along with hundreds of other Tees Valley pupils.

Meteor was first launched in 1999 to inspire local primary pupils to think about further and higher education, through activities on and off campus. This year’s Summer School had an Olympics theme, with activities that included designing and making clothing for the games, along with mascots and medals and a mini Olympic stadium and village structure. The pupils also received inspirational talks and motivational exercise sessions from the University’s elite athlete students.

Teesside University has been awarded the Inspire Mark, awarded through the London 2012 Inspire programme, which recognises organisations that deliver projects and events genuinely inspired by the 2012 Games. Only the most accessible, participative, inspiring and stimulating projects and events will achieve the Inspire Mark, which is part of the London 2012 brand.

The Chief Executive of Darlington Council, Ada Burns, will also attend the event. Darlington Council is one of the Darlington campus’ funders, along with the University and One North East via Tees Valley Unlimited. The guests will be shown a video of the pupils working at the summer school. Then pupils will describe their team activities, such as Olympic T-shirt manufacture and model making and what they learned through this. Charles Allen will then present prizes of official mascots to the pupils.

Nicola Doyle, Teesside University’s Schools Colleges Partnerships & Recruitment Manager, said: 'We’re very excited that the achievements of our Meteor pupils are the focus of the first official event hosted at the Darlington campus. It’s also a pleasure to be working in partnership to inspire young people through the 2012 Olympics.'

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