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Posted on: 31/03/2017

Inspiration from 13 time Paralympic medalist for our year 10 students

Learning how to turn a hardship into a success story was the focus of Paralympian Jeanette Chippington MBE’s talk at Burnham Grammar School.

The gold medal paracanoeist spoke to the school’s year 10 students as part of their Study Skills Day. Jeanette’s speech on focus, perseverance and determination no matter what, to reach your goals has given the students a boost to their confidence as they come up to doing their exams.

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Jeanette, a former student of Newland Girls School in Maidenhead, was paralysed in both her legs after contracting a virus which damaged her spinal cord while at the school. She started out as a Paralympic swimmer and has medalled in five consecutive summer Paralympics as a swimmer, before changing to canoe in which she won gold in Rio in 2016.

 Mrs Dani Williams, assistant headteacher, said: “We are very grateful to Jeanette for coming in and sharing her inspirational stories. She really is someone our students could relate to and learn from. We hope they have taken inspiration from her to pursue their dreams.”

The students were also able to ask the 13 time medal winner about the further impact of her disability, how it was to change sports after swimming for 20 years, the level of training and commitment required to get to the Paralympics, and the psychology of focusing on particular opponents to beat during a race.

Jeanette came to the school on Thursday, March 30.

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