Boys Allow Classmate With Down Syndrome to Win Race
As their time at school together is coming to an end, a group of British schoolboys made a special memory for one of their classmates. The boys, students at Lincolnshire England’s Wrawby St. Mary’s C of E Primary School, were involved in a field day racy at the school. Instead of competing, the whole group linked arms and all purposely finished behind their classmate Rory Kettles who has Down syndrome.
According to the school, the boys themselves came up with the plan during their warm-ups for the race as a way to honor the boy before they all go off to different middle schools. The school’s headmaster Maiclare Potterton told NBC, “We didn’t know about it until just before the race. The boys said, ‘Rory is really important to us and we all care about him, so we want him to go out of the school a winner.”’
Potterton went on to laud the boys for their choice, saying, “It was really, really emotional. We want them to grow up to have empathy and understanding, so we’re just incredibly proud of the boys.”
Michele Drury, the mother of the child who came up with the idea, explained where the gesture came from.
“It was important to them to give Rory that memory,” said Drury. “We really do have those strong British values where even though we’re keen to win, these boys have had it instilled in them that we put other people first. Sometimes that’s more important than winning.”
The gesture not only meant a great deal to Rory, but to his mother as well. While she was unable to attend the race due to work, Potterton explained that she saw the race later on video.
“She said the compassion and care shown to her son and how he’s been treated the same by everyone else has made her incredibly proud and touched by the children’s gesture,” said Potterton.
