Adistars sports leaders practice their interview technique

The third Adistars training academy session was held at the Grendon Study Centre on Wednesday 16th May with sports leaders from East Northants secondary schools. In the last two sessions, students have been learning about interviewing people and reporting on sports events. Each school’s group of leaders fedback on what work they have been doing recently in their local primary schools. After a quick recap on good interview and questioning technique, the students carried out some internet research on their subjects. The trick is to pick out key information to help form questions that will prompt interesting answers.

They came up with open and closed questions to make sure they could gather enough information to compile a player profile with personal information/facts/statistics as well as in-depth background knowledge. Students were given free range as to what angle they wanted to take.

Three players from Northampton Town FC’s youth team, Lewis Hornby, Harry Mattock and Dean Snedker, deaf England footballer Claire Stancliffe and Phoenix basketball club coach Pete Bourgaine were in the hot seat and the sports leaders certainly kept them busy with a huge range of questions. Good note taking  and speaking and listening skills are essential when conducting and interview.

Our leaders were very professional and put their interviewees at ease and got them talking. After the interviews, they worked in groups to compile profiles, some examples can be seen here. (Click on to enlarge and read.) They had the choice as to write a factual profile or report-style. The group fedback on how they found the experience, what went well and what could be improved for next time. A big thanks to our guests for being such interesting and friendly interviewees.

School Sports Manager for East Northants Charlotte Sayers then briefed the group on their upcoming school games role as coaches, officials, reporters and photographers in June and July.

 

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Congratulations to Huxlow Double Club students

After last term’s Double Club came to an end, the English RATE data has showed significant improvements from the group. (Students are tested each half term to monitor progress.) 13 out of the 15 students have improved by 1 or 2 levels with 2 students staying the same. This is great news! It shows that this literacy intervention project has impacted on educational attainment alongside other school initiatives and general English classes. Congratulations to all the pupils who took part and worked so hard to achieve a higher standard of English.

The pastoral impact has also been significant, with all 15 students increasing their confidence and self esteem (measured via questionnaires at the start and end of term). 3 students scored 100% by the end of term, each having over 30% rises.  

Posted in Double Club, Huxlow, literacy | 1 Comment

Northampton Transition project: Weston Favell Academy Cluster

As part of the AIP Northampton Transition project, this term sees five Olympic themed sessions being delivered by Weston Favell Academy’s year 8 leaders with year 5 primary students from Headlands, The Arbours and Abington Vale schools. The leaders took part in ‘Going for Gold’ training in February to learn the content and it has been great for them to work together with the same children who attended the Super Learner Day in November at the secondary school.

The first week involved welcoming the year 5s back, showing them around the year 7 block and some ice breakers to mix up schools. The leaders got them matching Olympic sports photos and names and analysing past Olympic logos. The primary children were asked to discuss which ones they liked or not, and explain their opinions, and how they thought the logos related to the host city and country. In small groups they designed their own logos for London 2012 using iconic images of England and London.

The next four weeks will cover four Olympic/paralympic values via workshops which the leaders have prepared: friendship, determination, equality and excellence. This week saw Jacob, Rebecca, Em, Lewis, Taneka, Lois and Millie delivering the workshop on friendship. The year 5s worked in small groups to memorise and draw the outlines of different Olympic countries such as Pakistan, Australia and USA. They decided what strategy they would use to help them remember specific parts of the country and how they would guide their team mates to draw them. There were some fairly accurate results which can be attributed to good communication, teamwork and co-operation skills. The leaders asked them to explain how they needed to use friendship to achieve the task.

The year 5s have responded well to the leaders and have enjoyed learning in a different way and at the same time getting familiarised with the secondary school. The leaders have come on leaps and bounds in confidence and have really taken ownership of the workshops and activities, putting their own spin on them. Both sets of students have a solid knoweldge of the Olympics/paralympics and values.

A big thanks to the primary staff who walk the children up each week and to James Lucas who has been the link at the secondary, organising the leaders.

Posted in Northampton Transition Project, Olympics, student leadership | 1 Comment

G+T primary pupils visit Elizabeth Woodville School

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week year 4 and 5 gifted and talented pupils from the Forrester (Paulesbury, John Hellins, Deanshanger, Cosgrove, Old Stratford, Yardley Gobian) and the Salcey Cluster of primary schools (Ashton, Blisworth, Collingtree, Hardingstone, Hartwell, Roade, Stoke Bruerne, Hackleton) visited the south and north campus of Elizabeth Woodville School (EWS) for a sports themed cross-curricular day of learning. These days were to focus on transition, as the younger pupils had a chance to become more familiar with their local secondary school. They also served as an opportunity to learn in a different way through taking their existing skills and extending them through the sports context.

Anna led the day’s learning activities, the maths included player maths cards, creating a fantasy football team on a budget and using sports club shop websites to carry out various calculations. The English activities included sports captions and photos, poetry and drama around stadium situations. All the primary pupils enjoyed themselves and threw themselves into doing something new with children from other schools. We had a lot of fun and the children used a lot of maths and English skills, as well as improved their confidence. They were very creative and enjoyed using their skills in different way.

Year 7 and 9 young ambassadors from both campuses assisted Anna in running the days by putting their new student leadership skills to the test working 1-1 or in small groups with the primary pupils. Previously the ambassadors had completed ‘University of the First Age’ student leadership training. A positive relationship has been formed, with the year 4s and 5s looking up to the older pupils who in turn have benefited greatly from this experience. The ambassadors were brilliant, always eager to help and showed initiative.

At the end of the day, primary parents were invited into EWS to listen to a presentation about what their children had been working on. Each group talked about a different activity, what skills they used and read out some examples of the high quality work produced.

Thanks to Mrs. Faulker who organised the days.

Here are some of the primary pupils’ evaluation comments about the day:

What did you enjoy today?

  • Doing drama and maths.
  • My favourite thing today was the acrostic poem
  • When we got to act out a stadium problem in drama
  • I liked meeting new people
  • My favourite part was the role play
  • Working with people I don’t know and all the work

What did you learn today?

  • I learnt in the acrostic poem the last line should be the best and I learnt about Arsenal
  • It is really fun to meet new people and I became more confident today
  • How to make an acrostic poem
  • I learnt how to buy football players for my fantasy team
  • How to boost my confidence
  • How to be someone else
  • How to come out of my comfort zone and learn more about sports, maths and poems
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Weston Favell Academy student leaders prepare for ‘Going for Gold’ transition sessions

On Thursday, Anna visited the student leaders at Weston Favell Academy who are part of the Northampton transition project to help them prepare for 5 weeks of transition sessions with primary pupils.

Having  completed a day of ‘Going for Gold’ Olympics content in February, they are soon to be delivering these workshops themselves to year 5 pupils from the Weston Favell cluster of primaries who attended the Super Learner Day there in November.

The year 8s recapped on the determination, excellence, friendship and equality workshops and then went on to learn some new activities about Olympic/paralympic sports,  mascots, logos and the torch route. These activities will be used in the coming weeks.

Posted in Northampton Transition Project, Olympics, Weston Favell Academy | Leave a comment

Thomas Becket Student leaders assist at PE and Sport Conference

On Thursday 29th March, Henry, Ana-Maria and Amie who are year 8 student leaders from Thomas Becket, helped run a workshop at the Primary and Special Schools PE and Sport Conference at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Along with a larger group of students, they have been involved in the Northampton AIP transition project working with primary pupils running Super Learner Days and Olympic themed events.

The conference saw 60 primary school teachers attend a choice of four workshops: Respect: The New PE Curriculum, Inspiration: Get Sporty, Storybooks, Excellence: Modelling High Quality PE and Friendship: Using sport and the Olympics for student leadership. The leaders assisted Anna Letts in running the latter by demonstrating how they have used their leadership training to deliver a presentation around the Olympic and paralympic values, which they have been using in primary schools as an assembly. They also led Olympic themed curriculum activities from the ‘Going for Gold’ resource pack which they have previously taught to year 5 pupils. Both groups of teachers joined in with the practical activities enthusiastically and started thinking about how they could implement a programme in their schools.

The staff were very impressed with the leaders, they came across as confident, knowledgeable and very professional. It is not easy for anyone to get up in front of a group of adults and talk, let alone year 8 students, but their training and experience obviously stood them in good stead as they were amazing.

Anna led the rest of the workshop on what the student leadership programme is, how it can be adapted and different examples of schools running their version, often linked to transition and/or the Olympics. Henry, Ana-Maria and Amie explained to the two different groups of teachers what skills they had got out of the programme, what they had learnt, what they enjoyed and how they overcame any problems they encountered.

“Today we went to the Northampton county cricket ground to talk to a group of primary school teachers from around the county about what it is like to be a student leader. We talked about things like what we have learnt, enjoyed and also what we have found hard. After this we demonstrated one of the workshops we taught to the year 5’s. Overall we enjoyed the day and cannot wait to see what we are doing next”. Henry, Ana-Maria and Amie.

the feedback from your session is excellent. When asked to consider the statement ‘The quality, delivery and presentation of the course was of a high standard’ most replied ‘strongly agree’. This is a fantastic reflection on the individuals and all who have worked with them. Well done!

The feedback from your session is excellent. When asked to consider the statement ‘The quality, delivery and presentation of the course was of a high standard’ most replied ‘strongly agree’. This is a fantastic reflection on the individuals and all who have worked with them. Well done!

 

Andrea Kemp, LDA Manager – Northamptonshire

 

Posted in student leadership, Thomas Becket School, transition, Young Ambassadors | 1 Comment

Adistars Young Ambassadors session 2

The group of Adistars Young Ambassadors from East Northants secondary schools returned to Grendon Hall on Tuesday 27th March to learn about some media based roles that sports leaders undertake through this project. In June, at the Countywide School Games event, the leaders will be acting as reporters, interviewers and commentators as well as being involved in specific sports.

Using skills and advice from the ‘Supporter 2 Reporter’  (S2R) programme and Radiowaves training that Northants Study Centres run, the group took part in various activities and role plays around interviewing. They learnt how to carry out a voxpop (short survey of opinion) and plan questions for a full interview. They practised introducing themselves to interviewees, being flexible when responding and thinking about how best to engage people in conversation.  They also practised putting the responses into a vocal report.

The students analysed voxpops and interviews carried out by Northampton S2R reporters as well as examples found online to discuss good and bad practice. They used Kelly Holmes as a case study to get used to putting themselves in someone else’s shoes and being aware of how emotions affect people’s answers and can set the tone for an interview.   

The pairs performed their different role plays in front of the whole group and it was obvious we have some  media naturals in our midst! They are starting to bring their personality into their interviews, find their personal style and adopt different angles.

Charlotte Sayers, School Sports Manager for East Northants, asked for a progress update as to what the students had been up to since the last session in February regarding leadership duties. Some had been acting as officials, organisers and referees at school sports events, others had met with primary school staff to book assemblies about the Olympic and paralympic values. They planned presentations around the values at the last session.

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Huxlow Double Club Celebration Assembly

On Tuesday 27th March, Anna led a year 8 assembly at Huxlow Science College to celebrate the 15 Double Club students’ achievements over the term. They have worked very hard to improve their English skills and their confidence continues to grow. Anna talked to the rest of the year group and staff, including headteacher Mr Moulton, about what the Double Club project is about and how the pupils have been getting on. She showed a slideshow of photos of the group in action before presenting them with certificates of achievement and medals.

The students surprised Anna with a bunch of flowers and a thank you card. A big thanks goes to Mrs Elavia for assisting with the project and organising everything behind the scenes, with the help of Miss Lewis (PE) and Mrs Johnson (English).

Here are some evaluation comments from the students:

  • “I have learnt that I need imagination for English”. Nathan
  • “I think that Double Club has helped me with my writing skills”. Laurence
  • “I have learnt how to be more creative with my writing”. Xavier
  • “I have learnt how to use punctuation properly”. Georgina
  • “I think I couldn’t write a lot before”. Lucy
  • I learnt more about English and thought learning in the different ways was awesome”. Alexis
  • “I have learnt about the Olympic values ‘FRED ICE’ and lots more”. Nikita
  • “I now know about the Olympic players and stadiums”. Ryan
  • “The best part of Double Club was going on the trips and working with other people”. Billie
  • “I enjoyed it when we did PE and went on the two trips.” Kensey

Using sport as a motivator has meant that students usually turned off to literacy work have engaged willingly. Benefits for students have included enjoyment, building of peer relationships, aspirational thinking and experiencing new things that normally they would not have the opportunity to experience. Enjoyable & worthwhile.” Andrea Elavia, Learning Mentor, Huxlow Science College

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Final week of Huxlow Double Club

Week 11 saw the final sessions of Double Club take place at Huxlow Science College. Now that the official London 2012 torch route (http://www.london2012.com/olympic-torch-relay) has been revealed and we know it will be passing through Northants, the group had a go at doing their own version. They planned a torch relay in their local area to take in local landmarks and well known places. They also chose someone they thought should be a torch bearer. (http://www.lloydstsblondon2012.co.uk/carrytheflame/) This could be a sports or non sporting person, famous or not. Some students chose famous singers, actors or footballers whilst others chose their friends, family or themselves. They were asked to explain the reasons they would make a good torch bearer and how the Olympic/paralympic values applied to them. For example, how their mum showed courage, determination or respect.

During ICT, the group finished off their Cobblers ‘selling the stadium’ presentations and a few analysed past Olympic games logos from countries around the world. We also carried out some evaluations about the project and played some speaking and listening games outside.

Alex led the last volleyball session where students learnt how to ‘dig’, the final skill needed to play the game alongside setting and smashing. They tried out a few drills to practice digging before going into small games to combine all their skills. The teams got quite competitative with several people showing quite an aptitude for the sport.

Posted in Double Club, Huxlow, ICT, literacy, Olympics | Leave a comment

Student ambassador training at Elizabeth Woodville School

Anna Letts and Ellie Banks from Northants Study Centres visited year 7 and 9 pupils at Elizabeth Woodville School (EWS) on Wednesday 21st March to lead their University of the First Age (UFA) student ambassador training. Pupils from the north and south campus applied to Mrs Faulkner and Mrs Baker to get onto the programme and attended the training at the south campus.

The group of 30 students participated in ice breakers/’brain breaks’ to get to know each other and with a view to be able to deliver them to primary pupils in future. They looked at what qualities a leader should have, examples of famous and non famous leaders and  analysed their own skills. They came up with their own explanations of what responsibility and accountability mean and applied examples of these to their lives in school, home and the community.

In the afternoon, small groups came up with a ‘Uniquely fantastic activity’ for the “Go Bid” exercise and presented it to our panel of ‘Dragons’. (Mrs Baker, Mr Swales and Ellie) Ideas included outdoor adventure clubs/residentials, multi-activity weeks and art and sports. They all succeeded in meeting the “Go Bid” criteria and not going over the budget. Staff were very impressed with how confident the students were and the great teamwork; everyone spoke and it was clear that they were well organised and planned.

Now that the ambassadors have completed their leadership training, they will be involved in various upcoming school events and working with EWS cluster primary schools. They will be involved in transfer days for year 6s as well as assisting staff with applied learning/cross curricular days.

Many thanks for yesterday , the children were all telling me good things about their day and the staff involved were very positive about it. Natalie Faulkner, Associate for KS3 Development, The Elizabeth Woodville School


Posted in student leadership, University of the First Age, Young Ambassadors | 1 Comment