Taking the Spanish football team captain, goalkeeper Casillas as a great example of a leader and captain, the groups rated skills that captains/leaders would need in order of importance. We then discussed skills like teamwork, being a good listener, setting a good example and being someone to rely on and explained why we chose to rate them. This is related to the same skills our year 6s will need to help them in secondary school. It was interesting to see that the same top and bottom-rated skills appeared for both football captains and secondary school students.

At Danetre, the children had a go at some brain-break puzzles, the birthday line-up and YES/NO games. At William Parker, the children learnt about the behaviour and expectations they are expected to follow once at secondary school. The group visited the isolation room to see how consequences are carried out for breaking these rules. The group played click-clacks to finish.

Well done to all the children involved in the last 5 weeks, they have worked hard, made new friends, met the staff and got to know much more about their secondary school. They are looking forward to starting in September and we will be seeing most of them at an Olympics themed summer challenge at the Cobblers and Steelbacks study centres in Northampton in a few weeks time.

Vicki Campkin from Silverstone Study Centre (in Helena’s holiday absence) led a team game using poles and tennis balls which required teams to work together to balance the balls between the poles and carry them to the end of the course.

The transition part of the session was around ‘My perfect day at secondary school’ where we talked about what things tend to happen that can make a school day ‘bad’. These included morning routines, packing bags ready for school, being late, rushing around and sleeping in. The children talked in pairs and fedback to the rest of the group details about these things and offered each other suggestions as to how to overcome the problems. Then everyone was asked what would make a perfect day at school. Reasons included having their favourite subjects, playing with their friends, answering all the teacher’s questions correctly and not getting into any trouble.

School staff at Danetre took the group on a tour around the school to familiarise with the layout, departments and where to go for help. As many of the students have older siblings at Danetre or attend for clubs, they acted as our knowledgeable tour guides too. The design and technology block was of most interest with woodwork, textiles, construction, mechanics rooms.

Mrs Brindley led a session around what equipment is needed at secondary school. This included specialist equipment such as for maths, PE or science.

This week sees all year 6s in Daventry primary schools visiting their secondary school for two transfer days. Working in this project means the children have a friendly face to talk to in the school inclusion staff.

After a quick ‘getting to know you’ ice breaker, students worked in pairs to look at anagrams of different world cup country’s players and find as many words from the letters as possible.

Using a huge floor world map and google maps, the class identified which country each flag came from and placed it on the map. We discussed continents, flag similarities, compass points, interesting country and football facts.

The majority of the day was spent putting together a world cup poster presentation. Groups of four were asked to research country, player and football facts using the Internet and non-fictions books from the library. They used their reading skills such as scanning to find key information from websites and thought about how to refine their research skills.  The posters turned out very colourful and eye-catching. After lunch, the groups did a presentation on their country and player to the rest of the class. This was all about speaking up and confidently in front of others as well as passing on facts.

Then came a drama session where pupils acted out scenarios that could happen in world cup stadiums. These included fake tickets, arguing fans, fainting fans, lost children and stewards/police taking charge of the situations. The class were certainly entertaining actors and were very convincing in their roles, showing their comedy skills.

Lee showed the class some video clips of previous world cup football action and some taken from the qualifying rounds of this year’s world cup. He asked the children to put themselves in the shoes of the players, referees, managers and fans and to think about what their emotions would be when losing or winning a penalty shoot-out, (England vs Portugal in the 2006 world cup) getting a serious injury, (Roy Keane) a controversial decision with serious consequences (Tierry Henry’s handball vs Ireland, stopping them from qualifying for the world cup) and a piece of inspirational football. (Messi taking on 6 players to score an amazing goal.) Check out these clips on youtube below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8sLfFlGWpM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxw1-Id91lQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0cVCq8rsiY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AElXm7GDCPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XuEGHHoZGM&feature=related

In groups, the students staged a press conference whilst acting in the roles of players, managers, referees and reporters. They really identified with the players and asked some awkward questions in their interviews. These were recorded on flip video cameras.

Here are some comments from the pupils on their day:

Josh “This brings us together as a group. We have to complete a project, we have to work together to put in ideas and get it done.”

James “I have learnt that there are more teams in the world cup and now I know where they come from. I have learnt most of the flags.”

Lani “I have learnt a lot more about the world cup and lots more about football. I have enjoyed it because I like to do lots of sport and learning about sport. I play football at school.”

James P “I want to do this again because it feels fun and different to an ordinary day.  I have been working quite hard, I know quite a lot about football from my family.”

Catherine “I quite like the project because I like being creative and I like playing football as well.”

Fiona “I quite liked the map thing as I had never heard of some of the places. I now know where they are on the map.”

Aston “I liked the one where we had to name the continents and put the football teams in the right place on the map.”

Izzy “I liked looking at the map and working all together. Working with different people on different tables, getting to know people, we don’t normally do that. I’m not much of a football fan so it was good to learn about the different players and teams.”

Max “I have been doing lots of work using the computers, it has been very educational because of the geography and the maps.”

William “I learned about where the countries were on the map for the world cup. Working in a group is a little bit annoying but then we talked about the problem and sorted it.”

Year 6 children from Daventry’s primary schools (Falconers Hill, The Grange, The Abbey and Southbrook) are involved in a transition-PfS project based at William Parker and Danetre Schools.  They have been taking part in some literacy, numeracy and ICT activities using sport as the context. They are also looking at themes around transition and sharing their thoughts about starting secondary school in September. The two groups are taking the opporunity to meet school pastoral staff to ask them any questions.  

For the full project details and all the action, visit the transition pages:

http://ontheroad.northantsstudycentres.org/daventry-transition/

On Tuesday 19th May, Anna Letts, Helena Weedon and Cobblers community coach Adrian visited Kingswood secondary school as part of the ‘Corby Reads with PfS’ project. They delivered a taster day with year 8 students and brilliant HLTAs (higher level teaching assistants) Liz and Caroline.

To see what they got up to on the day, and see some of the students’ work, visit their page:

http://ontheroad.northantsstudycentres.org/wp-admin/page.php?action=edit&post=383&message=4

P= put one in the net                                                      

E= every time we score I jump for joy                                           

T= the Posh rule the league 

E= every time we win I cheer                                   

R= running up the league

B= booting the balls in the net

O= our boys play the best

R= roaring crowed helps us win

O= one team out of a million

U= upping our game

G= great football

H= hit the net with the ball                        

Dylan Hunter.

Kingswood Primary have been the latest school to take part in ‘Corby Reads with PfS’.

Check out the project page: http://ontheroad.northantsstudycentres.org/corby-reads-with-pfs/

and click on the the school’s page.

Here’s what they had to say about their day:
I liked the ICT
I liked working with my friends and doing something different
This session was really fun
I liked it when we went outside and had to get ourselves in order without speaking
Today was enjoyable and the activities were truly fantastic overall. Especially when we watched the movie.
Today was really fun especially the first bit. (the sports anagrams)
I mostly liked getting a word and making it into other words and also writing about our senses
I loved it today
I liked everything
It was brilliant
Today was the best but I need to listen to the teachers more
I liked it when we were reading a book
It was fun and very good. I enjoyed a lot of the things we did.
I had a really nice day
It was great fun
I liked it when we were doing football
I liked it when we did ICT
I really enjoyed today because we could put our imagination into it.
It was great fun and enjoyable
Today it was fun and exciting
I just wanted to say thank you and I enjoyed today
I learnt how to tell someone’s expressions from the DVD
I liked the film ‘Bend it like Beckham’
Today was a really good day because I learnt a lot. I couldn’t answer any of the questions because I was on a sponsored silence.
I had lots of fun
Yeah, wicked, I had fun
I liked the ICT

Participants of speed stacking stack cups in pre-determined sequences, competing against the clock or another player. Sequences are usually pyramids of three, six, or ten cups. Players of the sport say participants learn teamwork, cooperation, ambidexterity and hand-eye coordination.

To find out more about this ’sport’ visit: http://www.speedstacks.com/ and to see some crazy videos of children doing a variety of stacking tricks and skills and the world chapionships, check out utube.  Or alternatively, ask Helena Weedon who is our resident expert for the study centres!

Other activities during the session included marvelling at the speed stacking DVD of the world championships,  watching a few more clips of ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ DVD and discussing body language, facial expressions and football terminology. Player/team anagrams and evaluations.

Here are some of the children’s comments for their evaluations for the project. For full evaluations, visit the Towcester page.

“I like all of the games that we played outside and all the fun I had.”

“I enjoyed it because you were learning but in a different kind of way so we didn’t notice it.” Rio

“All the lessons were fun, especially the cup stacking.”

“I think it’s been fab I’ve loved every part of it, thanks.” Farren

“This was really fun and I am sorry you have to go.”

“I liked it when we went to the Saints Study Centre.”

“I liked the whole thing.”

“To sum up these lessons, I would say 10 out of 10! Miss Letts and Mrs Weedon you’re great! I’m going to miss you.” Lucy

“I liked it when we had to get rid of something in ICT, Room 101 lesson”

“I like everything because it’s fun and the two ladies are good.” Chandler

“PfS was fab. It made me learn more about sport. It was fun learning.” Ellie

“The time with Mrs Weedon and Miss Letts was fun but educational which makes it better!” Chloe B

“I love all of it except when we went to the study centre and HAD to play tag rugby.” 

“It was amazing to have fun.” Thomas

“I liked it when we went outside.” Connor

“Thank you.!”

“I think we could have done more games although it was very fun.”

“I’ve enjoyed all of it because we do fun maths and ICT, it’s all good.”

“Amazing because we did normal stuff in a fun way.” Luke

“I love PfS on the Road, we learn although we don’t know we are.” Tommy

“I think we went to the ICT suite too much” Luke S

“It has been fun, especially the cup stacking and hoops.” Chloe

“I think we had a great time doing all of the activities.” Becky

“It’s fun and you don’t realise you’re learning.” Monty

 “It was very fun and we did a lot of activities.” Jack

“It has been fun and I enjoyed you both teaching me that things aren’t boring.” Shannon

“I liked everything we did and there’s nothing you need to improve.” Sammy

Activities included: rugby practical with community coach Ross Stewart, (it was freezing! Miss Lipinsky and Mr Skeers will testify this) ICT: name badges, poster of the stadium tour, stadium tour with literacy quiz and brainteaser puzzles.

It was great to see the children enjoying themselves (and funny for Anna to be there with them not in school) out of school and thanks to Pete, Vicky and Jeanette for running these days. Barclaycard supply volunteer mentors for such days too.

In the playground, the group had to work together to form lines in relation to height, birthdays, house number order. Without using their voices! They developed a range of ways to communicate instead.

Dice games helped improve the chidlren’s maths and spelling skills. The groups mainly encouraged each other, whereas others needed to work on their sportmanship values! A class discussion during and after the mental maths game revealed the wide range of strategies were used. These included: partitioning, column, grid, multiplication tables, counting in beads/fingers, counting on/up methods.

Brenda Scoble from Northamptonshire County Council’s ICT in Schools team visited Towcester Primary School to see what ‘PfS on the Road’ is all about and the kind of activities we do to help boost maths, english and ICT skills. She was a very helpful mentor and the children took to her straight away.

Lewis: “The games were fun, they are educational. I improved because I got my spellings right.”

Jordan: “It was fun, it’s not stuff that we usually do. It was cold outside.”

After the hoop team game, they did some drama, acting our stadium scenarios. Like the other two classes, the children took to this enthusiastically with lots of different interpretations!