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.

The team game was ‘hoops’, a game of co-ordination and agility. Then Helena led an activity on protective behaviours. Each pair was given a different situation card (based on problems they are likely to encounter at secondary school, as well as in primary) and were asked to write down possible actions they would take and the imagined consequences. After discussing their choices with an adult, they then chose the most positive suggestion for action and wrote down what the likely outcome would be. This is a good way to cover sometimes sensitive issues and compare opinions on how to make the right choice in a situation.

Mrs Perkins and Mrs Brindley took the group on a mini tour of the school and pointed out which buildings were which and how to read a timetable of room allocations. They met other pastoral and inclusion staff in central block before returning to look at subject name abreviations on a timetable and talking about weeks A and B. These are all things that will be new to year 6s and their  sneak peak will definitely help them on transfer day.

Gutter ball was the ‘brain-break’ then on to transition work where children were asked to write down 3 things they’d like to leave behind at primary school and 3 things they’d like to take with them. This is a good way to discuss fresh starts, changing attitudes and any skills that are valued.

The school staff talked about uniform and brought in older students to teach the year 6s how to tie a tie (with some good tips) and what is correct and incorrect uniform. The younger pupils were able to identify what is appropriate uniform and were made aware of the consequences of not following school rules on this.

Anna Letts and Helena Weedon from Northants Study Centres are leading the sports (PfS on the Road) themed numeracy, literacy and ICT activities as well as the transition content. Pastoral/inclusion staff from the two secondaries are leading the school information part of the sessions. Mandy Gough and Steve Collins from Danetre and Sally Perkins and Carol Brindley from William Parker. These staff will be the ones the pupils will be working with when they start in year 7. The aim is to get to know other children and secondary staff, improve confidence and self esteem as well as social skills. This can be done through teaching motivating and engaging team games and literacy and numeracy activities.

Week one began on Tuesday 15th June. After some ice breaker team games where the groups got to know each other, they decided on the group rules and boundaries. They then had a go at player card maths, using Cobblers squad numbers to carry out mental maths calculations. Helena taught them how to make a ‘network hand’ where the children wrote down who they could talk to if they had a problem or worry at secondary school.  The school information session covered common worries or questions the students may have when starting secondary school. During this time they made origami T Shirts and decorated them with world cup countries’ strips.

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.”

Six members of the Northants Study Centres’ Olympic task group visited the Olympic Park in Stratford on Friday 23rd April. They were shown around by staff from Newham’s study centres and specifically the PfS Legacy Centre based at Abbey Road Children’s Centre. This is a stone’s throw from the park itself and after chatting to PfS staff we went to the building site that will eventually become the amazing Olympic Park in 2012. To find out more about the Legacy Centre, visit: www.playingforsuccessonline.org.uk/…/Summer_School_press_release_2009.pdf

and: www.entityltd.com/pfs/clubcards2009/The%20Legacy%20Centre.pdf

We visited the ‘View Tube’, (http://www.theviewtube.co.uk/) an eco-friendly classroom (made from shipping containers!) were we heard how students can visit to learn about the geography and history of the site out the window. The Greenway is a path and cycle route (based on an old sewer system!) that runs from here all through the park that will link up all the arenas and after 2012 there will be a lot of open space and parkland.

We then took the Dockland Light Railway to the other end of the park and visited the official viewing tower that overlooks the enormous site. Jean from Newham Council talked us through all the landmarks and arenas providing us with plenty of facts and figures. They are really starting to take shape now, the aquatic centre, vellodrome and main athletics arena are almost half way finished. In the distance the Excel centre could be seen, where martial arts, handball and boxing will take place. The O2 arena is not far where gymnastics will happen.

The huge site also has the largest shopping centre in Europe being built, along with the Stratford international train station. Soon it will take visitors 7 minutes to get from overland stations such as St Pancras to the Olympic Park and only a few minutes to London’s centre. These famous landmarks could be seem in the distance.

The athletes’ village is a series of high-rise apartment blocks, which will become residential housing after the games. There is obviously a great deal of thought and planning gone into the legacy of the 2012 games as every arena and patch of space is accounted for with future plans. This will create sustainability and regeneration in Stratford, bringing business to the area.

Jean showed us the projected plans what the site would look like as well as the individual arenas. The whole day was very interesting and we came back certainly inspired to run our own Olympic programme as well as more excited that the games are coming! We hope to be able to take children to visit the site at various points in its development and redevelopment after 2012.

Thanks to the Newham PfS Centres staff for being such great and informative hosts!

On Friday 16th April, our EAL group from Unity College visited the Saints Study Centre at the Franklins Gardens Stadium. They played some team games, went on a stadium tour led by Zehra Durgen and created a photostory (mini movie) using photos of their day. Whilst on the tour, they were lucky to see the Captain’s run where the whole first team squad were training for tomorrow’s premiership game vs Gloucester.

Using the programme Photostory3, the students worked on commentary, descriptive writing, inserting music, transitions and motion and duration tools.   

What we learnt on the tour:

Hamida “The gryphen on the Saints badge represents the strength of the players. The home changing rooms had cubicles and the away changing rooms had plain benches.”

Beer “I leanrt about famous Saints players who also played for England.”

Chandni “The Saints home ground is called Franklins Gardens.”

Amin “The founder of Saints is Rev. Watham-Wigg and we saw the Mobbs memorial. The stadium capacity is 13,591.”

Rajeem “Two Saints players that played for England is Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson.”

Salma “We learnt about the symbols on the Saints badge – the gryphen and the halos.”

Mentor Zoe Selenati-Dreyer “The group worked well as a team in the team games and their literacy skills were very good. They should have more confidence in themselves as they are excellent, they should believe in themselves more.”

Centre manager Pete “The group worked hard during all activities and I was particularly impressed with their concentration levels whilst making their photostories of their time at the study centre.”

To find out more about the EAL project, visit: http://ontheroad.northantsstudycentres.org/english-as-an-additional-language/

To visit the Saints Study Centre website, visit: www.saintsstudycentre.org

To find out what the year 8s from Becket got up to at the Steelbacks, visit:

http://double.northantsstudycentres.org/

Two students from Latimer school attended the official opening of Volleyball England’s National Volleyball training centre. This state of the art Olympic standard Volleyball centre is based at the Kettering Conference Centre. Supporter 2 Reporter (part of Radiowaves: www.radiowaves.co.uk) is a project where youngsters train to be sports reporters in preparation for the 2012 Olympics. There are various groups attached to Northants Study Centres, the Latimer girls attended their initial training at Diamonds Study centre at Easter.

After the official opening and speeches from Volleyball England staff, we watched the Junior National Teams (girls and boys) and GB men’s sitting team (future paraolympians) in training and the reporters interviewed some of their players and officials. They spoke with Maria Bertelli (GB Volleyball player, 65 caps), Dan Hunter (GB Volleyball player who had recently been promoted from youth to senior squad), Leo Trench (Talent spotter, Volleyball England), Robbie Barrett (sitting squad captain) and Rakesh Misuria. (sitting squad player) Matt Rogers, Sitting Volleyball development manager advised the reporters about their questions.

To see the reporter’s blogs, stories and edited interviews, visit: http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/s2rnorthampton

Press release:

The National Volleyball Centre (NVC) will provide top class sports facilities for International athletes and competitions in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. East Midlands Development Agency, Kettering Borough Council and Northampton Enterprise Limited have also provided funding which has helped to create the centre into a top class venue by creating four volleyball courts, new seating areas and a social and educational area. The Kettering Conference Centre has an excellent combination of both conference and indoor sporting facilities with good wheelchair access.

Lisa Wainwright, CEO of Volleyball England expresses her delight on the centre: “We identified within our strategic plan 2009/13 our aspiration to establish a National Centre for training and competition to ensure we can provide top quality facilities and services to our talented athletes and all our educators within the sport.”