June 4th, 2009 — Thomas Becket
Today Anna met the 3rd cohort of year 8 pupils to be taking part in Double Club at Thomas Becket.
The group did Cobblers player card maths, some ice-breakers/’brain breaks’ and looked at cricket and the 5 senses. They watched some Ashes footage and did some creative writing putting themselves in the position of the batter, bowler, bat, ball, fielder or wicket.
Reading some sports poetry ended up turning into a bit of a sing-a-long as the students started to ‘perform’ the chorus in one of the poems. The group compiled their own version, writing two lines each, fitting them together and adding a chorus. This is a great collaborative effort, see below.
Double Club Poem
4th June 09
Show off striker
With lots of skill
His team thinks that he is brill!
Man of the match man of the match
What a catch!
Football’s amazing
Like double glass glazing
It’s absolutely brilliant
The skills are blazing!
Man of the match man of the match
What a catch!
He has a nose for the net
He always wins the bookies bet
He scored on the pitch
And his celebration was to itch!
Man of the match man of the match
What a catch!
Football star
He’s got a car
He also lives in a jar!
Man of the match man of the match
What a catch!
He is the player in the game
But no-one ever knows his name
He enjoys playing, he has scored 10
He also has a cousin called Ben!
Man of the match man of the match
What a catch!
He shoots he scores, the crowd shout more, more, more!
He shoots he misses the crowd are full of disses
Man of the match man of the match
What a catch!
Football, football, I love you,
What could I be without you?
May 6th, 2009 — Abbeyfield School, Arsenal FC, DCSF, Mereway Community College, Thomas Becket, Weston Favell School
Northampton has had a Double Club since 2006, now we have a report carried out by NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) which our schools contributed data to. It’s great to see how successful this project has become locally and across the country (there are now 30+ clubs participating) and be recognised as a project of its own standing alongside PfS. Click below to download
nfer-dc-national-report
It’s also on the DCSF website: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/programmeofresearch/index.cfm?type=5
Report highlights:
1. “It is having a positive impact on pupils’ motivation and self esteem, with young people reporting that they work hard in DC sessions and that they feel more confident and able to contribute in their other lessons.
2. “The report presents some data on attainment, which indicates that young people attending DC make good progress in basic skills. Pupils and teachers perceive the programme very positively, seeing it as an opportunity for lower-attaining young people to get additional support with their learning.”
(from section “Impact of DC on attainment”):
3. “In each of the five schools, DC teachers said young people’s performance levels in English had improved after participating in the programme……………Findings from the self evaluation data suggest that the majority of young pupils in the three schools made progress during their invovlement with DC (see Table 1). Most pupils had improved by at least one level in English and some had gone up two levels.”
April 2nd, 2009 — NSport, Thomas Becket, multiskills
It being week 12 of this term’s Double Club, the group were presented with their certificates of achievement (and medals to follow) in the year 8 assembly. Mr Doveston talked about the project and its success in the school so far. (This is the 2nd cphort of year 8s to go through) Beccy Roseman praised the students’ hard work, enthusiasm and energy each week. Graeme Wilson, the project’s multiskills coach from NSport reinforced this by describing the kind of activities the group had undertaken and their engagement in the practical sessions.
For more on the Double Club at Thomas Becket: http://double.northantsstudycentres.org/thomas-becket/
March 26th, 2009 — Thomas Becket
This week the Double Club discussed racism in sport and in the wider community. They watched ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ DVD and listened to famous players talking about their attitudes towards racism, their experiences of it and examples. The group then had a ‘free talk’ about how they felt about the DVD’s content and Britain being a mulitcultural society. They then completed some literacy work, mind mapping suggestions for how to kick racism out of professional football, school, young people’s minds and amateur football.
In the ICT session, the students compiled presentations, factsheets, newsletters and posters about anti-racism. They had to include a famous player’s quote, think up their own sports-themed slogan and some information about anti-racism campaigns such as ‘Kick it Out’, ‘Stand up Speak up‘ and ‘Show Racism the Red Card’.
A few people reported back to the group about their book review homework. The previous week Beccy asked students to choose a sports book from the library and do a review on it.
Player/team anagrams and playing card maths served as ‘brain-breaks’. For more on the Double Club at Thomas Becket: http://double.northantsstudycentres.org/thomas-becket/
March 24th, 2009 — Abbeyfield School, Cobblers Study Centre, NTFC
On Monday 23rd march, year 7 and 8 students from Abbeyfield’s Double Club visited NTFC and undertook some very wet stadium orienteering! They had to solve maths clues to find the right seats and stands and retrieve letters. The wind and rain were certainly heavy but the group didn’t seem to mind, it made them even more energetic! This activity was led by Cobblers Study Centre staff Jaimie Hodgkinson and Margaret Hillyer.
Back in the study centre the students worked in small groups to make anagrams from the letters they had found. The highest number of ‘proper’ words was 27, a good effort.
Next Jean Limpitlaw (Cobblers Study Centre Manager) led an observation skills activity. The group watched some skysports footage and looked out for colours, numbers and patterns. They answered questions afterwards before watching the clip again to see how accurate their observations were. Pretty good all round.
The pupils had been to watch the NTFC match on Saturday21st March vs Stockport County, a victorious 4-0 result with plenty of action. The match report can be found on: http://www.ntfc.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10425,00.html
For more information on the centre, visit www.cobblersstudycentre.org and for the club: http://www.ntfc.co.uk/page/Home/
March 12th, 2009 — Steelbacks Study Centre, Thomas Becket
Double Clubbers from Thomas Becket School visited the Steelbacks Study Centre and Northants County Cricket Club on Thursday 12th March. Yvonne Tervit and Lynn Harrison from the centre led the day’s activities which started with a word association game in the new study centre. (ooooh posh!) The group had to stand up and shout out associated words, alternating nouns and adjectives.
Next was the stadium tour and students made notes about all the areas in the ground. We saw the first team (Nial O’Brien, David Wigley, Graeme White…) in training in the indoor arena with their coaches David Capel, David Ripley and Kevin Innes. The idea was to look for ways to advertise the ground to get more spectators to visit. They had to write a script to plan their persuasive speech to be recorded onto the applemac laptops later using the garageband voice programme.
The pairs came up with some great ideas and used the knowledge they had just learnt from the tour to encourage visitors to the ground. To see more about the centre: www.steelbacksstudycentre.org and the club on www.nccc.co.uk.
March 5th, 2009 — Cobblers Study Centre, NSport, NTFC, Reading, Thomas Becket, multiskills
On 5th March 09, Cobblers youth team players Ben Judd and Ross Oulton visited the school’s library to help celebrate World Book Day and to work with a group of year 8 students who have been taking part in the Double Club this term. The lads answered pre-prepared questions from the youngsters based around reading, books, authors, types of reading and studying. Of course there were the usual football and general questions too. This information will be used for follow up literacy/ICT work in a later Double Club session. Ben and Ross did well explaining their answers and had a laugh talking with the students about films, cars, famous footballers and pets. As all NTFC youth team players study sports-related courses at Moulton College, it shows school children what sorts of courses are available and how to balance work and study commitments. Thanks to the lads as well as Louise, the school librarian. These appearances always make a big impact on pupils and their learning.
Special reading-themed sessions followed, with students doing a ‘programme trail’ using NTFC match day programmes. They were asked to solve literacy and numeracy clues using reading skills such as scanning for key information, to solve a NTFC-themed crossword. Next they read a chapter from ‘Bend it Like Beckham’. The group discussed and wrote about how the lead character Jess felt when certain events occurred, such as getting fouled, getting sent off, scoring a goal and having racist abuse shouted at her. The group really got into the character’s mind and explored various issues and themes within the book. Many students had a go a reading aloud, which was great to hear. The group watched the corresponding section of the tie-in DVD and chatted about whether the actors’ facial expressions matched the feelings of the book’s characters.
Earlier in the day, the students participated in their weekly practical session of multi-skills with Northamptonshire Sport coach Graeme Wilson. The ‘double’ experience of physical and educational sessions aims to motivate and engage students in their learning. Having NTFC players to interview provides an excellent opportunity for showing how the power of sport interests children in their schoolwork as well as an example of using sport across the curriculum.
To find out more about the Youth team visit: http://www.ntfc.co.uk/page/YouthIndex/
http://double.northantsstudycentres.org/thomas-becket/
March 3rd, 2009 — Abbeyfield School, Steelbacks Study Centre
On Monday 3rd March, year 7, 8 students from Abbeyfield School visited the Steelbacks Study Centre at Northants Cricket Club as part of their Double Club experience. They interviewed new signing Ryan Cummins, asking him all sorts of questions. They used a questioning frame tp prompt them and guide their note-taking. Back in school they will use this information to write player profiles. Ryan was happy to talk and related well to the students. To find out more about Ryan visit http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/11751.html and Northants Cricket Club at http://www.northantscricket.com
Next was club shop maths whereby students worked to a budget, looked at merchandising and various aspects of the cricket shop. Thanks to centre manager Yvonne Starsmeare and co-ordinator Lyn Harrison who led the visit. www.steelbacksstudycentre.org
February 12th, 2009 — Saints Study Centre, Thomas Becket, multiskills
In week 6, the Double Club group visited the Saints Study Centre at Franklin’s Garden’s stadium. They prepared for an official press interview with Study Centre co-ordinator Jeanette Campkin putting them through their paces. They practised asking questions, making up their own and voice techniques. Everyone had to think of which media organisation they were ‘from’, such as Sky Sports, Saints news, Sportsround and Setanta. They interviewed Saints community coaches Rowland Winter and Liam Welsh. The students learnt a great deal about the two coaches and made notes about: early sporting memories, heroes, school experiences, reading habits, favourite foods and animals, recently watched films and other sporting interests. Some interesting questions came from the pupils as well. The two lads were excellent in answering a barrage of questions and had a laugh with the group. Next, students worked in the ICT suite to write up their notes in a player profile PowerPoint. To see some of their work, download examples below. We think you’ll agree, the literacy and ICT skills are top-notch!
Afterwards, the group visited the Saints Club shop with Study Centre manager Pete Austen and senior mentor Vicky Campkin. They completed a numeracy activity around the shop’s items, budgeting, merchandising and sales.
Double Club pupils had also taken part in the usual weekly Multi-skills sessions before they came on the visit, so had been very busy all in all! University of Northampton student Emily Percival and Cobblers Study Centre mentor Jo Morris also joined today’s activities. A big thanks to the coaches and study centre staff at the Saints who made this such an enjoyable and educational visit.
For more on the Saints Study Centre, visit their website: www.saintsstudycentre.org
For more on Saints Rugby Club, visit their website: http://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/
January 29th, 2009 — NSport, Thomas Becket, practical sport sessions
While Beccy Roseman was away on retreat with 6th formers, Anna, Helena and Jo from Northants Study Centres took the Double Club group. After a very cold multi-skills session with Graeme, (rolling rounders was muchos fun) they did some pitch measuring and worked out the areas and perimeters of various sports pitches.
They tried on the Saints rugby kit and took notes about the various items. Students asked questions around safety, materials, use, sponsorship and club colours. In ICT, they used this information to create colourful eye-catching adverts for sports equipment shops. There were some good ideas, with most people choosing to detail the rugby kit’s features and offer good ‘deals’.
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