The Double Club based at a secondary school will use sport as a vehicle for learning and engagement in the curriculum. The name “double” comes from the project being aimed to give school pupils a “double” experience, learning through sport, educationally and physically. It was developed by Arsenal FC in 1998 because there was a need to motivate and engage pupils, particularly boys, to read and write in inner city schools. The passion sport is a great way to attract their attention. However, we have the added advantage of having 3 professional sports clubs in the town to enthuse children with.
Why Northampton Secondary schools?
The schools are seeking to improve the following:
• improve standards and achievement throughout the school
• raise the level of attendance
• raise the standards of literacy, particularly that of the boys
• improve the consistency of teaching and learning across subjects to the level of the best
Staffing
Northamptonshire County Council and the school have identified key personnel to support the delivery of the Double Club programme in the school. Anna Letts from the Northamptonshire Study Centres team will provide her knowledge, skills and experience of working within PfS and in schools. The school will identify a suitable member of staff such as a teacher with a PE/literacy background to deliver alongside Anna. Perhaps someone who has a genuine interest in PfS and already acts as the school’s current PfS link teacher. An assistant Head of Year is essential in setting up and line managing this project too. The team needs to provide a good balance of knowledge between school curriculum and pupil needs and the PfS philosophy and ethos.
Venue
A multi-purpose classroom to be identified by the school. The room should be spacious, well equipped and have the flexibility to host a variety of activities. Close proximity to the PE facilities and an ICT suite is desirable. The room will be colourful and bright to make a great back drop for creating an inspirational and sport-based learning environment to display sports club memorabilia, club colours, promotional materials and children’s work.
Timetable
Three, 50 minute curriculum-based sessions and one 50 minute practical session per week. During the first term the curriculum-based lessons will be jointly planned, delivered and evaluated by both the school teacher and Anna Letts, the Study Centre member of staff. The practical sessions will be delivered by the Community Development Officers from the three sports clubs.
Pupils to be Targeted
Classes of 15 children will be identified from Year 7 and 8 who are presently underachieving, disaffected and poor attendees. The key focus will be on improving literacy since this area of the curriculum has been identified by the school and Ofsted as a pupil attribute requiring significant improvement.
Support of Host Clubs
All three town clubs (Northampton Saints Rugby Club, Northampton Steelbacks Cricket Club and Northampton Town FC) will be linked to the Double Club programme in order to maximise interest from the young people and to ensure that more support can be achieved from all three corresponding clubs. Therefore the three sports of football, cricket and rugby will be covered. All clubs community departments are fully supportive and are happy to provide assistance in further enhancing the existing strong and established partnerships between the PfS study centres and club community departments.
Rewards/incentives
The club community departments have offered in-kind contribution in the form of access to the stadium for tours, subsidised tickets, player appearances, coaching sessions, t-shirts, articles in the programmes, club merchandise, and Study Centre visits.
It is proposed that the Double Club reward system will feed into the existing schools credit system. Half-termly awards and celebration presentations provide excellent opportunities for those attending the Double Club to be recognised and acknowledge by peers, teachers and parents/carers. Each of the sports clubs has agreed that players and officials will be available to attend award ceremonies to present certificates and prizes.
Monitoring and Evaluation Plans
The Double Club will use existing school assessment, evaluation and monitoring tools to measure the impact and benefits of this intervention. The school will provide relevant and up-to-date benchmark information in both a quantitative and qualitative form.
Mentoring Role
There is the opportunity to get the school’s 6th formers on board with this project. They can work alongside year 7 and 8 pupils as learning mentors. They will work with small groups or on a 1-1 basis, always under the supervision of the Double Club staff. Their aim is also to promote self esteem and confidence amongst young people and assist them in improving their key study skills. The 6th formers will gain in their own confidence as they see how positively the younger students react to them. They will be rewarded with similar benefits to those mentioned above, as well as receiving references, evaluations and work experience diaries to contribute to their own development in the 6th form.
Here is our case study for raising levels in literacy and numeracy:
case-study-double-club-raising-lit-and-num
To see how Double Club fits into the school SEF, download the Northanst Study Centres information here: sef-sept-08
To see the Study Centres’ Annual Review, click here: annual-review-2008-final
Check out NFER’s (National Foundation for Educational Research) published report for DCSF. (May 2009)
