Montsaye on tour at Rushden and Diamonds Football Club
On Friday 29th February, year 9 Double Club students from Montsaye Community College visited Rushden and Diamonds Football Club and the Diamonds Study Centre. This visit is part of the Double Club programme running at the school were disengaged and demotivated students receive study support sessions in order to improve their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills through sport. These classes also aim to boost self-confidence and self esteem. Usually, Double Club teacher from Northants Study Centres Anna Letts visits the school for 1 day each week but this week the class are on the move.
13 students, along with their Montsaye teacher Mr Brotherstone, spent the day at the Nene Park Stadium and undertook a range of educational and practical activities, led by Study Centre manager Rob Jones. First they made a name badge using their ICT skills and the Diamonds Study Centre’s brand new computers to incorporate digital photos, backgrounds and RDFC logos. Then they used PowerPoint and their Internet research skills to construct 2 player profiles of well-known footballers. One was from the current RDFC squad and one who plays in the same position from a team of their choice, usually from a premiership team. Students used the RDFC website as well as wikipedia and football sites to write a short biography and summary of the players careers. This enabled students to learn more about RDFC players and the club.
Meanwhile, outside the Sports Centre where the Study Centre is housed, on the 2 training pitches nearby, the Rushden and Diamonds first team and reserve team were practising with their coaches. Rob told the group who all the players were and some information about them and pointed out a few famous faces. The reserve team and academy players often use the ICT equipment in the study centre as well as the tactics board and with their players restaurant next door, it was great for the students to see what the players do when they are not playing matches.
Rushden and Diamonds community coach Gary took the students for a practical football session on the Astroturf where the emphasis was on shooting skills. This follows a series of sessions held at Montsaye each week by Diamonds coach Mark Smith, making the Double Club project a ‘Double Experience’, both practical and educational. The game was certainly competitative with the students showing an aptitude for the sport as well as good teamwork, communication and co-operation skills. They encouraged each other to join in and the lads got the girls to play an equal part in the game, some of them taking on a starring shooting role.
After lunch, Rob led a stadium tour around Nene Park where the Montsaye students saw behind the scenes of this ‘no-expense spared’ sporting complex. They visited the Kimberley Conference Suite, the players’ dressing rooms and photo-covered wall of fame, the players tunnel, 4 stands, home and away dugouts, press room and directors box. Many photos showed the students ‘in action’ as fans, coaches, managers, players and stewards.
Back in the study centre, the pupils completed a stadium tour postcard using photos taken on the tour, accompanied by some information they had learnt. This could be facts and figures about the stadium, what certain aspects/rooms were used for and what they thought of it. They used text boxes and speech bubbles as well as experimenting with backgrounds, formats and humorous commentary.
A great day was had by all and the students told staff how much they had enjoyed the day. They realised they had been learning all the time despite enjoying themselves and didn’t class these activities as ‘real schoolwork’. However, now they know different! It’ about getting the right ‘hook’ to interest pupils and then harnessing this motivation for learning. Their behaviour was excellent and they worked hard. It was great to see the students in a different environment and they all got something out of the day. These pastoral aspects will transfer back in school when the final Double Club lessons are held next week using the stadium visit as a stimulus for learning.
In the Spring 08 term, year 9 students from Montsaye Community College have been taking part in a ‘mini’ Double Club. This project hopes to engage students who are demotivated in their usual schoolwork and enthuse them through sport to improve their maths, english and ICT skills. 15 year 9s meet for 4 lessons a week with Double Club teacher Anna Letts from the Northants Study Centres and school teacher Mr Brotherston. Head of year 9 Mrs Wake is heading up this project.
Each week, Mark Smith, a community coach from Rushden and Diamonds Football Club visits the school to teach football skills, small sided games, teamwork making sure everyone joins in and has fun. A day visit to the football club and Diamonds Study Centre will happen in February.
During the lessons, which are also aimed at raising self steem and confidence, students have been creating fantasy teams whilst balancing a budget, writing match reports, watching game footage from ‘Arsenal TV’ and analysing player performance. They have written sports themed poetry, looked at sports action photos to construct creative captions and solved maths equations using team squad numbers.
Scott Cohen, Arsenal Double Club co-ordinator will visit the school on Wednesday 31st January to check on progress and see what the children are doing.
Anna Letts said “The children are gradually getting used to the type of sports based learning this project requires and are doing some good work. Hopefully their motivation will increase as they progress.”
Mr Brotherston “The Double Club is an excellent and enjoyable way in which students can access and engage with the curriculum through the medium of sport, opening new opportunities and ideas to aid learning in the classroom.”
The Double Club follows on from the Classroom Champions project the year 8s took part in last year. The Classroom Champions teacher spent days working in the school bringing PfS style activities to them with a follow up visit to Saints Rugby Club and Saints Study Centre. Here 60 children took part in stadium tours, ICT work and tag rugby community coaching.
For the scheme of work being used in this project:
double-club-curric-plan-montsaye.doc
For more information on the school:
http://www.montsaye.northants.sch.uk/
Corey Carson says “The Diamonds coach was good because he teaches us well. Like passing, chest control. The lessons are fun because we do lots of different activities”
Andrew Sharman “The football was fun, he taught us new ways of training. The lessons teach you about sport and healthy eating.”
David Peel “The football was a good influence because we learnt loads of different skills. Lessons were good because we were allowed to go and make a football fantasy team.”
Shannen Smith “You learn in a different way, through practical things. The first lesson when we did maths with player number cards.”
Aiden Smith “We learnt about sport, match reports, captions, players. The practical is good because you learn new football techniques.”
Tom Wegener “We have been talking about football, rugby, cricket. The footy lessons are pretty beast because they are proper fun, teaching you a lot about the wonderful game.”
Merson Styles “Its been good having Diamonds coach because he taught a variety of things. In class we did a fantasy team, maths using a budget.”
Jack Cathorne “This is alright because we learnt that players are more about than playing on the pitch. They have to put more effort in. The lessons have shown us what they do.”
Dominic Limmage “The lessons are good because we are doing different things than we would do in normal lessons. Its fun because its sporty.”
Kyle Hankins “We found out that the players don’t just perform on the pitch every week. They have to train and eat healthily. We have been finding out how they do it. The football coaches taught us how to bring the ball down from the air.”
Mica Ramsey “These lessons are easier because there is no pressure to get everything right. It is fun because we do practical things we wouldn’t normally do in lessons.”
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