March 4, 2008
Gateshead Girls Active 2008
On Tuesday 26th February, 36 girls from 10 Gateshead Secondary Schools took part in the Girls Active Roadshow at Broomley Grange Outdoor Activity Centre.
The day proved a great success (despite strong winds) with all pupils enjoying the challenges they were presented with! The girls took part in a variety of adventurous activities including climbing, high ropes, zip wire, assault course, log walk and problem solving.
A key aim of the day was to inspire and motivate whilst developing both team and communication skills. This seemed second nature to nearly all in attendance and it was fantastic to see pupils from different schools working together so well and forming new friendships.
To find out more please click on the 'continue reading' link below.
Following the activities, a short presentation was delivered which outlined the purpose of the project whilst providing advice and ideas on what the girls needed to do upon their return to school;
- To design and promote a Girls Active club of their own (to run for a minimum of 6 weeks)
- To target girls in year 9 (particularly those disinterested in traditional PE and/or school sport
- To ensure this club is up and running immediately after the Easter holidays (21st April 2008)
For further pictures from the day please continue to scroll down the page;
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January 9, 2008
The FA TESCO Skills Programme
As part of The Football Association’s drive to raise standards in 5-11year old players, a new coaching opportunity has arisen to affect the long term development of the game. The FA Tesco Skills Programme aims to provide 5-11 year olds with professional coaching and advice to help develop their football skills. Moreover, Trevor Brooking and his team at The FA aim to use football to promote long term healthy and active lifestyles by encouraging children to play football to the best of their ability.
66 full-time professional coaches have undertaken a specialist age appropriate coaching course designed to make them world leading experts in improving the football skills of 5-11 year olds. 6 of these coaches are working out of Durham County FA with the following regions being covered: Gateshead, Sunderland, Derwentside / Chester-le-Street, Stockton, Sedgefield / Wear Valley, South Tyneside and Sunderland.
Within Gateshead, as in the other boroughs, coaches are working closely with the Schools Sports Partnerships, the Local Authorities and Charter Standard Boys Clubs to ensure that the programme is having as much impact at on as many children as possible. Included in this work are the FA Skills Centres; specially designed courses dedicated to the long term development of young players.
The FA Skills Centres run on evening time throughout the year in conjunction with the academic calendar. They offer youngsters the opportunity to make decisions for themselves, encouraging them to solve problems and creating environments where making mistakes is acceptable and seen as an important part of the learning process. Splitting the Centres into three age groups gives the young people the opportunity to have lots of practice with young people of the same age.
Gateshead is in the fortunate position of offering youngsters two Skills Centres. The first is at Chopwell Pioneer Centre; a brand new indoor facility that is adjoined to Chopwell Primary School. Providing the benefits of a modern day sports facility makes it a hugely stimulating environment for the children to learn in. The second is at Gateshead International Stadium; a large indoor facility renowned not just in the North East but throughout England. Providing children with a large indoor venue GIS continues to offer brilliant training surroundings ideal for the young people. The details for each of these centres are provided below:
CHOPWELL PIONEER CENTRE (Tuesdays)
5-7 year olds - 4:30-5:30pm
7-9 year olds - 5:30-6:30pm
9-11 year olds - 6:30-7:30pm
GATESHEAD INTERNATIONAL STADIUM (Wednesdays)
5-7 year olds - 3:30-4:30pm**
7-9 year olds - 4:30-5:30pm
9-11 year olds - 5:30-6:30pm
COST - £1 per session (paid in blocks of 5/6 sessions)
**Due to early start and difficulty to arrive on time straight from school, there is a large amount of leniency allowed on punctuality for this session.
For more information on the FA Skills Centre or to enrol, please contact Robbie Pringle (FA Coach) on 07943862272 / Robbie.Pringle@TheFA.com. Alternatively, visit ww.thefa.com/skills or visit your local Skills Centre to pick up a booking form / information sheet.
‘We’ve got to give every 5-11 year old in England the opportunity to play and enjoy the game and, if they want to get better, show them how’
Sir Trevor Brooking (Director of Football Development, The Football Association)
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December 18, 2007
Falla Park - Schools On The Move
Since the launch, on Monday 29th of October 2007, the Year 6 children at Falla Park Community Primary School have certainly been spreading the word on how to get fit and have fun with a pedometer!
It is fair to say that some of the children were a little bit shocked with their baseline results, and have since made a fantastic effort to improve their levels of activity. The enthusiasm and sustained effort the pupils have displayed has really impressed both of the year 6 teachers.
The class teachers said: “It’s great to see the children so keen to get active and taking responsibility for their own health and fitness. The programme also helps to develop the children’s ICT skills.”
On a day to day basis ‘Schools on the Move’ monitors are in charge of collecting the children’s daily steps, with monitors changing every two weeks. This was suggested by one of the pupils, who believed monitors were gaining an unfair advantage over their peers as they were being provided with an opportunity to increase their daily steps.
At the beginning of every week, children spend five minutes uploading their previous weekly steps total and discuss new targets with their SOTM talking partners. They discuss how they were successful, offering support, encouragement, feedback and motivation to maintain and increase activity levels. The pupils and the teachers love it as every week they get to chat and share ideas with someone different, and it is always fun to hear what people are doing to reach their targets.
Quotes from Pupils:
“I’ve been top of the class for two weeks in a row – I’m going for GOLD!!” said Anthony McKeown enthusiastically
“Well, it makes me generally more energetic so therefore much happier,” explained David Gordon
“I think it helps you become fitter because it really motivates you to achieve!” exclaimed Rachel Campbell.
“Schools on the Move is enjoyable because it turns exercise into fun games for everyone to do no matter what their ability,” said Jacob Marvel.
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November 19, 2007
As part of a programme of activities for 2008 the Gateshead/Whickham School Sport Partnership will be launching an initiative designed to increase activity levels amongst pupils within Key Stage 2.
The key themes of the project will focus on the importance of being physically active, eating properly and generally having a healthy lifestyle. As part of this project, pupils will be provided with the opportunity to try new activities and learn about healthy food choices and lifestyle options.
In recognition of the above, a competition is being launched, challenging children to come up with a name and logo for this initiative.
To find out more about this competition and the prizes on offer please click on the 'continue reading' link below.
Entries will be judged by a panel of senior School Sport Partnership staff and members of Gateshead Councils Sport Development & Physical Activity Unit.
Fantastic prizes are available for schools to win:
1st Place - £100 of physical activity equipment
2nd Place - £50 of physical activity equipment
3rd Place - £25 of physical activity equipment
The deadline for entries is Friday 14th December 2007
Please return to:
Alex Perkins
Whickham School & Sports College
Burnthouse Lane
Whickham
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE16 5AR
A worksheet has been designed to assist pupils in the design of a logo. To download a copy please click on the link below:
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October 29, 2007
Schools On The Move - Launched Today!
More than 500 pupils from Gateshead primary schools have started using step-counting pedometers from today as part of a pilot project to increase fitness and physical activity levels.
Pupils from nine primary schools and one secondary school will be using the devices over an 18 week period. The pedometers and accompanying web-based resources will act as a stimulus to encourage pupils to increase their levels of activity.
Children are able to see exactly how many steps they take each day and are able to track their own individual progress through the use of an interactive website full of advice and personal targets.
Schools will be able to track their overall step counts and progress in relation to other schools within the area and nationally.
Schools On The Move is being funded by the Department of Health and managed by the Youth Sport Trust. It is subsequently being implemented by School Sport Partnerships across the country.
For further information and pictures of the official launch, please click on the 'continue reading' link below.
For further information please visit the Schools On The Move Website: http://public.schoolsonthemove.co.uk/
For information on the scheme in Gateshead please email Alex Perkins: alexperkins@gateshead.gov.uk
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February 15, 2007
Do you need help getting more girls involved in sport and physical activity?
Then GirlsActive may be the solution and it is now here in the Gateshead/Whickham School Sport Partnership.
An initiative developed by the Youth Sport Trust and Norwich Union and supported by National School Sport Champion Dame Kelly Holmes, GirlsActive is designed to encourage more teenage girls to take part in sport and physical activity.
Research carried out for the programme revealed that 80 per cent of girls would like to become more physically active but do not for a variety of reasons. The double Olympic champion played a key role in a series of three regional GirlsActive roadshows held in the Autumn.
Our partnership was represented at one of these roadshows by Whickham School and Sports College. It was a very successful experience for the girls who attended and you can see them above, at the roadshow, with Dame Kelly Holmes. Following this experience the initiative is currently being piloted in school. The plan is to roll this out to other interested schools in our partnership in the very near future.
Please contact Yvonne Hoyland, Partnership Development Manager, if you are interested in being included in this initiative.
Articles from the Youth Sport Trust on line magazine regarding this initiative can be found below for your information.
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April 18, 2006
KS1/2 BASE Clubs Initiative
Certificates are now available to download for all Schools taking part in the KS1/2 BASE Club Initiative this year. They should be distributed to all young people that complete the full 10 hour programme.
You can download the certificates by right clicking on the links below and selecting 'save target as'. I have posted 2 versions of the certificate (1 using Microsoft Publisher and 1 using Microsoft Word) for those of you that may not be able to open publisher documents.
Posted by Kevin Hay at 1:45 PM | Comments(0)