December 2008 - Issue 14 |
Centre News
The BBC Breakfast programme recently covered the books produced by Portsmouth to encourage reading. David James appeared as did Clare Martin who is instrumental in getting the books published. Clare is also arranging for the FA cup to visit every school in Portsmouth and every class.
The Warriors Study centre at Worcester has produced its latest termly newsletter to promote the centre locally. Details from Glynn Lodge at the centre. The centre has just taken delivery of a new minibus which it shares with the community department of the club.
The MK Dons has an article on the Football League Trust web site. The link Page is http://www.givemefootball.com/pfa/pfa-in-the-community-news/playing-for-success---playing-for-words also go back to other articles as a number feature PfS work such as a release from Nottingham Forest. There is a blog http://www.heronsgate.milton keynes.sch.uk/site/The_Cowshed_Blog/The_Cowshed_Blog.html. Take a moment to have a look at the childrens’ views on their time with us here at the centre and their pictures. Details from Angie Warde,
Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, Stadium:mk Tel: 0796 0192907
Watford Learning Centre has been featured in the PfA magazine as part of the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of PfS.
Match of the Day at Everton
The recent Match of the Day community feature filmed at the Extra Time Study Support Centre with Phil Jagielka is now available online at the link below. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/football_focus/7748762.stm
Harmony day at Birmingham PfS.
Villa, Blues and Moseley Rugby all together at ‘Harmony Day’ Monday 20 October 2008
There may be a long standing tradition of ‘friendly’ rivalry between Birmingham City and Aston Villa but on 20 October, pupils from all three PfS centres in Birmingham came together for ‘Harmony Day’ hosted at Birmingham City FC. The event, now in its second year, is run by the PfS centres as part of the ‘Kick It Out’ week of action which celebrates cultural diversity and promotes inclusion.
The pupils had a great time taking part in a range of performance poetry activities run by lifelong Blues fan and former Birmingham Poet Laureate Giovanni Esposito – better known as Spoz.
Special guests including Blues striker Cameron Jerome, Moseley Rugby’s James Rodwell and the Lord Mayor of Birmingham Councillor Chauhdry Rashid attended the event and helped to make it an enjoyable and memorable occasion for all the pupils.
The event was featured on Midlands Today and Central Tonight and clips of these two programmes can be seen on the video pages of the newly revamped Birmingham PfS website www.pfsbham.co.uk along with the pupils’ collaborative anti racism poem which was compiled by Spoz from all the pupils’ rhymes.
The five centres in Kirklees shared the costs of buying in Ian McMillan for a session based at HTFC; each centre sent 15 children, 75 in total, to participate in a poetry workshop. Ian was brilliant and had children and adults in stitches in addition to producing some fantastic poetry in groups. It was well worth the cost between 5 centres. This will lead to follow up literacy work and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
His contact details are: www.uktouring.org.uk adrian@uktouring.org.uk.
Adrian Mealing was the person I spoke to regarding all the booking details - tel 01684 540366. The costs were £750 + VAT + travel. Further information available from Jeanette Palmer, Kirklees Playing for Success Manager.
Colchester United Community Sports Trust (CUCST) has been awarded Bronze status by The Football League Trust for its work in the community - receiving £24k which will be invested in community activities. CUCST was assessed by the Trust Regional Management team who found that its community work met the required standard for a Bronze award. In addition to fulfilling the Football League Trust’s Minimum Charter standard, CUCST’s staff demonstrated the following:
A coach to child ratio of 1:16 for all activities
All activities led by an FA Level 2 qualified coach or above
A business plan with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is published
Delivery to the Football League Trust’s four main themes of Health, Education, Social Inclusion/ Community Cohesion and Sports Participation
Establishing working partnerships with external agencies eg local authorities.
CUCST Chief Executive Steve Bradshaw said: “This is a great achievement and it’s thanks to the hard work of all of our staff. We’re now working towards achieving Silver status in the new year.” Football League Trust General Manager Dave Edmundson said: “We have been extremely impressed with the standard of community work across the country. “We are sure the investment will benefit the many thousands who participate in community activities with Football League clubs.”
Bronze awards have been made to 20 Championship clubs, 19 in League 1 and 17 in League 2. One of the key elements is the presence of a PfS centre in the club. This is covered under partnerships but is much more explicit in other documents.
The Foxes Learning Centre
On Wednesday 12 November, fifteen pupils from the Foxes Learning Centre were invited to the Apple Store in Leicester’s new Highcross centre. The children, fourteen from St Thomas More Primary and one from Bushloe High, were there to showcase the amazing work created this term at the Walkers Stadium based classroom. Animations, films, websites and comic strips were all represented.
Presenting work on giant screens in front of the general public was a great experience. Everyone had a brilliant time, and even received a free Apple t-shirt. As the organiser, I received an 18 month One-to-One pass offering weekly tuition on any Apple related topic.
For more info, or to book your own Field Trip, check out this link: http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/fieldtrip/ or contact Dirk on
dirksmith@me.com or 07525 062511.
On Wednesday 19 November, one hundred Foxes Learning Centre pupils (past, present and future) were invited to come and see the FA Cup
Trophy Tour Bus @ The Walkers Stadium. Whilst here, the children scored a goal in an FA cup final and lifted the famous trophy for themselves. A clever tracking system allows you to see the video clips online 24 hours after a visit. The pupils also took part in table football, 3-a-side and power kick competitions. Lots of fun was had by all (staff included!)
For further details contact Dirk at the centre.
PfS Cornwall has produced a 4 minute DVD on the Spirit of Mystery exhibition held in Falmouth. Copies are available via the PfS projects in the county.
Birmingham PfS web site
The Birmingham playing for Success web site is being updated – www.pfsbham.co.uk so please have a look! As well as information about the Birmingham Playing for Success Project there are individual sections showcasing each of the three centres in the city - Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Moseley Rugby - and video clips and photos of pupils from all three centres working together on a variety of joint projects.
Swindon web site
The STFC Study Centre web site went live last month and we are really pleased with it. The site is set up so that it can be easily edited by ourselves, which is a huge benefit as we can keep the site completely up to date on a day to day basis. We have published the latest Study Support Evaluation Report (see links on Study Support Page) and also photographs from the Broadcast Challenge last week. Details from Kate Steadman STFC Study Centre 01793 333752. The address is www.stfcstudy.org.uk.
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Playing for Success
Rex Hall Associates Ltd
The Tom Silk Building
Halfords Lane
West Bromwich
B71 4LG
Tel: +44 (0) 121 525 7907
Email: info@playingforsuccess.org.uk