June 2009 - Issue 21 |
Message of the Month
Playing for Success National Conference 2009 – St John’s Hotel, Solihull
All pictures from the conference are now available on the MDA website. If you have any problems logging in or have forgotten you password please contact Imran Malik, imran@rexhallassociates.com.
Feedback from this year’s National Conference has been very positive with all delegates that completed an evaluation stating that it met its aims, objectives and expectations either entirely or almost entirely. Speakers included Simon Morgan – Premier League, Sue Hackman – DCSF, Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE and Phil Beadle. Again feedback was mainly good and excellent.
Approximately 152 Centre Managers, 56 Club contacts and 46 Local Authority representatives attended indicating that we need to work even closer with our partners to ensure representation from our key partners.
The Wakefield PfS team and young people from Saddlers Learning Centre provided inspirational show cases of their work. More young people, through the ‘Supporter to Reporter’ programme in Northamptonshire and West Bromwich Albion’s ‘Communicating for Success’ project, interviewed speakers and delegates to provide us with an evaluation DVD. Delegates welcomed the input from young people.
For the first time we had an off site visit to a Midlands based PfS Centre; Aston Villa Football Club and had seminars as well as workshops. Delegates rated these highly – showing a marked improvement on past years. Spot Me; the handheld device used throughout, was rated as excellent or good with just one delegate rating it as poor. We are endeavouring constantly to respond to environmental concerns through the notion of a paperless conference and noted that this year the majority of delegates used public transport. Randomly selected Centre Managers, LA and Club Contacts have been participating in telephone interviews so we can begin to shape next year’s conference. Delegates who gave interesting feedback will be contacted and asked to elaborate and, in some cases, join the planning committee. If you are interested in contributing to the content and organisation of next year’s conference please contact Allison@rexhallassociates.com.
2009 CLUBCARDS
HOMEPAGE SECTION OF PfS WEBSITE
www.playingforsuccessonline.org.uk
A reminder to all PfS centre managers and managers of the Associate Centres in Partnership with Playing for Success that the 2009 CLUBCARD TEMPLATE is now available to download from the homepage of the PfS website.
The template should be completed by centre managers and returned to TRACEY JONES at the admin base by 23 June 09.
Please ensure that the review text reflects the work of Playing for Success at the centre.
You were previously asked for changes to logos and contact details, these have now all been actioned and the 2008 clubcard directory in the website has been amended.
New Associate Centres in Partnership with Playing for Success will need to forward high resolution logos when returning their clubcard to Tracey.
The 2009 yearbook will include a report on the development of daytime programmes – to this end please also complete the attached proforma (this applies only to PfS centres)
Summer 2009 – PfS Centres Summer Activities
Last year we produced a summary of all the Summer Activities that took place in PfS centres that we were aware of for the DCSF but we know that many fantastic things happened that weren’t included because we didn’t have the details. So this year we’d like the report to be more representative of what is going on....
We will be doing a similar report this September so we would like to ask you know to send information (including numbers, ages and target groups plus a thumbnail sketch of the sort of activities and the skills and attributes developed), photos (if you have appropriate permissions for publication) and quotes to the office about your activities as they happen and/or by the end of August. In addition to the report for DCSF we will pull together a Summer Activities Newsletter to share information between centres and to develop ideas and practice in future years.
Please send all information clearly marked Summer 2009 to Tracey Jones.
Communicating for Success - Pompey Study Centre team up with Royal Manor Arts College and the Portland & the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy for Communicating for Success Project!
Portsmouth to Portland!
As part of the CfS project two teachers from the Pompey Study Centre were able to spend a week in Dorset working with youngsters from a local Portland school, using one of the fabulous Pompey Learning buses. The youngsters, all aged 14-15, all worked towards their RYA Level 1 at the Sailing Academy, the first 2012 Olympic venue to be completed. During their time ashore, the children worked on the bus to help improve their maths and science skills through the theme of sailing and by using IT.
The bus has a unique IT classroom environment, where the children were able to use an innovative Activote system to tackle interactive sailing/maths and science quizzes on a large plasma screen. They were also able to work on their own laptop to look at recovery from exercise in an activity called ‘Fit for Football, Stamina for Sailing.’
The project was capped with a royal visit from HRH Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip, who were inspecting the Sailing Academy before leaving for Weymouth in a £9m yacht.
Teaching on the bus was an absolute delight for both teachers as the children really threw themselves into every single mad activity that had been planned for them!
The children and their teachers have been invited to Fratton Park to visit the stadium and the Study Centre.
Clare Martin, Portsmouth FC – Pompey Study Centre
CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION
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