Silverstone Study Centre

Sebastian Vettel drove a superbly smooth and measured race to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Last week we held our summer term Presentation Evening for all those involved in this terms Playing for Success programme. Pupils, parents and teachers came along to celebrate the achievements of the young learners. Not only that but Steve Deeks, professional racing driver and presenter of Channel 4 show GT Academy, took part in a question and answer session before presenting the children with their certificate and prize.

Here at Silverstone Study Centre we have recently been awarded the Bronze level in the Active Involvement Charter Mark Award.

This measures to what extent and how meaningfully we involve children and young people in our organisation. This award has been written to enable organisations who are members of The Northamptonshire Children and Young People’s Partnership, like us, to demonstrate that they actively involve children and young people in making important decisions and shaping the services that they receive. 

Now we have successfully achieved the Bronze level we hope to progress  to the Silver level in the near future.  These Awards are designed to build your (all children and young people) active involvement in decision making and shaping the services we deliver to you whilst at Silverstone Study Centre.

Tonight is the last Presentation Evening of this school year. I wonder what the parents and pupils thought of it? Feel free to let us know by leaving a comment below…

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Last week we had to clear the study centre ready for the Grand Prix later in the month. Everything was boxed up, cleared out and stored in a unit within Silverstone. Even the grandstand had to be taken down! Take a look at the slideshow to see what we’ve been up to!

Just to remind all Playing for Success pupils, parents and school staff that we are hosting our termly presentation evening tomorrow (Tues 2nd June) in the International Media Centre from 6.30 to 8.00 pm to celebrate the achievements of the children during this terms programme.

As well as a summary of the highlights of this term’s activities, there will be a prize giving ceremony and a short address from a member of the Silverstone driving team. Every child will be presented with a ‘graduation’ certificate and prize.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The annual Playing for Success (PfS) Conference is an opportunity for PfS staff from the 160 centres around the country to meet, share new ideas, celebrate success and be inspired to further develop our work with young people.

Last week’s conference in Solihull was my first and provided me with enough ideas and food for thought to have made it worthwhile. The overall enthusiasm for and success of the Playing for Success programme nationally was great to experience, as was the desire to make it even better - with children and young people at the centre of the development process. The national picture mirrors what we are aiming for in Northamptonshire’s study centres and I felt reassured that we are doing a great job while at the same time being inspired to make our offering even more effective and exciting.

Matthew Pinsent, the olympic rowing gold-medallist, delivered a stirring insight into the dedication, attention-t0-detail and teamwork that is required to reach one’s ultimate goal. An olympic rower I am not but I know plenty of teachers and pupils who aim and expect much of themselves and are willing to do what it takes to make ‘good stuff’ happen. Two young student reporters from Northamptonshire, who were invited to showcase the work of the Radiowaves Supporter to Reporter Programme, are a great example of Pinsent-like dedication and professionalism.

Phil Beadle has always been a bit of a teaching hero of mine and it was a treat to listen to him during the conference. He’s been on telly - as he will often remind you - and teaches in tough inner-city schools. He is another example of  someone who is single-minded in doing what it takes to reach his goal - to make students enjoy and value learning.

His style is abrasive, creative and effective. His secrets are pretty simple really:

• teachers talk less
• get kids moving more
• abundant authentic praise
• speak kids ‘language’
• make boring stuff interesting.

I might make them the unofficial Silverstone Study Centre mission statement. One of the above ingredients for creative success is high on my personal list for development. I’ll let you guess which one but suffice to say, I do like the sound of my own voice

The rest of the conference was a blur of workshops and eating. The ideas that have stuck in my mind almost one week later follow.

• Assessing Pupils Progress (APP) is a brilliant way of ensuring our teaching and learning input complements that which is happening in school. Sounds boring I know but I’m more Phil Beadle than Matthew Pinsent!
• Virtual Learning Environments cannot be ignored. Revamp Silverstone’s learning platform offering and assess how it can used to offer even more value during and more importantly, beyond PfS sessions.

In summary, I very much enjoyed the input and camaraderie of my first PfS conference. Let’s hope I can put some of the ideas into action and make some ‘good stuff’ happen!

A couple of weeks ago, during one a Performance Poetry session with Phil Whitehead, I was interviewed by John Griff from BBC Radio Northampton about the study centre and its activities. It was all rather exciting and great to experience firsthand how a professional reporter chats and then seamlessly pulls together his questions into a coherent interview.

We try to encourage students to develop the same flexibility and questioning skills. I wish we had got some of the students to interview John as well. Perhaps he will come again to give us a further insight into the ‘tricks of the trade!’ John is officially a friend of the study centre and is welcome back any time

The interview itself aired yesterday on John’s afternoon show and you can listen to it below.

As the Study Centre building is used as the control base during the Grand Prix, we have had to start packing everything up ready to move out. Check out this link to see a slideshow of how we’re getting on so far!

One of our Playing for Success sessions is devoted to finance and enterprise. Complete with sound effects from Sir Alan Sugar, we use the Moneyville site to see how the students deal with personal financial choices as well as decision-making in the world of business. Despite a rigorous grilling from Sir Alan, most student are hired at the end of the session .

The schools go home with a further challenge. If they can produce a convincing business plan to raise funds for their school council, Silverstone Study will provide £50 - 100 of start-up capital. No school had taken us up on the offer until yesterday. Croughton Primary pupils have produced a quite excellent business plan around keeping chickens. Anyone thinking of producing a similar plan (in any context) would do well to listen to the superb example recorded below.

business-plan

We were happy to offer the pupils the full £100. There are milestones that need to be achieved before the full funds are released  but we are hopeful that the project will make a start before the summer. Student enterprise in real action - we like that at Silverstone Study Centre!