Author Archive

We welcomed students from Southfield Primary to kick off their Playing for Success experience with an introductory day at the circuit.

Their brilliant attitude and sense of fun was rewarded with an impromptu invitation to visit Audi in the pit-lane, and taste the chocolate on offer. Steve Deeks, long-time friend of the Study Centre, answered questions and showed students the pit-wall. In Race Control, Graham presented them with baseball caps to complete their VIP experience.

We are looking forward to working with Southfield over the next weeks. They look a pretty creative bunch so watch this space for updates! They will be using Wallwisher to record their views on the day and their ideas for the coming programme of PfS activities.

_45955000_champagne466Sebastian Vettel drove a superbly smooth and measured race to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

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…

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.

pinsent_matthew 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-publicity-photoPhil 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!

john-griffA 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.

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!

News Reporter!

News Podcast 2

Commentator Podcast 3

Commentator Podcast 4

Have a listen to some of our podcasts taken in recent PfS sessions – this is raw material, so add a comment saying how you would make it even better!

vickiA belated welcome to Vicki Campkin, our superb new Centre Coordinator. Here she is in action with Playing for Success pupils!

Croughton Playing for Success students combined their creative writing skills with Samorost game play, followed by an introduction to Scratch programming. The combination produces a quality outcome as you can see from Bethanie and Sophie’s performance.

Click here to see our Samorost-Scratch Gallery