Leicester City School Sport Partnership

FEBRUARY UPDATE

From Regional Coordinator 2012 Legacy

I hope that everybody has been enjoying the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Amy Williams’ skeleton gold was amazing wasn’t it and there has been much spectacular action with the snowboard cross and ski cross my particular favourites. The spirit of the Games has been almost tangible with the Canadian hosts throwing a great party and creating a moving opening ceremony. There are some fantastic images and ideas on http://www.vancouver2010.com/ It is certainly worth checking the /EDU pages to see Vancouver’s take on Educational legacy.

Our own London 2012 site has an interesting link which suggests that International Inspiration may be extended beyond 2012 to the 2016 Games in Rio at: http://www.london2012.com/news/2010/02/international-inspiration-set-to-leave-long-term-global-.php.

Closer to home, several schools in the region have now achieved Get Set Network status and later this month Joseph Whitaker School from Rainworth in Nottinghamshire will have a high profile visit from Get Set’s head of education who will present them with their official plaque and see some Get Set work in action. Kirk Hallam in Derbyshire has been one of just five schools in the country twinned with a Vancouver school, more on that in March.

From this update onwards I plan to include a Case Study of a Get Set Network school to inspire more schools to apply. This time it is the turn of Yarborough School in Lincolnshire.

YARBOROUGH AND GET SET

Yarborough School became a Business and Enterprise Specialist School in 2003. We are a forward thinking high performing Foundation School whose site includes enviable leisure facilities and whose creative environment stimulates all types of learners In addition to exciting lessons, our students benefit from a wide range of interesting extra curricular opportunities. We are proud of the rich and varied Enterprise Education provided to all our students. The three main strands of Enterprise Education – Enterprise Capability, Financial Capability and Economic & Business Understanding – are interwoven across the Yarborough Curriculum as well as being specifically met through unique enterprise challenges and whole year group event days.

Yarborough School expressed an interest in joining the Get Set Network as we are passionate about instilling the values of London 2012 in all of our students. The Games offer such an exciting and inspirational time for all young people and to be even a small part of that will be truly amazing. We see enterprise and the values of the Games as working hand in hand to inspire our students - being part of the Get Set Network offers us the opportunity for our students to be proud of the commitment Yarborough has shown to the 2012 Games. We see the values as key to opening our students’ minds and are keen to implement them across our school both in preparation for the Games and beyond.

During the summer term 2009, Yarborough School was fortunate to successfully bid for a Get Set grant to run an event linked to the Olympic and Paralympic Values. A Student Enterprise Committee was formed, which decided to plan, organise and run a swimming gala for Year 7 students from schools across the local area. The events were chosen to reflect the Values of the London 2012 Games. Year 6 students from feeder schools designed T-shirts for participants which gave pictorial representation of the Values. The whole event had Inspiration as an overarching theme and it worked so well, the students are all keen to repeat it. We feel enterprise and Inspiration link so well that this was a key theme of the day. By having the Values as a constant theme, it also allowed students to reflect clearly on their meaning and significance for the Games in our country. In addition to this, we also have representatives from Yarborough School on the regional student voice board linked to the London 2012 Games. As the Games move closer, we are keen to make our commitment to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games a prominent feature of our school. We intend to carry out the following activities and changes in order that all our students are able to appreciate the Values and the importance of the Games taking place in our country:

• We have plans to link each value with a theme for our school terms which will be reflected upon in assemblies delivered by Year Learning Coordinators and also give a focus for KS3 Citizenship/PHSE lessons.
• A mural will be designed by art students to be painted within school to communicate the values as part of an A-Level project
• Transition events will be held across Key Stages and feeder schools linked to the Values and promoting the importance of the London 2012 Games.
• The new Enterprise and Work Skills qualification booklet will link with the Values which will be worked on by all Year 10 and 11 students. – The Student Enterprise Council will continue their work in planning and organising community events linked to the Olympic and Paralympic Values.

Katie Vause, Yarborough School

I had the pleasure in early February of visiting St Mary’s Fields Infants in Leicester, one of the very few schools in the country to have a Playzone installed with support from Youth Sport Trust. It was great to see at first hand the interest generated by the lovely Denise Lewis, even in infant school children who were not even alive when she won gold in Sydney 2000. Her gold medal and her genuine interest in their health and well-being had them eating out of her hand. One little chap had made a lovely poster tribute at home with his family. Visit http://www.leicestercityssp.org.uk/ and follow the news links to find out more about the event and see more great photos of Denise.

Earlier this month I attended a stunning presentation by LOCOG on the Torch Relay and was struck by the huge impact it will have upon children and young people in the region. It was also clear that LOCOG will be looking to use the Relay to celebrate schools’ involvement in Get Set. There is certainly no better time to visit http://getset.london2012.com/en/home and get registered for Get Set, start blogging and join the Network.

Gaynor.

Stop Press: I have just received data from LOCOG on registrations for the region and we have 32.36% of the region’s schools registered with Get Set. Regional stars are Rutland with 51.85% take up. We are ahead of the likes of North West and South West but behind others. East of England tops the chart at present with 50.41% so we still have some way to go. We are much closer to them in terms of Get Set Network schools, approved or awaiting a little more info, with 12 to the East’s 13. Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire lead the way each with three active and one in the pipeline. We have one FE College, one Primary but as yet no Special Schools or PfS Centres in the Get Set Network. There’s a challenge for you. Drop me an email if you need any help This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it