The Saints Study Centre has just finished a busy term of Study Support for the schools across Northampton through its “Playing for Success” programme. This is a Government sponsored initiative begun six years ago at the Saints Study Centre. Using the medium of sport, the centre concentrates on improving Literacy, Numeracy and ICT, with Key Skills, Self Esteem and Motivation featuring in most of the eight – nine week programme of activities. Playing for success sits firmly within the Government’s push on raising standards.

Activities included; Circus skills; Shakespeare workshop; Behind the scenes Stadium Tour of Franklins Gardens; Player Interviews; Use of ICT programmes including Photostory, Powerpoint, Word, and Publisher; Team Building Games; Practical Tag Rugby Sessions and Christmas Card Making.

Schools attending Playing for Success in the evening this term were:

Abbeyfield SecondarySchool

Thomas Becket R.C. Secondary School

Kings Heath Primary School

St. James CE Primary School

Castle Primary School

Spring Lane Primary School

St. Mary’s R.C.Primary School

Boothville Primary School

Attendance at the Study Centre is well over 90% by all young learners this term. Each term the Study Centre awards the school with the “top attendance” with a trophy. This term it was Boothville Primary with attendance figures of 97.8%. 

In addition to these activities the Study Centre has been operating during the daytime for various schools who have asked for Study Support for a variety of reasons.

 Thomas Beckett Transition Programme.

The Barclaycard Reward Days – Over 250 children have benefited from the sponsorship provided by Barclaycard.

The Duston School Transition Programme.

Pupils and parents from the Playing for Success programme, Thomas Becketts ‘s daytime programme  attended the Presentation evening at  Franklins Gardens on Thursday 3^rd December  to celebrate their success. Over 400 people were in attendance to watch the pupils receive their certificates and “goody bags” (provided by the Saints community Department) from Saints British Lion Euan Murray, Saints Player of the Year Paul Diggin and  Bernie the Mascot.

Centre Manager, Peter Austen gave a brief talk to the audience about the benefits of Circus skills in improving learning as a brain gym activity. Children were then asked to come out to the front and perform their new found skills. They also gave the audience a group performance of their Circus Skills.

A great time was had by all as the players stayed behind after the formal presentation to sign certificates, T shirts and anything else that could be found by the thrilled audience (parents and children alike).

Any school interested in finding out how the Study Centre can create a programme of activities for a group of students should contact either Pete Austen (Study Centre Manager) or Jeanette Campkin (Centre Co-ordinator) on 01604 599152.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 11:08 am and is filed under Breaking news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.