I have just completed five amazing days at the Saints Study Centre.

We did lots of fantastic activites such as ,

Circus skillsi  was my favourite.  A man called Kevin came in and taught us how to use circus eqipment. It was so exciting,  we got to try all of the differnet equipment and at the end we did a preformance in front of the other people.

But thats not all we have done!!  We also had a day about Shakespeare, this was also a lot of fun as  a man dressed in Shakesperian clothes taught us about William Shakespear and  we got to play out MacBeth.  It was very goury but also much fun as we got our own parts to play in the performance at the end of the session. 

On the fourth day we had a WHOLE morning on Maths but it wasn’t just  boring  maths though. We  got lots of different games and activities. we had our own team name and my group nearly came 1st!!! We had about ten minutes on each task , then we had to move on to a differnt set of tasks. The winning group at the end got a certificate,  but we all did very well.

During the time that we were here. Every afternoon we got to play rugby , with a Saints rugby teacher!. It was soo good , we played tag rugby aganist other people in a differnt teams.  My favourite game was the clap and catch game where you had to clap your hands before the ball got to you or else you had to go one knee and so on.  As a treat we got to play other games if we did well in the rugby game.

We went on the computer alot of the time, which was really good. We made postcards and badges and did all sorts of stuff with powerpoint, wordart, it was soo fun!!. We also got introduced to “iamlearniong” which enables us to revise for different subjects at the study centre and back home or in school. It is agreat learning tool which I can go on now I have been to the Saints Study Centre! How cool is that!!

Our final activity was to create a Photostory about Circus Skills which involved inserting photos, editing the photos, creating different transitions, motion and duration, creating our own background music and commentating on the photographs.

I really enjoyed myself and hope that I could come back soon!!.

 Savannah Dowling Year 7 Thomas Becket.

The Duston School are using the Saints Study Centre over the next two weeks as part of their Year 7’s transition from Primary to Secondary school. Each tutor group in Year 7 will be attending the Saints Study Centre for a day of team building, ICT and practical activities which will give their new form tutors an insight as to how the pupils respond to challenging and engaging activities.

Each day begins with a photo session in which each pupil has an individual photograph taken with Bernie the mascot, which is followed by a “team photo”. These photos will be used in an ICT activity later in the day. The group is then split into four teams to work on a freeze frame activity in which the group has to “freeze frame” a famous sporting occasion.  One of the team members then had to explain top the rest of the tutor group what was going on in their “freeze frame”

The group then went into the ICT rooms in the centre to design a name badge using various skills in Publisher-inserting photographs, changing the colour of fonts and backgrounds etc.

After a short break the group were then set different challenges using the Study Centre Team building games. The group had to practise their “games” and then a competition was held between the four groups. All the students worked hard together and encouraged each other even if things didn’t initially go well. They all persevered with the tasks and worked well in their groups.

After a lunch break the students went into the Saints stadium and into the home changing rooms. They were told what the players do on a matchday prior to kick off. They were then given the opportunity to run out of the tunnel just like ” a Saints player” whilst having their photographs taken. On their way back to the Study Centre the group were fortunate enough to meet Jonny Clarke, Santiago Bonorino and “Nacho” Lobbe who kindly had their pictures taken with the group.

 The students then got changed for their final activity – the tag rugby session which was delivered by the Community Departments coaches . Great fun was had by all! The group returned to the Study Centre for a final “drink and biscuit” before the buses arrived to take them back to school.

Each student went home with copies of their individual photo, a group photo, the photo of themselves running out of the tunnel and a photograph of their tutor group with THREE Saints players! Surely a day to remember!!

Some comments from pupils at The Duston School;

“I enjoyed the stadium tour and the staff are great”  Isabella.

” Today was great because we got to make our own name badges and play tag rugby “ added Kaan and Faith.

” We were chuffed to demonstrate the Kung Fu punctuation” says Billy Bean.

“We did our team building activities right alongside the first team squad – how cool was that!!”

Today was the groups final training session before match day. With this in mind they had the chance to interview a number of players from the Saints Academy.

Before the interviews they had time to research what the Academy was all about and decide what types of questions they would ask them. These were then practiced and the group discussed what was good or bad about them and how they could follow up on comments made by the interviewee. Once they had decided on their questions they spent time preparing in twos and threes ready for when the players arrived. With all of their preparation, the interviews were hugely successful!

The afternoon was then spent editing their interviews. Thanks again to the Academy players who took time out of training - the match day awaits!!

Our second day of the S2R project comprised of a fantastic visit to London and the BBC TV Centre. Students had the opportunity to take a look around the building, visiting the news centre and a number a studios, including the set of Mock the Week. Towards the end of the tour the group took part in their own television shows, introducing Newsround and taking part in the Weakest Link – students were able to control the lights, film clips, voice overs and sound effects for both shows.

After the main tour was complete the group had the chance to test their interviewing skills on Adnan Nawaz, a BBC Sports reporter who kindly took time out of his schedule to speak to the group. Thanks to both the Saints and S2R teams for organising a great day!

The Supporter to Reporter programme is a project whereby young people get the oppoutunity to work alongside other young poeple to become sports journalists and interview sports stars. Here at the Saints Study Centre we have a 3 day course in which year 7 pupils from Sir Christopher Hatton School in Wellingborough are going to improve their interviewing and media skills

On the first day of the course, the day began by having a photo with Neil Best! The group then signed up to the strictly monitored S2R network in order for them to carry on interviewing sports stars even after the 3 day course has finished and upload their work onto their profile! They were taught interview techniques and how to use the recording equipment which they could then put into practice in the afternoon session where they were given the oppourtunity to interview a range of employees at the Saints about their roles and aspirations.

Even though this is a daunting task, all the pupils took the challenge on with great confidence and asked some probing questions! However, the task didn’t end there as they had to edit their interviews which  they could then upload onto their S2R work profile. If all this was acomplished on the first day of the programme, then by the end of the week, they will all be journalistic  geniuses! 

Tomorrow, we have the privilege of visiting the BBC television centre for the day and participating in a tour around the building.  Friday’s plan is to take their interviewing techniques one step further and interviewing some Saints Academy players; you never know, one day, it could be members of the first team on a match day for live television! 

The group have had a great spirit throughout the whole day, which I’m sure will be taken into the days to come! Some comments from the pupils:

 ”My favourite part of the day was interviewing the Stadium Manager and the Communcations Manager because they were honest with their answers and they were really friendly”, says Kim.

“I really enjoyed learning how to use the interviewing technology because it was such good fun!”, says Natalie.

“I enjoyed the first day, it was really entertaining and fun- the gadgets were the best!”, says Matthew.

On Monday 24th August, the EAL summer school upped-camp and moved to the Saints Study Centre  for a Robolab session. Pete Austen, study centre manager, ran this session on control technology which involves building lego robot ‘buggies’ and programming them by computer to complete various challenges.

The challenges include getting the buggy to turn 360 degrees and stop, go in a straight line and stop at a specific point, park in a garage and a ‘free-for-all’ race. Students really enjoyed this session and worked together well. They got quite competitive for the grand prix at the end. They also learnt not to give up if things initially don’t go as planned. PERSEVERE!!

This activity encourages communication, teamwork and co-operation skills. As the group have 6 different languages between them, English is the common language. For this session, students had to learn new vocabulary which was appropriate to Robolab.

A big thank you to mentors Tim, Rosie and Zoe.

 My name is Rosie Crutchley, I am 17 years old and a mentor at the Saints Study Centre. I am a 6th former from Wrenn School in Wellingborough and had the honour of being reccomended to the centre after teaching Science at a local primary school. I have been a mentor here since May for one night a week after school and been helping at the summer school for the last 3 weeks during my summer holiday. I am working towards a Vinspired voluenteering award and the hours I put into the Study Centre all count towards this. I am undecided whether to become a teacher as my future career so this is just the sort of experience I need to help me come to a decision.

During the last week of  the Summer Challenge, the children have taken part in a wide variety of activities and our roles as mentors has allowed us to be part of the fun! Monday was a brilliant day full of puppet making, the children were encouraged to express themselves in order for them to build their self confidence, these ideas were drawn down on paper in the form of a puppet design. After lunch, all the fantastic designs were brought into life by socks, pop socks, cardboard and some stuffing, the group’s enthusiasm was electric and all of the finished results were enough to make “The Muppets” jealous! I  could not resist making my own, but it just did not match up to the children’s standards.

Unfortunatley, during week 3, we did not get the chance to visit Brixworth Country Park for orienteering, however, we still managed to fill the day with some other brilliant activities! In the morning, we worked on the computers, compiling a photostory describing how to make a puppet, during which the children added their own commentary and music to add to the impact of their story. We then saved this to a disc for them to keep a memory of puppet making at the Saints.

Robolab was Wednesday’s activity for the day; the children used the computers to program a self made lego buggy to race in the Saints Summer Challenge very own Grand Prix!

Amongst a Saints shop visit and a practical rugby session, a “Maths is Fun” workshop took up Thursday; the group were taught how to make shapes out of paper and were then given the challenge to make a design in small groups, all the chilren were fantasitc, so they can never moan again about maths lessons!

I have been fascinated by the cohesion within the group this week, the way that the children have made instant friends with each other, something which only comes with building self confidence. The children arrived on Monday morning, shy and unwilling to express themselves and they leave on Thursday afternoon a big group of friends who have learnt some valuable lessons this week. I feel so proud as I leave the summer school knowing that in some way or another, I have influenced the great time that the children have experienced this week. I will be returning in September to help at PFS and no doubt be here next summer for another fantastic summer holiday!