FIRST PRIZE GIVEAWAY - PERFORMANCE REPORT OF 1ST HALF TERM

FIRST PRIZE GIVEAWAY

Performance report of the first half term - The Y6 Sports Crew!

From the first moment I walked into the Y6 classroom to present the new Sports Crew project and the opportunity to make this club their own, the children responded enthusiastically and positively! That was even before they laid eyes on the reward system and the toys ☺️. 

The first half term had 4 objects for the sports crew; Advertise the club, begin and manage the process of the club on a daily basis, introduce media into the operation and manage their first 'Prize-Giveaway'. From the very first week of the club, the children rose to the challenge and the responsibility of running a lunchtime club. We've seen glimpses of problem solving, leadership and teamwork already at this very early stage of the Sports Crew training. Friday 25th October (Prize-Giveaway) showed nothing more than how brilliantly the children's enthusiasm, commitment and maturity to the cause has been! 

At the very beginning back at week 1, our encouragement has been that it's ok to make mistakes, continue to be positive and reflect on your performance, no matter how bad or good the session has been, reflect and think how can it be improved? Frodsham CE's midday assistant has said "They've been brilliant at organising the club, you can see they've got the hang of the operation of the club and the younger children are really benefiting from it!". 

The children pointed out that the main cause for concern in their reflection, it that maybe the registration and the reward cards could be done quicker. They realised that with a few small adjustments, children could be registered into the club quicker and therefore be active for longer. This awareness from the children really surprised me, it made me think that maybe we as adults underestimate the capabilities of the children. It was me who had given all this responsibility to the children and I did believe they could handle it all. I had a few colleagues who doubted the idea thinking it was too much, which made me doubt myself! I began realise that even I had underestimated this particular group of children but they have blown any doubt out of my mind now.

Midway through the term the Sports Crew children are becoming more confident and it becomes more apparent with their persona. I only attend the school one day a week, to check in with the children and for them to ask any questions or share any thoughts. As the weeks go by I see the confidence brimming from the children, less questions about the club in that moment are asked and more questions about the club in future weeks start to come my way. I got a small amount of questions about how to deal with certain challenges and in most cases I would simply rephrase the question back to the children and they end up answering their own question and solve their own problems. An increasing sign of good problem solving and development of their own individual character. 

The participants of the club have also enjoyed the invention of the club! On my last visit to School we observed a number of positives coming from the children's club. The number of children now physically active for the majority of lunchtime is fantastic but the main surprise we've found from the club, is how powerful the club has been socially. All three members of the MDA have found the number of problems or children coming for help to sort issues has fallen, their lunchtime role has become less hectic because children now seem to be occupied and issues aren't happening as much and when they do, the participants first thought is to ask a Sports Crew leader. Which implies to me that even the children of the school see this as the Y6 Sports Crews club and not so much led by adults. This is testament to the Sports Crew leaders 1) their commitment to the club which has lead the participants to believe that they are in charge and 2) their ability to listen to children's issues and to be able to solve them independently is a huge display at how confident these children are. If you are a parent of the Sports Crew children, please congratulate them on my behalf, because so far they have been truly outstanding!

We enter the last week of term and the children's excitement to host their first prize giveaway is high and the younger children who have opted to spend their lunchtimes with the Sports Crew club are ready to be rewarded for the autonomous pursuit of physical activity. The Sports Crew are yet to know at this pint that they've got a 'media' objective to achieve too that afternoon! This comes from the model we use alongside our Sports Crew project, a feature of this model is using Sport like we do in society, media input, coaching, referees, community clubs etc... and putting that culture inside school life, for the children to challenge themselves and build character from their experiences. The Sports Crew went on to  complete interviews with younger children at the Prize-Giveaway, about their experiences with club over the last few weeks, just like we see Jurgen Klopp being interviewed after a match at Anfield! 😁 (and Yes I am a Liverpool fan).

Once again their commitment stood out, as all Sports Crew members volunteered to stay behind after to School to host the Prize-Giveaway, We had to pick names out of a hat to see which 8 individuals would be lucky enough to be chosen! As you will see on twitter and in the photos on this post, the number of children who had earned a toy was outstanding and the Sports Crews ability to deal with all these excited children was brilliant. We spent 15 mins going through the process of the stall and the interviews. A further 15 mins after the input, the Sports crew had rewarded just under 90 children with their well deserved toy! Meanwhile two 'Media children' had interviewed 10 children from year groups 3,4,5 and 6.

There's a lot of risks that come with inactivity, what we are doing is a small step towards making our children active, help their mental well-being and bring children together. By letting them be active will improve their ability to learn! below are a number videos, give them a look! Thanks again for reading our Sports Crew blog, it's going from strength to strength and I'm really looking forward to seeing what can be achieved. Next half term children will implement more of the Sport Education model, keep an eye out on twitter @JCPEprimary and continue to check in on the blog for resources throughout the year.

Thank you for your continued support, 

JC

RESOURCES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsyHmLPApPI (Active kids, Active minds)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvriuuBuzNY (Sport Education Model, remember we've adapted this for the Sports Crew club)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azuBmRnRYpo (Why PE is a students most important subject)