Christina

My second week of placement. On Thursday the sessions are different from the Friday and I wanted to see all aspects of Tony’s classes while on work experience.  Thursday first session was at Dunblane primary school and was a cricket session.  I felt a bit clueless for this session as I know very little about cricket.  The class was mixed age groups.  There was only 1 girl at the class although some students weren’t there this week due a school trip.  Tony told me the plan for the session and what I was going to help with and it seemed relatively straight forward.  He also told me that he had, had to have a meeting with the school the previous week due to the behaviour of some of the participants.  He hoped that with the support of the school and the parents their behaviour would improve.  During the session I was coaching a group of the children in throwing and catching.  Some of the boys started playing around and not listening and I had to try and explain to them the importance of practicing these skills with games coming up.  Tony later had to talk to them about behaviour and I found it frustrating that they didn’t listen.  I thought about this and remembered how I was at their age and then felt sorry for my teachers as I was much the same,  easily distracted, chatting when I should have been listening and playing around.  This made me smile but also fell sympathy for the coaches.

The second session was at Dunblane High School and was a floorball session for S1’s.  I was really excited about this session after my training at the weekend.  There was about 17 pupils in the session only 1 girl which I found a shame as it is a great sport.  Tony said that there had been 2 or 3 more last year but they hadn’t carried it on.  I now understood why the Great Britain female team manager was doing ladies come and try sessions around the UK to try and encourage more female players in the sport.
This session the pupils were split into 3 teams and they played games rotating the teams.  It was a good session just to be able to  watch the games and see how talented some of the pupils were.  This was a really fun session and I really enjoyed it.   I had planned to stay on for the Floorball club sessions at the high school but I was choked with the cold so decided to give it a miss this week.

On Friday I was due to go to the Dunblane Centre for the afternoon sessions but my cold had gotten worse and so I had to email Tony and tell him I wouldn’t be able to attend.  I had considered  going but I was sneezing and coughing a lot. I didn’t want to let Tony down or miss out on placement hours but I had to think about other factors such as  the chance of passing it on to the other coaches or the children and then, them not being able to attend.  I believe that this was the right thing to do and I feel better and ready for my placement this week. 

During the work experience module I will be doing my placements with Active Stirling, although I am from Glasgow I feel I would get more out of doing a placement within an area I am not familiar with as this will help to improve on skills such as my confidence and teamwork.

On the 2nd week of the module I met with my mentor Craig from Active Stirling who spoke to me about the criteria and all the activities we will be participating in as I missed the 1st week. At first I felt nervous meeting Craig as everyone else had already met him and I didn’t know what to expect. Upon meeting Craig we received an email to bring in certain things to sort out our PVG’s so we can start placement straight away once these are done. As I already had a PVG I didn’t have much of the paperwork to do and at the end of the meeting I had time to speak to Craig about things I wasn’t very sure of.

Recently Craig got in touch with us to say that our PVG’s should be sent out to us within the next few weeks and once we have these sent to us we should get in contact with him so that he can sort our placement out.  When speaking to Craig I told him I was interested in Football and Dancing, he told us that our first placement will be on the 23rd of October and it will be a Paralympic event for children with disabilities and it would be great if we could go along.

Meeting Craig made me feel a lot more confident as I had a lot of anxiety as I wasn’t sure what to expect from this placement as I have previously done it within Glasgow when in high school, however my mentor didn’t bother much with me and didn’t keep in contact at all which created a lot of problems with my High School.

I feel very excited to start my placement with Active Stirling and I feel that Craig has a very good relationship with all of us that he mentors as he gets in contact with us regularly and keeps us very updated on everything.

Work experience – week 1
My first week of work experience has felt as if it started slow because I have not yet started my placement but have spent my time organising my PVG form (Protected vulnerable groups) and meeting my mentor.
I was fortunate that my mentor, Craig, had come in and spoken to the group of us that he is overseeing on two occasions now. The first meeting he gave us a rough overview of what we can expect to do and get out of the work experience. He was enthusiastic about his job, having our help and how helpful it is to have this kind of work experience on our CVs. Meeting him was helpful because he was approachable, so I now feel a lot more comfortable to talk to or email him.
The second meeting with Craig was to organise our PVG forms, he had asked us to bring in documents to aid the process and then stayed to help us all fill out the forms correctly. It was good to go through this process with help because now I feel in the future if I need to do it again I could on my own.

I now must wait for about two weeks before my PVG is updated at which point Craig will get back in touch to give us volunteering opportunities. Once I know the timings for the different opportunities, I will have to see which one suits me best and which one fits into my current timetable of study, rugby training and work.

Overall in the first week I haven’t gained the kind of experience that I had expected to, with my preconception being that we would have just been thrown into work but I did get practice communicating with my adviser in person and via email as well as practice having to chase up my PVG information

Today was my first day of work experience shadowing my mentor at Wallace High School within their Physical education department. As today was International Womens day I feel like my first day was a very productive one as I was used as an example of a female athlete and was able to discuss with some Girls School of Football kids, experiences as a women in football. This was obviously a rather daunting idea when I was first asked however, once meeting the girls and seeing how interested they were in what I had to say and then show them what I could do made the entire experience extremely rewarding.  

 

Later in the day I was watching a S2 class play basketball in which they were learning the basics of passing and dribbling. As I went to Wallace High and my mentor was one of my Physical education teachers and knowing I have played basketball since a young age, he let me teach the class the techniques needed to perform the skills. I felt very included in the lesson and was glad I was able to use the skills I already have to then teach others.  

 

One skill my mentor and myself have already identified is I need to learn to project my voice better as with having a large group of children with basketballs in a large hall, without having a loud voice it is difficult to convey instructions and to get their attention. I plan on working on this by building my confidence and learning the best way to project my voice from my mentor and other Physical education teachers.  

 

Overall, I think my first day shadowing my mentor went extremely well. I have already been able to show what I have to offer and what skills I have, but I was also able to identify what I need to work on. I am very excited to go back for a few days next week to start expanding my skill set.  

I will be doing my work placement with Active Stirling over the next 10 or so weeks, this is an opportunity that excites me immensely.

Having met with my mentor Craig numerous times now, I am almost at the stage where I can begin working with the different groups of people across a range of different sports in which Craig has identified throughout our meetings.  The delayed start has been down to a verity of reasons, the main one being the process of acquiring a PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups). Due to not previously having one, this takes longer than those who are simply updating theirs.  I am now in the final stage of this process, and hoping to begin my placement in the coming week.

Having an interest in football myself, as well as being a level 2 qualified coach, Craig has been very helpful and accommodating in trying to centre my placement around this sport.  We have discussed the possibility of starting a football session for pupils in P7, this prospect does excite me; however the thought has made me slightly nervous too.  Due to the nature of coaching those younger than me, something I haven’t done before.

Not only this, but working with those from all ages across a wide range of sports/activities. Having not previously worked in environments such as this, it is something I’m hoping to becoming more comfortable with over the next few months.  Gaining more experience and confidence within this setting, as it may be an area I could look to when searching for employment after University.

Again, I am feeling positive and excited about my upcoming placement with Active Stirling, which will hopefully be in full swing by the next post.

Thomas Cowley

P.E has always been a subject that i’ve been passionate about, particularly as P.E had a huge impact on my life whilst I was still in school. I was very disengaged and had little ambition for my future, that was however, until a new P.E teacher arrived at the school who believed in me and allowed me access to many opportunities. This was the catalyst in my journey to becoming a P.E teacher myself, so I could have the same impact my P.E teacher had on me. That is why this placement means a lot to me, not only because I now have the opportunity to be in a position to influence and impact young people within Armadale Academy, but also because my mentor is the exact same P.E teacher who helped change my life. My first day of placement was a whirlwind of emotions, I was nervous but also really excited to get started and meet everybody.  Hayley (my mentor) picked me up from the station around 8am, it was going to be a full on day but I was ready for the challenge.  During my placement I observed teachers delivering classes as well as assisting with the lesson. I also observed the pupils, as part of my placement project is to identify pupils who may need extra support within P.E, so I can help develop their confidence. The first 4 periods flew by, from observing a P.E student on placement, assisting with a swimming class, watching a dance class for the first time and sitting in on a PSE session, I was already so excited for the rest of the day. Lunch time came and Hayley spoke with me about two pupils who do not take part in P.E anymore, their confidence is low and suffer from bad anxiety, they had approached Hayley about my arrival at the school and asked if it was possible to meet me at lunch time to talk about P.E, I jumped at the opportunity to help these girls. I met them both a short while after, we sat down in the games hall and had a conversation around their barriers to participation in P.E and discussed what they wanted from me during my time with them, we played table-tennis for a little while before discussing their goals, we sat down and wrote up a goal time-line with the end goal being integrating themselves back within P.E, I challenged them to set small short-term goals this week and next Monday we could look at them and set a plan on achieving them, I agreed to keep meeting them every lunch time to play different sports to help get their confidence up. The next 3 periods were a great learning opportunity for me, seeing other people teach is a great insight into what it means to be a teacher, it is a lot more than just turning up and teaching a lesson.

Friday 27th of September I had meeting with my mentor Lee Goodfellow. Lee is one of the coordinators for Active Schools Edinburgh, he is in charge of the Leith Cluster. At the meeting Lee gave me his background similar to mine both left school in forth year with only so many grades to going back to college to do sport then onto university  where he got a degree then now has career he has.  This has given me hope and potential for my future career.

Lee also gave me more information what Active Schools is and what it offers over the schools in Edinburgh.  I have heard of Active Schools before placement but didn’t realise how much they have to offer.  This has excited me, that I want to look into more information into  Active School and potentially future work there whether that is voluntary, coaching or even coordinator.

At the end of the meeting Lee was contacting a fellow coordinator to pass on my details so there is more availability to carry out placement within other clusters, possibly making more flexibility placement for myself too, but also to get the form I need to complete voluntary work within Active Schools. Lee asked me to contact disclosure just so my PVG is up to date as I need this for Placement.

Writer: Romie

My work place is very beautiful with a lot of trees, small cute animals, loch, etc. However, I spend most of my time in my office which is a bit sad sometimes.

However, I very much enjoy communicating with my students and delivering lectures and seminars although it is still a bit challenge for me to speak my second language. Luckily, I have students who understand my challenge and are engaged in my sessions and meetings.

I play badminton with my colleagues every Tuesday (we try hard to make it every week) which is good fun! I played with two colleagues last Tuesday which made me feel fresh after all the hard work. 🙂

Now I am really looking forward to seeing my Sports Work Experience module students tomorrow. Hope they enjoy my session! (No pressure 😉 )

I was glad to find out that at our first seminar we were going to be meeting our mentor from Active Stirling, Craig. This was something that I had felt stressed about  in the weeks before starting back at uni as I had many thoughts running through my head about my mentor; will it be difficult for me to reach out to them? Will they not be keen in having me in? Will I not be able to build a relationship with them? So having my mentor contact the university to come in and meet us was a great relief and put me at ease straight away.

When Craig came in to our seminar in week 1 he told us a bit about his background and work experience which was all very interesting and highly motivational. After class he stayed behind to talk to the students in which would be on placement with Active Stirling and told us of the work opportunities  that he could offer us which included some lunch time clubs and mentioned some events also. He was very keen in finding out which sports we would be interested in ourselves and from this suggested some of the clubs and events they had running in which we would maybe be interested in. From the first meeting with Craig I automatically felt much more relaxed about my placement and was very exited to get started. Craig’s enthusiasm and drive in coming to meet us on his own accord and getting to know us was a massive confidence boost for me and highly motivational.

Within a few days from the first seminar Craig got in contact with us to notify us that he would be coming in to visit us again after our second seminar and asked that we could provide a copy of our passport, driving licence and another proof of address. He also had us complete a PVG update form and a volunteer form, he was very helpful in helping me to complete these as I was unsure with some of it. Unfortunately, I was unsure of my PVG number but Craig informed me that I would just need to phone up the Scottish Disclosure number and I would be able to receive this in which I did.

Craig has informed me that my update on my PVG should take about two weeks and then I will be ready to take on opportunities with Active Stirling. I am very much looking forward to it.