This week was finally the week in which I began my placement with Active Stirling.  As mentioned previously, my first session was taking a P6 football session at Riverside Primary School.

I was in contact with Craig over the weekend to finalise the details and what was expected of me, I was taking the session with Gregor, who was extremely helpful throughout and made it much easier for me to settle into.

We began the session with a warm up, getting the kids excited and interacting with each other was key to getting them on board and comfortable with us both.  After this, a number of drills, involving multiple skills, which I was pleasantly surprised with.  The attitude of the children was excellent from start to finish, which again, made my job much easier.  We got them into two teams to finish the session, getting everyone involved and running around!  I was ‘forced’ to join in due to lack of numbers… giving me a chance to showcase my skillset with the ball, and not just when coaching.  Unfortunately there was a number of players far better than me, being again a credit to the kids participating in the training session.  This will be taking place every week for the next 6 weeks, at the same time.  Making it a consistent opportunity for me to rack up much needed hours.

There is also events in which I can volunteer at and again as mentioned before, gain more hours towards the required 30.

I very positive week for me in terms of my placement at Active Stirling, looking forward to my next session on Monday.

Tom

Having finished my placement last week, I have spent this past week reflecting on my experience. I 100% had such a great time learning about the career I am considering going into. Especially in my last week, I was able to make my own lesson plan and take a first year class. This gave me a great amount of pride and I was ecstatic when at the end the entire class voted to have me take their class again. I’ve taken everything I’ve learned over my 30 hours and  an implemented it into anything I’ve done for classes at wallace high. I cannot thank the school enough for everything I’ve learned, allowing me to teach, participate and feel apart of the department. I am so glad I’ve been able to take this opportunity up.

With my PVG finally here after weeks of waiting, I have eventually started my work placement with Active Schools. I am no longer stressed and worried about managing to complete the 30 hours needed for placement, as I have completed 14 hours this week so nearly half way there and I should able to have the 30 hours completed by the end of next week.  I have managed to do this amount hours over the week, as 2 days this week I been shadowing  one of the coaches Eamon from 9am till 3pm  at Broomhouse PS,  then between 3 – 4 pm supporting with the sport club after school with Eamon again for one of the sports club and the other sport club Saskia.

Tuesday was my first day of placement as much as I have been excited for it I was nervous heading up there, as I did not know what to expect.  When I got there I was to ask for Eamon who I hadn’t met yet and sign in at the schools reception. Eamon came and met me there and then took me to staff room then showed me the sport hall and equipment cupboard. Eamon then went briefly over what we were going to be doing that day. The day was broken down into either 15 or 30 minute sessions, that certain children and couple others were able to come out of class and do a bit sport with myself and Eamon.  This is when Eamon told me it was to support children with things such as ADHD, Autistic and children who needed support with gross motor skills, as well as other things, so the children can have time away from class.  Broomhouse PS is the only school in Edinburgh to have a coach there all day giving children time out for class.

From being able to shadow Eamon all day I was able to see how the children behaved and the difference it made for them. Some of the same children would come to more than 1 session but it benefited them as there behaviour changed and the teachers even said so.

So far I have enjoyed placement as it has gave me the opportunity to work with different age groups from p1-p7 and what it’s like to work within a school environment.

On Tuesday I had my second week of placement at Smithycroft High School in Glasgow. I was excited to go back however was also nervous as I knew this was the week I was beginning to teach some of the classes that I had assisted in last week. I had planned my lessons so I was prepared for  the day ahead, however was hoping that the pupils would be engaged and interested in what I was teaching them.

My first lesson was dance  which made me feel at ease as I have taught dance for many years. This lesson was going really well until I added a move into the routine and one of the girls go upset as she felt that she couldn’t do it. I took her to the side and reassured her that she was capable of it and when through how it was done to help her be able to do it. After this two minute talk she seemed a lot more settled and joined back into class willing to give it a go and continue to learn. I was glad that she came around quickly and wanted to join back in.

My second lesson was Basketball with S4 core. Core classes can be harder to teach as it is mandatory for the students and they do not all enjoy PE. The class went well, we done a few dribbling drills and then moved onto conditioned games thinking about team work, the pupils responded very well to this and stayed engaged through the lesson.

My last teaching lesson was Gymnastics, this is again is a sport I am more familiar with, it was an S3 class I was teaching with 33 pupils so was a large class but again the class went very well. The pupils worked on routines both on the floor and on the vault and they managed to do very well. I was pleased with how this class went as there is some big characters in this class and they all worked hard.

 

It was overall a great day.

On Monday I made my way back to Armadale Academy, it wasn’t smooth sailing with my train being delayed and missing my connection. I had to walk to the school from the station which is around 30 minutes (in the pouring rain!!) but I made it there and was excited for the day ahead. Mondays are a full 7 period day and so it’s always great to be constantly busy and doing things. It was Monday that I felt like I made a real difference with some of the pupils.

The last two weeks Hayley had been telling me about her Sport and Rec class (Leadership Development), she had spoken of how difficult it was for her to engage the class as it was made up of senior boys who were nearing there end of school and wanted a subject to “skive” in. The class were extremely disruptive, didn’t listen to instructions and would rarely participate in the work. She had not wanted me to assist with this lesson as she was worried it would put me off teaching. However these are the exact young people that I love to work with and you can make a real difference to.

She asked if I would help her with the facilitation of the lesson, I jumped at the opportunity! I must admit, it was very intimidating when I walked in, the pupils were swinging on there chairs, earphones in staring at there phones, throwing rubbers around the room, they completely ignored Hayley and I’s presence in the room. I took the first impression in my stride and didn’t take it personally. Hayley began the lesson and without giving me instructions I knew exactly what she needed from me. I made my way around the class facilitating discussions with the boys around “what is leadership?” and “what is a good leader?” It was really difficult to get the information out of them and it took a lot of “I dunno miss” and eye rolls but we got answers out of them, and good ones! Their class is a double period so the second period we went to the hall for a practical session where the boys deliver activities to one another, this was great to see them put there ideas into practice and I had the opportunity to give them feedback.

Within the nurture lunch time club I had began, the two original girls came to the department to ask for me as they had seen me in the corridors. We spoke about the goals that they had set for themselves and came up with short term goals to get them there. I made a suggestion that I could sit in on there PE lesson to make them feel more comfortable, so that has become an option for them.

The day passed so quickly and I had such a sense of achievement after I left, there is no better feeling that making a difference in a young persons life. I’m excited for next week and working further with the Sport and Rec class.

Sadly, this is my second last session at Raploch Primary School. I was invited to assist a primary 6 basketball session and a primary 3 rugby session. For this specific blog, I have chosen to speak about the Rugby session, as I feel that this session benefited me the most.

For the warm-up, we played two rounds of toilet tig which was chosen by the participants. When referring to the drills, I split the kids into 4 teams (white, red, yellow and blue). The aim of the session was to focus on traveling with the ball with both hands. Firstly, we started with relay races, where the participants had to run with the ball using both hands while keeping the ball close to their bodies. They were required to sprint to the cone at the opposite side of the court, throw the ball upwards, clap their hands together and then run back to their line. Secondly, the participants were expected to do the same as above however, once they reached the far away cone, they had to pass the ball around their body. Thirdly, the participants had to follow the same sequence as above, however, when they reached the far away cone, they had to perform a figure of eight around their legs, working on their ball-handling skills.

After the drills, I decided to put this practice into play by playing a game dividing the hall into two pitches. I added a restriction were every 5 passes equals a goal. As I supervised the game, I noticed that the children were either; a) all running towards the ball, b) not running when they had the ball or c) running out of the court. During the game I decided to join in. I ensured that I went to the opposite side of the court and shouted for the ball. Lewis, who currently had the ball stated, “Lauren you’re too far away, I can’t pass to you?”. I replied, “Well what was the focus within the drills, run with the ball”. This is where I stopped the game and stated to the participants that; a) we have to spread out because if we all go to the ball then the player on the ball has no options and b) in rugby we don’t always need to pass we can run with the ball. Instantly, I saw an improvement which reassured me that the children were listening to the coaching points given.

Overall, I really enjoyed this session as I managed to encourage the children to stay on the move, gave coaching points when needed and assisted a rugby coach which pushed me out of my comfort zone as this is a sport that I don’t have a lot of experience in.

Finally! My first week at Raploch Primary and I was up bright and early for my 6 hour day with a 9 o’clock start. In total, I helped out in 4 PE sessions that consisted of badminton, rounders, basketball, and rugby and a football session at a lunchtime club. Every single class was a learning experience that managed to challenge me in various different ways.

One session in particular that stood out today was the basketball session with the primary 6 class. Lauren and myself teamed up this week from lunchtime onwards and both agreed that this session was especially good. As this was both Lauren and I’s first time with this group, we decided to allow the kids to play games in a mini tournament made up of six teams. This was so that we could get a good idea of the standard before planning drills for future weeks. The primary 6 teacher that we were working with, had told us that in previous weeks the class had been working on teamwork and cooperation. With this information, I suggested to her that we put certain adaptations into each of the three games in order to keep her teamwork theme going.

In the first game, the kids were free to play with no adaptations. However, for the second and third games, we put rules in place that the kids had to make two passes before shooting and then progressing on to everyone in the team touching the ball before taking a shot. I thought that we would notice even a slight difference in the teamwork level between the first and last match, but we were pleasantly proven wrong as all of the children were trying to involve everyone throughout the full session.

I also decided to take part in all three matches, either because one team was a player short or just playing with the team that had possession. Personally, I found this very rewarding as this was my first session with this class and of my placement. So it was a great way to get involved with the kids and create relationships early on with this aspect of coaching but in a more playful manner. I was also given really positive feedback from both the teacher and the kids after this session when I asked if they enjoyed it.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable day meeting everyone and I am excited for the weeks ahead!

 

My sixth week on placement involved me sitting in a meeting with my mentor, Fraser and the PE teachers of Smithycroft Secondary School. I attended this school as a pupil and worked very closely with the PE department as a Sports Leader and Young Ambassador, so I was excited about discussing the current clubs and events being organised within the school.

The PE department at Smithycroft Secondary was going through a transition as new PE teachers had just started and previous had just left. This meant that as well as trying to get to meet deadlines, the new PE teachers were also becoming familiar with the staff, pupils and the school’s ethos.

The main topics of discussion were Inter House League, Clubs and Parents evening. We discussed how the clubs on offer could be linked to the inter house league. For example, I suggested that because I run an Athletics Club in the school that we could use this as a training tool for the inter house sports day in June. I feel this would give the pupils a chance to improve their skills in a variety of disciplines which could therefore earn them more points and a better place in the sports day. Furthermore, as a coach I feel that gaining experience in competitions and open environments allows for athletes/players to apply what they have learned in training into a practical situation.

I feel I gave some invaluable points within the meeting and chose to speak at the correct times. As a former pupil I was able to give the teachers an insight the decision making and reasoning of a young person in secondary school.

At the end of the meeting the PE department thanked me for my input and stated they would use my opinions and experience to improve the pupil experience within the department. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of this meeting and I am looking forward to building a close working relationship with the new staff during my placement.

-Stephanie.

I was able to meet up with my mentor this week to discuss starting my placement next week. Originally I was suppose to be doing a couple of hours on a Tuesday at a badminton class but this has now changed to a 6/7 hour day coaching at Raploch. We decided that this would be more beneficial as time is now getting on and I had become anxious about getting all my hours done in time. However, Natalie has reassured me that with these Thursday hours combined with 3 or 4 of the Exercise Referral classes, I would be able to reach the required 30 hours easily – which put me at ease.

I have been told that shadowing and coaching PE classes, lunchtime sessions and after school clubs offer a range of sports and activities for the kids on a weekly basis. This made me really excited as I get to explore a lot of different drills throughout each sport at different performance levels and ages. There also may be a chance to explore different coaching styles as Natalie has told me about shadowing her at a lunchtime club that helps kids actually just learn how to interact with each other and play – which requires a more relaxed and friendly way of coaching as opposed to the structure of dills that I am used to.

Overall, I am just really excited and eager to get going on Thursday and get some coaching underway!