Campsmount

   In October and November the PE department have tried to give our students an opportunity to experience a variety of alternative activities through the use of the schools Immersion Days. We have brought in specialist coaches to deliver new and exciting activities that we either do not have the expertise to deliver or time restraints prevent us from delivering these throughout the rest of the year in the PE curriculum.

An example of the activities that we offered were: Handball, Zumba, Kickboxing, Hockey, Archery and Rock it Ball. We found that the students thoroughly enjoyed the Kickboxing and Zumba and they have requested that these be delivered again in the future.

Throughout the sessions the students got the opportunity to participate in developing their skills and there was also an element of competition where it was appropriate to develop the use of intra competition within school. The sessions were high quality and all students participated in all of the different activities on a carousel. We will be looking at doing something again very similar in the next Immersion Day coming up in February for a different year group.

C.Knowland (Campsmount School Sports Co-ordinator)

On Thursday 7th October, the second PE Immersion Taster Day ran successfully for all of our Year 8 students and we decided to follow the same pathway as last year, giving them the opportunity to try out and experience a range of alternative activity sports that Doncaster has been promoting over the last year.

All students in Year 8 were given the opportunity to attend classes in Fencing and Hockey, to try out these new and exciting sports, which we currently do not offer within our PE Curriculum. All students participated to a fantastic standard and showed a great willingness to get involved and develop their skills in both areas of activity.

C.Knowland (Campsmount School Sports Co-ordinator)

After taking a break from teaching for two years to solely concentrate on developing the role of a School Sports Co-ordinator for the Campsmount Pyramid, I decided it was time to return to the classroom in September of this year. Whilst I had been missing from the classroom, there had been quite a few significant changes to the Secondary National Curriculum Framework, particularly within the subject of Physical Education.

The main changes to the National Curriculum for Physical Education were the removal of programmes of study that followed the traditional routes of activity and the introduction of new programmes of study, whereby students are taught a range of activities that run concurrent to a theme. Examples of this are where students follow a block of work on outwitting opponents across a range of games activities, the main aim being to develop an all rounded games player who can transfer a range of skills across different activities.

The Campsmount Physical Education Department have decided to be forward thinking in the new approach to learning and have therefore developed their curriculum to meet the demands of new ideas that account for the needs of all learners. In 2008, a new key skills block of work was introduced in year 7, aimed to give students the opportunity to experience a range of different activities, integrating personal learning and thinking skills across all of these activities. This proved to be hugely successful and has now been adopted in the new academic year.

After returning to teaching it was apparent that the use of 3 learning objectives for all students was a thing of the past and the idea of personalised learning, showing an awareness of differentiation within the set objectives, needs to be apparent in all lessons now delivered. I therefore decided that I would trial this new approach to begin with, starting with my year 7 class from the onset in September.

An example of how I have achieved this in my year 7 lessons are as follows: First of all I use the first few lessons as a baseline to assess my students physical ability, then for each of the different key skill activities I set the students into 4 groups, consisting of 3 different levels. These groups consist of a top set, two middle sets and a lower ability set. Then for each lesson I set three different learning objectives, which are differentiated into levels, so each student would know what level they are at. Each objective is explained so all students are aware what I want them to achieve in the lesson, however also what they need to do to progress to the next level. These are demonstrated to the students as ALL, MOST and SOME. 

Within the lesson all students work in groups of students with similar abilities working on core tasks appropriate for them to progress at a level according to their ability. Throughout the lesson the students are constantly observed to ensure they are grouped accordingly for the activity they are working on during that lesson. If this isn’t the case they are adjusted up or down. Running in line with this I always give an opportunity for the students to comment on their own and others progress and discuss what they need to do to progress to the next level.

I feel that what helps the students’ progress using this approach is effective structuring of the lessons, which always demonstrates clear learning objectives. Delivering an appropriate starter activity which relates to the main activity in the lesson (which can also be used to assess the groupings are correct), a good main activity section, which in the main consists of skills and techniques and application to a game or performance, integrating evaluation and discussion into this. To complete the lesson a thorough plenary to assess students knowledge and understanding in relation to the objectives set ensuring all students contribute accordingly and they demonstrate where effective PLT’s have been used in the lesson.

I am now actively following this approach in all of my lessons and I feel that the difference in learning and progression is immense. All students progress at their own level. They know what is required from them and what they need to do to progress to the next level. Assessment for Learning is a clear focus this year within the Campsmount Physical Education Department and this method of approach is a great tool for assisting in the Assessment Process at the end of every module of work. By no means have I come out of every lesson, where things have always worked really well, it has been a learning curve so far for me, however I have taken on board what hasn’t worked and then considered how I would change that next time – The world of teaching!

C.Knowland (Campsmount School Sports Co-ordinator)

On Thursday 8^th October was the first PE Immersion Day, where year 8 students were given the opportunity to try out and experience a range of alternative activity sports that Doncaster has been promoting over the last year.

All students in year 8 were given the opportunity to attend classes in Rock It Ball, Street Kickz and Urban Dance and try out these new and exciting sports. These sports are then being rolled out over the next half term into our extra-curricular programme, whereby we are lucky enough to have access to qualified coaches coming into our school to deliver these activities.

These clubs are all open to girls and boys throughout all years in our school and in the future we are hoping to organise various fixtures against different schools in Rock It Ball.

C.Knowland (Campsmount School Sports Co-ordinator)

• In January Kyle Handley attended a UKCC Level 1 Cricket Course held at Campsmount Technology College and he successfully passed this course. He will now be working with the younger students in school to develop their cricket skills further.

• In February the Campsmount Leadership Academies Youth Bank Trust Bid was successful. Katie Deere the Leadership Co-ordinator and Ben Webb the Vice Leadership Co-ordinator attended a meeting to give a presentation to receive funding for the Leadership Academy students to receive money for uniform and Level 1 courses. The funding bid was then passed and over the next few months we will be organising uniform for the students to receive and paying for students to attend Level 1 courses.

• In February Katie Deere and Ben Webb also attended an Alternative Activities Taster session to develop their knowledge of “Rock It Ball”. After being inspired by this game, they are going to bid to get some equipment to bring this into school to develop 6th form participation in sport and develop non traditional activities further.

• In February the Walk Leaders Training was delivered to both Askern Spa and Norton Junior Students. This will be introduced into both schools to work alongside the Playground Leaders Programme, which is already happening in both schools.

• In February we received a grant from Extended Services for £4500, which we have used the funding for to first of all improve the stage in the hall for our dance shows and also so a local dance school can use the stage for their performances. We will then be working closely with the dance school to develop a school/club link and develop the provisions we provide for our students. Secondly, we are using the money to purchase another trampoline and end decks, so that we can safely run a new Trampoline Club and look at offering this as a non-traditional option at Key Stage 4.

• In February we also received a separate grant from Extended Services for £2000 to spend in 4 out of the 5 feeder schools for the Campsmount Pyramid. We will be deciding as a team what we will spend the money on so that we can look at utilising the equipment to develop links between the feeder schools and increase intra school competition.

• In March Maurice Young has sent 3 Cricket Coaches to work with Campsmount students at the Cricket Academy on a Monday night after school free of charge for 3 weeks. This has developed the knowledge and understanding of some students by working on a one to one basis with them.

• In March Sian Foley a Level 2 Netball Coach has started at Norton Juniors to develop the talents of Year 5 and 6 students. She is attending an after school club on a Monday evening to work with these students.

• In March the last block of Year 5 and 6 students have booked onto the Multi-skills club at Campsmount from Askern Spa and Norton Juniors. This is a new club that has been running since September once a week to develop participation in out of school hours, in our feeder schools and has been delivered by the Sports Leaders students. We have set up transport to and from the school by providing a mini bus service each week, which has worked well.

• In March we received funding to have Ryan back in to our school again delivering Parkour to the boys as an option at Key Stage 4. This is something that we are now looking at taking further and gaining funding to set up an out of school hours Parkour/Street Dance Club for boys.

• In March Arthur McAdam from Askern Spa Juniors has successfully completed the Bikeability Tutor Training, so he is now qualified to develop cycling proficiency within his school and the Campsmount pyramid.

• In March 4 of our students were selected to play for Sheffield Stormers Netball Club in the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Tournament, after attending training. Rosie Ward has also been regularly attending training, however she was too young to be selected to play. However, feedback on Rosie is that she is performing to an excellent standard at the club.

• In March various students from the Campsmount Dance Academy went for dance auditions hosted by “Playing for Success” at Keepmoat Stadium. 15 schools in Doncaster sent students to audition for 60 places. The students who were successful would then work with professional dance teachers from London to put together a routine over the Easter Holidays, which they will perform at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Sunday 3rd May, infront of 40,000 spectators. 8 students were successful, which is a fantastic achievement – They are Sophie Bevan, Georgina Burtoft, Cori Noble, Sophie O’Grady, Stefi Lister, Shannon Mitchell, Sian Skelton & Monique Woolridge.

• In March 18 of our Campsmount Dance Academy students performed at the Doncaster Dance Showcase at Danum Technology College. This was to showcase the dance that is taking place across all schools in Doncaster. The students did amazing and it definitely showed that Campsmount is high up in Doncaster at performing in dance.

• Over the last few months, we have taken advantage of the Champions Sports Pass offer by taking students down to Askern pool during curriculum time at Key Stage 4 to offer Kayaking as an alternative non-traditional activity, which has been a great success. The students are also working towards their BCU 1 star award in Kayaking.

C.Knowland (Campsmount School Sports Co-ordinator)