The final day of Supporter to Reporter has almost come to a close.  The students today have been looking back on the weeks training and have put together radio packages on their personal space to reflect this.   On her blog Donna commented that the training week had been “tremendous”.   She also explained how she “learnt how to have a proper interview and how to use equipment properly.”  She summarised the week by stating that “It has just been one of those experiences that you can’t just have when you want it.  It has been a once in a lifetime kind of thing.  The staff have been so fabulous to us all.”

The students have started preparation for the match day that they will be reporting on at Sixfields on the 15th November.  After this match day the Supporter to Reporter experience will not end, in February this group of young reporters will move on to the Saints Study Centre to further develop their sports reporting skills.

To view blogs and listen to the radio programmes that have been produced this week please visit the Supporter to Reporter Website.

Today the trainee reporters at the Cobblers Study Centre were treated with a rare chance to visit local radio station Northants 96.  The mission of the day was for each young reporter to learn from the professionals how to record, edit and broadcast a radio programme. 

The morning began with the young reporters observing a press conference at the Sixfields Stadium.  Stuart Gray the Cobblers manager was being questioned about the teams forthcoming fixture at Walsall on Saturday 1st November.  All the young reporters were surprised at how low key press conference seemed as they were expecting a more formal question and answer session. 

The young reporters then headed back to Northants 96 to learn how professional recordings are edited until they are suitable for broadcast on the radio.  At the radio station the students were greeted by the stations events and marketing manager Gemma and Head of News Richard Purvis.  The students interviewed both the employees and picked up lots of advice about getting involved in the media and interviewing techniques.

Tomorrow is the final day of Supporter to Reporter training week at the Study Centre.  To listen to all the interviews and radio programmes conducted by the young reporters this week check out the Northampton space at the Supporter to Reporter website.

Day two of Supporter to Reporter at the Cobblers Study Centre was very successful with the students being given a chance to record interviews with members of staff from Northampton Town Football Club.  In the morning the students were introduced to Gareth Wilsher who is Head of Media at the Cobblers.  They  questioned him about his job, his past work experience and match days.  Gareth offered the students advice on interview technique and the importanceof the Internet in promoting football clubs.  In the afternoon the budding reporters had yet another chance to put their interviewing skills into practise when they were visited by Dan Walder, a Senior Football Development Coach at the club.  The afternoon was rounded off with the students editing and uploading their work onto their own personal space on the Supporter to Reporter website.

The students blogs, vox pops and interviews can be found on the Supporter to Reporter website.

This half term a group of young people are attending the Study Centre to take part in the Supporter to Reporter project.  Supporter to Reporter is a project inspiring young people to become engaged and involved in sports reporting. This motivating media project was first run in Trafford and has given young people an opportunity to create radio and video reports and publish them on a dedicated sports reporting station. 

This week participants in the project are going to be kept busy.  Tonight they will be watching the Northampton Tonight vs Colchester United match at Sixfields.  We are looking forward to hosting the project and will keep you updated as the week progresses.

To find out more about the project check out the radiowaves website.

Last Wednesday the Cobblers Study centre held a presentation evening in the Sixfields Stadium for pupil from The Grange, Falconers Hill and Danetre.  The presentation evening gave an opportunity for study centre staff, pupils and parents to celebrate the achievements of the young learners upon completion of their six week Playing for Success programme.  The presentation evening began with parents being given a chance to view work that had been produced by the young learners. Photo stories and PowerPoint presentations were also on display.

The Cobblers first team players Colin Larkin and Ritchie Jones also attended the presentation evening and presented a certificate and goody bag to each young learner.  

Thank you to all pupils and mentors who have taken part in the Playing for Success scheme this term for making it a success.  All staff at the Study Centre are looking forward to working with Ashby Fields, Southbrook and William Parker in the evenings net half term.

Today the Cobblers Study Centre held a Barclaycard Reward Day for Green Oaks Primary School.  Twenty six students were invited to the study centre to be rewarded for a half term of hard work and good behaviour.  The children took part in a number of activities around the stadium and within the centre.  The day kicked off with a tour of the Stadium led by Trudy from the Northampton Town FC Community Department.  The staff and students got to see the Under 16 squad train on the training pitch and some were lucky to catch a glimpse of the injured Colin Larkin in the players area. The Green Oaks pupils also got the opportunity to sit in the home dug out.  They also got to look inside the players lounge and the club cells.  Just before lunch Margaret led an exciting hour of team games in which both Barclaycard employees and Green Oaks pupils took part. 

After Lunch, the Green Oaks pupils were split into two groups.  One group produced comic strips to document their earlier stadium tour and the other completed the stadium orienteering course.

Thank you to Barclaycard who funded the day and provided us with an excellent group of staff who worked as mentors to run activites.

This is my last week at the Cobblers. I am going to tell you about all the things I have done:

Week 1.  First we all made name badges after that we played really cool team games. After that we hade a competition who could build the highest paper tower. Week 1 was really exciting we were all looking forward to it.

Week 2. We did stadium orienteering. We had to pull out a card and read the maths question then we had to find the seat in the stadium from the answer. I thought the stadium orienteering was really good.

Week 3.  We did club challenge. We had to design are own kit and team. I called my team Girls United. I really liked the club challenge because it was really arty.

Week 4. we all made smoothies. We hade fruit in our smoothies we could have apple or grape juce. I really enjoed the smoothies because it was nice to try diffrent things mixed.

Week 5. We did the x-box street football tournament. We had to design a poster on publisher. I played as Greece and I added up the scores.

We all enjoyed the toast because it was really yummy. I really enjoed writing on the website.

By Katie from Falconers Hill

Issues of PfS Press, the newsletter of the Cobblers Study Centre can now be read online.  The newsletter contains stories and news relevant to schools attending the Study Centre each term as well as as important notices and dates.  If you have attended the study centre and would like to write something in the next issue of PfS Press let Jean, Jaimie, Margaret or Dan know!

The boys from Danetre school along with their mentors have spent the afternoon taking part in a practical session at Upton Meadows.  We were lucky to be coached by a member of the Cobblers Community Team.  Everyone had the chance to improve their heading and shooting skills in the technical drills and then demonstrated their improvements in a final match.   The boys also took it in turns to take photographs to help document the session.  After the practical session the boys returned to the Study Centre to create individual comic strips using the photos they had taken and text to describe the afternoon.

We were very impressed with everyone’s footballing and ICT skills and are looking forward to working with the Danetre boys next week for our healthy eating session!