Playing for Success continued last night with Falconers Hill Junior School.  Stadium orienteering and player maths allowed the children to demonstrate a combination of their excellent team working and numeracy skills, whilst the fun continued with Margaret who led a noisy animal card game in which observation skills and an ability to impersonate animals was essential!

Pupils from Falconers can see a selection of photographs from  the previous two weeks by clicking here.  Please leave us a comment to let us know if your enjoying the sessions.

We are looking forward to seeing the Falconers for their third PfS session next week and  are also excited about starting PfS with Danetre and The Grange in the coming weeks!

Our first Playing for Success session of the new term kicked off last night with pupils from Falconers Hill Primary School.  The children took part in a range of activities including team building games, making name badges, adding diary entries and a paper tower challenge.  Children and parents from Falconers Hill will be able to access photographs and updates of their progress on the website from Week 2. The Study Centre staff also welcomed back mentors Emma, Matthew and Daniel.  Daniel will be joining the staff at the Cobblers Study Centre as an assistant throughout the year.  He has a lot of experience of working within PfS which will make him a valuable part of our team.

A few words from Daniel…

 Hi, I’m Daniel Hawksworth and I’m a Study Centre Assistant. My first involvement with the Cobblers Study Centre was in my first year of Sixth Form, 3 years ago when I volunteered as a mentor at Millway School. I continued mentoring in my second year of Sixth Form at Mereway Community College and at the club stadium.

Now I work at the new Cobblers Study Centre building, which compared to mentoring in school classrooms and the club’s boardroom, has amazing facilities to make the children’s learning even more enjoyable.

In my spare time I like to watch and play sport (football in particular) aswell as reading, socialising with my friends and watching films.  

On Thursday 17^th July, the Cobblers Study Centre held its end of term presentation evening in the Sixfields Stadium. The presentation evening gave an opportunity to over one hundred parents and teachers to celebrate the success of young learners who had taken part in the Playing for Success scheme.  The Study Centre uses the environment and medium of football as a motivational tool to help raise literacy, numeracy and ICT standards amongst KS2 and KS3 pupils throughout Northamptonshire.  

This presentation evening was particularly notable as it was the first to include children from Daventry schools that had attended the Study Centre for the first time.  These schools were The Grange, Ashby Fields, Southbrook Junior, Falconers Hill and Raeburn.

The presentation evening included a showing of photos of the children at work over the last ten weeks.  Three representative of the Cobblers Youth Team assisted Study Centre Manager Jean Limpitlaw in presenting certificates and football goody bags to participants of the scheme.  The youth players also posed for photographs and signed autographs.  The young learners were also treated to a surprise visit from the official Cobblers mascot Clarence.

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 kicking off a new term in September. 

Volunteering as a Mentor at the Cobblers Study Centre is continuing to be an extremely rewarding experience. Thirteen students walk in through the doors on the first day of their experience here, shy and uncertain of what to expect. In a few short weeks the students charge through the doors, excited about their new challenges. It is my pleasure as a mentor to be a friend to these students, helping them to improve their Literacy, Numeracy and ICT skills through games and challenges. As some of these students have never experienced using a computer before it is wonderful that they are learning these new skills. Orienteering, Smoothie making and the Club Challenge are just a few of the experiences which I am proud to be a part of, supporting, guiding and building confidence in the students which will last throughout life. I have made some wonderful friends in the students who I have supported, many who feel sad on their final departure from our centre, and the staff here continue to make my work fulfilling and enjoyable.

Gail Taylor - Student at the University of Northampton

I loved coming to the cobblers it has been a great few days out!!!! My computer skills have improved the most but also my English and a little math. The best part of coming to the study centre was that we were always doing something fun but while we were, we were always learning something, while having fun!!! I’m sure we’ve all had a great time as I have had a fantastic time with all the helpers - Emma, Jean, Margaret, Matthew, Gail. Here is a picture of all of us in the study centre!!!

Leonie - Falconers Hill

I have had a great time at the Cobblers playing games like the Gutter Game and the Football Card game!! Making bags, slide shows and a menu for a restaurant I have had fun doing all of them. This is something that I will never be able to do again!! It is a big thank you to the people that do this, the volunteers and Jean and Margaret!! They have made it fun!!! Rhiannon - Falconers Hill.