activeschools focus Issue 1 - March 2018
Volunteers in Profile Area Updates Club Links
WD School Games more young people - more active - more often
CONTACT US: Active Schools West Dunbartonshire Leisure Trust Alexandria Community Centre Main Street Alexandria G83 0NU Tel: 01389 753 210
In this issue… PEOPLE Volunteers In Profile Volunteer Drive
or Skypoint Community Centre Lennox Drive Clydebank G81 5JY Tel: 0141 562 2485 active.schools@westdunbarton.gov.uk
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Sporting Students Leading for Sport
PROFILE Area updates Clydebank Dumbarton Vale of Leven
Measuring Impact 2017-18 data so far
@wdleisure
PARTICIPATION Club Links @activeschoolsWD www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/ activeschools
WD School Games
Welcome
Welcome to the newly refreshed Active Schools Focus magazine. Complimenting our social media feeds this will highlight some of our recent work across West Dunbartonshire in relation to our key priorities of People, Profile and Participation.
with West College Scotland - as well as new initiatives such as our region wide volunteer recruitment drive. You can read more about these in this issue.
and that we are telling the stories behind the data.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank my team of Active Schools Coordinators, Looking ahead we will be work- who continue to work hard ing closely with our colleagues in individually, with partners and as the Education Department on a team to achieve our goals. Recent months have seen us the Pupil Equity and Raising Their personal motivation, report that for the 2016-17 Attainment agendas - to identify commitment and innovation is academic year, both provision and engage with pupils who self-evident and is a major and participation continued to don't appear to be participating contributor to our outputs. improve and we will endeavour in sport, either in school or in to generate further growth this their local community. We look forward to driving year - the last year of our current forward participation during the round of funding, taking us to 31 With the current financial climate 2017-18 academic year. March 2019. and public spending being scrutinised more than ever, this I am pleased to see the further is a vital time for the Active Andrew McKay development of established Schools network, locally and Active Schools initiatives e.g. WD Schools nationally. We must ensure that Manager Games and Students in Sport we evidence a positive impact
PEOPLE
In this section‌ Volunteers in Profile Celebrating some of our volunteers
Volunteer Drive Our campaign to recruit more parent volunteers
Sporting Students West College Scotland sports students impact
Leading the Way Focus on our High School Sports Leaders
Volunteers In Profile Volunteers are the heart of our Active Schools programme. The hundreds of dedicated teachers, school staff, students, parents and secondary pupils who make up our network of volunteers allow us to provide and support a vast and varied number of opportunities for children and young people to participate in sport across the region. In addition to delivering or assisting with extra-curricular clubs, many of our volunteers also assist with our competitions and festivals throughout the school year. Meet some of our fantastic volunteers!...
Angela Munn has been volunteering for the Active Schools team for four years by running the school Netball Club at Balloch Primary School, Jamestown Campus. Angela is such a positive influence on all the children, not only those who take part in the Netball Club but to all the children in the school. Balloch Primary said "Angela is fully committed to our school as a teacher and also volunteers as a mum, coaching our Netball Team who thoroughly enjoy their sessions and have been very successful on the netball court. We couldn’t do without Angela in our Active Schools provision.”
Alastair Robertson has been volunteering for the Active Schools team for a number of years by supporting various programmes. Alastair is a key part of the Clydemuir Primary School extra-curricular structure where has delivered rugby and lunchtime football clubs. In addition, Alistair assists with our festivals and competitions and has developed into an accomplished, helpful and reliable sports coach. Alastair said “Volunteering with Active Schools have given me a fantastic opportunity to grow as a coach and an individual, by helping out at different events and clubs. This has increased my confidence as a coach and this is all down to the great opportunities provided by Active Schools.”
Don’t just stand at the gates… help your child participate!
Volunteer Drive
Volunteer Drive Autumn 2017 saw us launch a region wide volunteer recruitment campaign aimed at parents, under the slogan ‘Don’t just stand at the gates, help your child participate!’ This two week campaign aimed to recruit more parent volunteers, who could compliment the large number of teachers and school staff who currently volunteer to run extra-curricular sports clubs. New marketing materials were created, every school in West Dunbartonshire was given a large banner to display on their gates and children were given fliers to take home. We also featured in the local newspapers and on local radio during, as well as a number of good news posts on social media.
We used the campaign to also raise the profile of volunteering and celebrate the fantastic work carried out by volunteers, gaining an insight into their experiences of volunteering in their local school. We heard from pupils about the impact volunteers make on them... A facebook video featuring Gavinburn Primary’s netball team saying how much they like and need their volunteer coach, had a massive 2500 views. 21 new volunteers from across the region have stepped up to get involved and have been supported in recent months by the Active Schools Coordinators to join the PVG scheme and go through relevant training. We’re sure they will make a big impact!
Sporting Students The Students in Sport programme is a 7 year partnership between Active Schools and the Sports department at West College Scotland, Clydebank, which offers young people the chance to gain vital workplace experiences and develop their knowledge and skills within the sporting industry.
The college students also play a big role in the competitions that Active Schools and Sports Development offer through the WD School Games, assisting with umpiring, scoring, time-keeping etc. This provides the students with valuable event management experience that they would not otherwise have access to.
Sports Coaching students from West College Scotland carry out work experience placements in primary schools across West Dunbartonshire. This, in turn, provides a significant number of extra-curricular sports clubs, with students delivering a wide range of activities that all children have the opportunity to take part in. For example, Josh Mathieson, HNC Sports Coaching student, has been carrying out his college placement at St. Martin’s Primary School during 2017-18. As well as assisting with P.E lessons Josh has already delivered lunchtime playground games clubs to P1-7 pupils and after-school Football & Multi-Sports clubs for P4-7 pupils. The pupils are relishing the chance to be more active and have fun with their friends.
The success of the Students in Sport programme can also demonstrated through the career paths chosen by many of the students involved. The valuable coaching experience gained through their school placements has allowed many to progress to university, become P.E teachers, paid sports coaches and Active Schools Coordinators. This will strengthen Scottish sport in the years to come.
Leading the Way With 2018 being the Year of Young People and Young Leaders being a priority for the Active Schools network, we were pleased to see 61 pupils from across our five mainstream High Schools and Kilpatrick Secondary School attend our 2-day Active Schools Sports Leadership Scheme in June, at Clydebank Leisure Centre.
The aim of our Active Schools Sports Leadership programme is to encourage and enable senior secondary school pupils to play a leading role for sport in their school and beyond, by being trained as sports coaches and organisers. Since being trained and with the 2017-18 school session well underway, our Sports Leaders have been doing an excellent job volunteering in schools, supported by their Active Schools Coordinator and PE staff. They lead and assist in the delivery of extra-curricular clubs for other pupils. A number of them are also now actively involved in supporting our WD School Games high school festivals - organising fixtures, umpiring & coaching.
Day 1 saw students trained in the delivery of Badminton, Basketball, Dodgeball and Netball. All were then invited to complete Day 2, which included Safeguarding and Protecting Children, Disability Inclusion Training and Competition Organiser Training. It was great to see such a high turnout and the enthusiasm of the young people.
Mountain Biking Competition at Balloch Country Park
PROFILE
In this section… Area updates Clydebank Dumbarton Vale of Leven
Measuring Impact An update on our participation data
Area Update - Clydebank In the Clydebank area, we have had success in recruiting 46 volunteers so far during 2017-18 to support the delivery of extra-curricular sport programmes and our WD School Games events. These new volunteers are a combination of school staff, parents, students and young leaders. At the Clydebank School Games events we’ve had a 92% attendance rate from our schools which is fantastic and shows the buy-in we have from schools for this. We have also had huge support from West College Scotland and the HNC, level 5 and level 4 students who are undertaking their placements within our primary schools. In total 49 students have been delivering regular extra-curricular activities within Clydebank primary schools, which makes a huge contribution to the provision and participation rates across Clydebank.
Sports Leaders from St. Peter the Apostle High School have been out delivering sessions in St. Joseph’s and St. Eunan’s Primary Schools. These sessions were delivered at lunchtimes and very well attended. Huge Congratulations go to Gavinburn Primary School who have achieved the Gold School Sport Award which is given by sportscotland to schools achieving excellence in PE and school sport. The school has had high participation in their extra-curricular sports and it’s fantastic to see them rewarded for their commitment. Netball still proves very popular, with all primary schools in Clydebank involved in a qualifying netball event that determined which Netball league they would be placed in for the year. This allowed us to allocate teams into their leagues by ability and play bi-weekly fixtures.
Area Update - Dumbarton 26 new dedicated, enthusiastic volunteers (a mix of sports leaders, students, parents, teachers and other school staff) have been supporting our work recently in the Dumbarton area, assisting in the delivery of extra-curricular clubs and supporting schools attendance at our WD School Games festivals. A number of these new volunteers are Sports Leaders from Dumbarton Academy who assist in the delivery of a wide range of transitional clubs inc. Badminton, Basketball, Football, Netball and Rugby. These transition clubs are open to P7 pupils from the feeder primary schools and S1-3 pupils from Dumbarton Academy and are proving very popular. Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School moved to the brand new Bellsmyre campus in October. The PE Department hosted our P5-7 Dodgeball festival as well as our Netball CPD for a primary teachers. We hope to use their fantastic facility for more events in the future.
St. Patrick’s Primary School became one of only 59 schools across Scotland to achieve the Gold School Sport Award for the second time! A great achievement which the staff and pupils should be very proud of. A number of Active Schools Programmes helped them achieve gold status inc. extra-curricular sports clubs, mentoring and support for new volunteers and providing sports CPD for teachers. The new PE facilities at OLSP saw an increase in lunchtime clubs, with Netball and Girls Football, Basketball and a Badminton club. The number of extracurricular sessions from August to December grew by over 100% to a total of 55 - and this has helped improve participation by some 361% (919 visits) compared to the same period last year. This is encouraging and we will look to build on this in the coming months, in partnership with the PE Department and leadership of the school.
Area Update - Vale of Leven Primary 6 pupils in the Vale of Leven area had the chance to participate in curriculum time rugby sessions delivered by Loch Lomond Rugby Club during November. Vale of Leven Cricket Club and UKTC Taekwondo Club have also been working with us to plan their in-school delivery. This continued strong partnership working with local sports clubs is allowing more children to engage with these activities in their local community. Schools have been very engaged with our WD School Games programme. Seven schools competed at the P5 Basketball Festival and 8 schools took part in the P5-7 Netball Festival. The P3 Rugby festival saw 8 schools participating and 7 schools came along to the P5-7 Football festival. The extra-curricular programme was very active in the Vale of Leven area with participation rising in most schools and St. Martin’s and St. Mary’s Primary Schools both seeing big increases in new clubs compared to the same period last year.
The Sports Leaders at Vale of Leven Academy have been active through their promotion and delivery of lunchtime clubs and assisting staff with the delivery of extra curricular sports clubs. The Young Ambassadors and Sports Leaders ran an Active Girls day that was extremely popular with the female pupils at the Academy - a great success. The sportscotland School Sport Award has proved popular, with Bonhill Primary School achieving Silver for the 3rd year in a row and Renton Primary also achieved silver this year. More schools will get involved soon. A number of parent volunteers came forward as a result of our recruitment campaign. We have been supporting them to join the PVG scheme and attend relevant training. Several of them have started volunteering and are doing well.
Measuring Impact 2017-18 academic year data so far (Aug-Dec 2017)
40,904 extra-curricular attendances 46% attendances by females 3,581 Distinct Participants (different pupils participating) 2,451 activity sessions 229 volunteers delivering 35 Secondary pupils delivering 19 Sports clubs linked to schools
Figures above relate to extra-curricular provision only and may not reflect all extra-curricular activities in schools.
ClubGolf Festival at Dumbarton Golf Club
PARTICIPATION In this section… Club Links A look at some of our school to club pathways
WD School Games An update on this year’s school sport events
Club Links A key priority for the Active Schools network across Scotland is to develop strong pathways between schools and the local sports clubs to encourage and enable more young people to participate in sport beyond school. We have continued to work in partnership with local sports clubs, co-ordinating extra-curricular clubs, taster sessions and festivals. These raise the profile of local clubs in schools and we believe this is the best way for school to club links to be made. Children and young people are more likely to go along to a club if they have had a taster of the sport and know the coaches from the club. One of the strongest links we have is with Loch Lomond Rugby Club, developed over several years now, which has resulted in thousands of children in the local area getting to experience the sport.
The club has benefited and currently has over 90 junior members, with teams at every age group from P1-7 playing at mini league as well as U-13 and U-16 teams competing in local leagues. 34 of these junior members were joined in 2016-17 following the club delivering sessions in local schools and these numbers are set to rise with the Club delivering more sessions during 2017-18. Pro Judo Club also delivered tasters in Dumbarton and Clydebank schools. Due to their popularity, an additional four-week block was put on at the Meadow Sports Centre. This saw 50 pupils attend - and a waiting list of 10. In the Clydebank area, there are 36 pupils attending the Judo club on a weekly basis at the Antonine Sports Centre. In both areas, all pupils attending the club sessions now have their own judo suit and have been graded in their first belt!
WD School Games The West Dunbartonshire School Games is in full swing again with lots of competitions and festivals having taken place in a wide variety of sports for primary school and secondary school pupils. To keep up to date and see how many points your school has achieved so far, visit the website:
www.wdschoolgames.com
wdschoolgames.com
#inspiringschoolsport
Golf Final The P5 Gold Final was hosted by Dumbarton Golf Club in October. The wet conditions made it a challenge, but all pupils enjoyed playing and the results were as follows: 1st Goldenhill, 2nd Christie Park, 3rd Gartocharn.
Cross Country and Sportshall Athletics The annual Individual Cross country event was held at Balloch County Park in October. The top 3 primary schools were St Patrick’s, Goldenhill and St Mary’s (Duntocher), with Dumbarton Academy winning the Secondary Schools competition. The P6 Sportshall Athletics programme is in full flow and the final will be held at Clydebank Leisure Centre on 25th April 2018. It promises to be another very exciting finale.
Netball Leagues Our 2017-18 Netball competitions are well underway, with Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven areas running 3 festivals throughout the year and all Clydebank schools participating in an after-school league structure.
Non-Competitive Festivals Our non-competitive Football and P3 Rugby festivals during September - December were well attended and schools received 10 points towards their School Games points total. This term also saw the first round of the swimming festivals.
Basketball Final January saw our first ever Basketball Final. P5 pupils from six schools played in front for hundreds of parents with Our Lady of Loretto crowned 2017-18 Champions!
High School Festivals Recent months have seen high schools host our three festivals for S1-3 school pupils - who have enjoyed competing in Badminton, Basketball, Dodgeball, Football, Netball, Rugby, Table Tennis & Trampolining.
Join us! Get Active! If you can spare just one hour per week to help us get young people more active, please get in touch and help us inspire more active communities!
West Dunbartonshire Leisure Trust Alexandria Community Centre Main Street, Alexandria, G83 0NU Tel: 01389 757806 Fax: 01389 751557 Email: leisureservicesadmin@west-dunbarton.gov.uk www.wdleisure.net
West Dunbartonshire Leisure is a recognised Scottish Charity: SC 042999;