13 March 2020

 I am writing to update you on the development of Sporting Influence's response to the Coronavirus outbreak, following yesterday's UK government meetings and latest Public Health England (PHE) advice which you may find helpful. Our team of qualified teachers are meeting daily to review the latest government guidance and co-ordinate our plan as a company. Our discussions cover both our work and partnerships with local Primary and Secondary Schools and our Easter Camps at Harrogate Ladies' College. Our approach remains in line with advice and guidance from the relevant health authorities, in particular the NHS – specifically Public Health England (PHE). The government’s focus has moved to the second phase of ‘Delay’ and in addition to the continued advice for regular and thorough hand-washing, it has now included a requirement for anyone with a new, continuous cough or temperature, however mild the symptoms, to self-isolate for seven days. At this stage we are planning for a fun and active Easter Camp and parents have been booking online as usual.If the facilities are closed down due to guidance from the Government then a credit or full refund will be given to parents. The Sporting Influence action plan will now and for the foreseeable future prioritise health and safety in our lessons, afterschool clubs, competitions and holiday camps.Activities and sessions will be planned to have less physical contact where possible but still a clear emphasis on fun and learning.We will introduce hand washing at the end of each session because PE and sport sessions will naturally create more interaction for children than some other more structured lessons in school. May we ask families to follow government advice if they visit any country named on the government website as a concern, or if any family member does so.   Official travel advice to and from the UK is being regularly updated.  As we move closer to our Easter Camp week we may require all families that have booked on to camp to self-declare if they have been in an area of particularly high risk – more information will follow about this at the end of this month. We are working alongside Harrogate Ladies' College in particular and taking additional steps to support the health and wellbeing of the children and our team of teachers and coaches primarily through extra cleaning and widespread provision of hand sanitisers. Should there be any developments that affect the running of Camp we will be in touch with parents. Finally, thanks for all for your support and cooperation in helping to keep the schools a calm and kind place for students and staff alike. All the best,Dave Moss

12 March 2020

Wednesday Evening Competitions are back and this half term it is DODGEBALL. After Week 1, where the children learned the basic skills needed for dodgeball, last night the children went straight into matches to compete for the mantel of Dodgeball Champions. Some great skills on show, highlighting the importance of tactics and the way that the children defend and attack with and without the ball were real highlights. Onto next week for more ducking, dodging, dipping, diving & dodging.

12 March 2020

Over the last three weeks at Boroughbridge Primary School, Mr Crooks has been focusing on orienteering with Year 3, 4 and 5. The focus of this unit has been on team work, including the qualities of a good team member and how they work together. Each lesson has consisted of team building activities, as well as map reading where students have had the opportunity to explore the school grounds. To conclude this unit, each student successfully demonstrated key map reading skills as well as working together to collect all of the letters under numbered stones. The letters spelt out "congratulations", which is suitable as the students did an outstanding job throughout this block of work. 

12 March 2020

At Sporting Influence we love any sort of sporting challenge or sports activity. When Sports Relief comes around we love to make a statement and help out where we can in our schools. We will be partaking in a variety of events throughout the week in our schools including: Run a milePing-pong-athonNon - uniform day What are you doing? Let us know!

27 February 2020

KS1 Multi Skills Festival On Wednesday morning Western & Rossett Acre schools came together to compete in a KS1 Multi skills Festival at Rossett High School. The morning was fantastic with all the children representing their schools positively. The behaviour was top class, all children respecting each other, adults and the young leaders. Both schools competed at five different stations: Cross the RiverBlowing out the CandlesBeanbag ThrowFrying pan & eggSpeed Bounce The morning was finished off with some competitive races and all children encouraging and supporting each other. Dance Festival On Friday, five schools will be attending a Dance Festival at Great Ouseburn Village Hall. KirkhammertonStaveleyBoroughbridgeGreat OuseburnNun Monkton Children will be performing a dance in their classes and competing against other schools. They will be judged on their: unisonformationmusicalitystylepersonality Come back next week to find out how it went!

25 February 2020

Fun fact - March 2020 has 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays & 5 Tuesdays!!! Sunday, March 8 - Daylight Saving begins - clocks go forward 1 hour!Sunday, March 8 - International Women’s Day - highlighting the achievements of women all around the world and the struggles that women continue to go through all around the world. Tuesday, March 17 - St Patrick's Day - Drink responsibly and hopefully find your 4 leaf clover!Thursday, March 19 - Spring Equinox - marking the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. On this day, the Sun is located directly over Earth’s equator.March 30-April 17 - Easter Holiday Activity Camp - Sporting Influence Easter Activity Camp held at Harrogate Ladies College - BOOK HERE.

30 January 2020

Ok, confession number 1 - they aren't real horses! The common theme during this half term is, the weather is awful so let's do gymnastics. We are currently teaching a lot of gymnastics in our schools. Developing core strength, exploring different shapes, travel, flight and rolls. We are also with older children looking at vaulting on and vaulting through. Vaulting, is the action of jumping onto our over a vault. As the average primary schools don't have vaults we have to adapt and use either a gymnastics horse, or gymnastics table. Starting the unit, children work work on placing their hands down and lifting their legs from their core over a small object. From this the height in which children should raise their legs, will increase. After develop confidence through this the children will then vault onto their knees onto a object, starting small, the object will get progressively higher. The final process will involve children being able to vault over and onto an object safely and confidently.

30 January 2020

As part of his role at Sporting Influence, Mr Atkinson has the duty of supervising and developing student placements. As part of this role Mr Atkinson has been working closely with Leeds Trinity University to give young and enthusiastic students, brilliant experience of our profession, teaching and sport! Mr Atkinson has already been to Leeds Trinity, alongside Mr Moss, to deliver a lecture to students about exactly what we do and what is needed to step into the world of teaching. Both Mr Moss & Mr Atkinson have numerous years of secondary school PE teaching and they wanted to pass on some tips for making sure you are prepared for the big bad world on education! Mr Atkinson has today (Friday 31st Jan) also been to Leeds Trinity University to attend a networking careers fair. Students can approach professionals and dig a little more into their experiences to give themselves the best start! We look forward to continuing this bright and effective partnership with Leeds Trinity University.

23 January 2020

Another show of brilliant skill, behaviour and attitude on Wednesday Evening as five schools took to our Tchoukball Competition. A short technical at the beginning of the session, looking at shooting from an angle and how that can aid the attacking team, soon turned into competitive matches. The passing, switch play and communication was brilliant from all teams. The deciding factor between winning and losing was generally understand where the ball was going to rebound, after hitting the net. The children are getting better week by week. We can't wait for next week! Well done to all.

23 January 2020

Katie White, one of Sporting Influence's ambassadors, has been working alongside Sir David Attenborough to produce a new film - A Life On Our Planet. Katie, Executive Director of the World Wildlife Fund, has co-produced this film looking into the differences that people can make to their lives, that will have a greater impact in the years to come. Sir David Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of our planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. Now, for the first time he reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime as a naturalist and the devastating changes he has seen. Produced by WWF and award-winning wildlife film-makers Silverback Films, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet is a first-hand account of humanity’s impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations. Take a look at the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbUNXyOQr40

22 January 2020

On Monday we hosted a KS1 Multi-Skills Festival at Great Ouseburn Village hall. Over 130 children took part from Boroughbridge, Great Ouseburn, Nun Monkton, Kirk hammerton and Staveley Primary Schools. It was the first time we had used the venue and it was a fantastic space for us and the children to use. Children took part in 13 different activity stations from Target Throw to Speed Bounce, and Agility Ladders to the Bucket Challenge. Teams competed against each other by scoring points at each station, with results shared at the end. There was great use of Sporting Influence's 5 social skills throughout, with those children using them, consistently rewarded with a wristband at the end of the festival.  We look forward to hosting our next festival, KS1 and KS2 Dance, at Great Ouseburn Village hall.

16 January 2020

We have finally made the big screen!!! Unfortunately not Hollywood, but as you enter camp keep your eyes peeled for our new information TV. This TV will offer information about who is working that day, what has happened that day and other information that could be appropriate for your day at camp! Hopefully, this screen will allow us and our communication with parents to be even better than it currently is. If you have any suggestions of what you would like to see on the screen, please feel free to speak to the Camp Leader at the check in desk at camp.

16 January 2020

Tchoukball has returned to our Wednesday Evening Comps. The first competition was Wednesday 15th and the standard did not disappoint. With four schools attending, it was the perfect opportunity to incorporate a small teaching element to the session and ensure the children were sure of the rules and skills involved. The sessions ended with two tchoukball matches where the children explored the way the game is played and all the different tactics that can be used. By the end of the competition there were lots of smiles, sweat and out of breath children. We cannot wait for future weeks!!!

16 January 2020

As we get back into the groove after Christmas we are pleased to announce the introduction of our work into new schools. Some of these schools are new to Sporting Influence, others have used Sporting Influence before and are returning for more fantastic teaching and learning. The schools we have on board this half term are: Oatlands Infants - Sports NumeracyGrewelthorpe - CPD & PPACarnagill - CPD & PPASt Roberts - CPDBirchfield - Sports Numeracy We can't wait to really get going in all our new schools as well as all the schools we will be continuing from Term 1.

9 January 2020

Jan - Wednesday Evening Tchoukball Comps Y5/6 Feb - Wednesday Evening Dodgeball Comps Y5/6 & Feb Half Term Camp. March - Easter Holiday Camp April - Easter Holiday Camp & Wednesday Evening Dodgeball/Tchoukball Comps Y3/4 May - Wednesday Evening Dodgeball/Tchoukball Comps Y3/4 & May Half Term Camp. June - Wednesday Evening Cricket Comps Y5/6 July - Summer Holiday Activity Camps START!!! August - Summer Holiday Activity Camps continue!!! September - Summer Holiday Activity Camps Finish! 2020/21 School Year Starts. Keep an eye out in-between as we have some exciting opportunities on the boil at Sporting Influence HQ!