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Find out what the Mayor and Mayoress thought when they attended
the Leadership and Volunteering Awards Evening
Welcome to the third edition of The Whickham Leader. In this
edition you will find out about how Whickham Leaders have taken to
the
Olympic sport of Fencing, catch up with a former pupils and find
out what theyve been up to since leaving Whickham, read about the
fantastic work that is taking place in the Art Department as well
as celebrating last years Leadership Awards Evening.
The Whickham Leader Leadership and Volunteering Newsletter
(Issue 3 September 2011)
Whickhams Young People Lead the Way
The 2011 Tyne & Wear Step into Sport Conference took place
in at Gateshead Leisure Centre. The event designed to up skill YR9
students in the art of event management and introduce them to some
Olympic and Paralympic sports was planned, organised and delivered
entirely by the staff and young leaders of the Gateshead Whickham
School Sport Partnership. The conference attended by 200 young
people and 50 staff from Tyne & Wear schools focused on the
sports of Boxing, Fencing and the Paralympic sport of Boccia as
well as a generic Event Management workshop. Attendees were
inspired by the confidence, enthusiasm and professionalism of the
Whickham students as they listened to presentations and took part
in the sports specific coaching sessions.
Please pass on my thanks from myself and our students. They
loved the day and came away very enthusiastic to run an event
in
school! Thanks again and I sincerely hope that there is another
one next year
Monkseton School
I would like to say a massive well done to the Step into Sport
leaders. Seeing your
passion for making fencing very much part of your programme was
great to see
and inspiring beyond what was Hoped!
Beth Davidson
My pupils had a great day. They made new friends and learnt a
lot from the
sessions. After doing Boccia they are now going to deliver it to
fellow pupils at our school - obviously inspired by the day -
that's what it's all about! Mortimer School
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Whickham Olympics Builds Leaders of the Future At the end of the
last Academic year two year 7 classes competed in the Whickham
Olympics. The scheme ran during PE lessons focused on athletics
events whilst developing the sports leadership skills of these year
7 boys. Students focused on different roles throughout each lesson
and together with their team mates competed against others in the
class for points. Which would then be calculated at the end of the
event to determine who would win this prestigious competition. The
project carried out by Mr James Leggitt, (whilst on placement as a
student teacher at Whickham) investigated the use of a student
centred curriculum and instruction model. The yoUR Leaders model is
an alternative approach to delivering the PE Curriculum, where
pupils are responsible for planning, managing and running their own
sports season. The programme was a huge success and YR7 students
Andrew Clarke and Jack Smith spoke of their experiences and
achievements at the Leadership and Volunteering Awards Evening in
July.
Student Roles CoachCaptainPublicistManagerAnalyst
0
20
40
60
80
100
Self Esteem Behaviour Leadership
Student % Increase after the yoUR Leaders Programme
Fencing Fun For Us! After the huge success of the Step into
Sport Conference in June (see pg1), Fencing could be the next big
thing for Whickham. Beth Davidson (Newcastle University's Fencing
Coach) and Whickham Sports Centre Manager Ryan
Murphy were so impressed with our young fencing leaders that
October will see the first fencing leadership course ran at
Whickham. The Level 2 Community Sports Leaders will be put through
their paces and will hopefully be skilled enough to attend primary
school fencing clubs with Ryan as well as assisting Beth at
national fencing competitions. Additionally it is hoped that
fencing will soon form a integral part of the Gateshead/Whickham
School Sport Partnerships sporting calendar with primary schools
across Whickham and indeed Gateshead benefiting from the
project.
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Leadership Awards Evening Special
The 6th July 2011 was a night to remember for the Young Leaders
of Whickham School and Sports College. The Leadership Awards
Evening was a huge success and the night was attended by thirty VIP
guests, many proud parents, grandparents and guardians as well as
our very special young leaders and volunteers. In total some 200
people enjoyed a night of inspiration and celebration.
The evening was organised and presented by three year 12
students (pictured left) who worked hard throughout the year to
make the event a success. The night consisted of various
presentations from pupils of all ages detailing their experiences
of leadership and volunteering throughout the year. Presentations
of certificates and awards were given by the invited VIP guests,
which included Councillors Joe and Jen Mitchison (Mayor and
Mayoress of Gateshead), representatives form the Gateshead/Whickham
School Sport Partnership, Ex Whickham Teachers and Mr Steve Haigh
(Head Teacher). Hana Bartle, Robbie Costello and
Chloe Allen
Hannah and Anna with Whickhams YR9 Girls Active Leaders
Also amongst the audience were Gold Young Ambassadors Hannah
Liburd and Anna Adenijia form Joseph Whitaker Sports College in
Nottinghamshire. Whickham and Joseph Whitaker have worked closely
together over the last 18 months to develop Leadership and
Volunteering and the girls were delighted to attend our awards
evening to get a flavour of what we do. Theyll certainly go back
with lots of ideas and our staff and young leaders will look
forward to working with them in the future.
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Leadership Awards Evening Special
Jack Bell and Andrew Clark YR7 (yoUR Leaders) Riccardo Tanoh YR9
(Values through Leadership)
Emily Ducker, Fraser Lillie and Jenna Dixon YR8 (Determination
Award)
YR10 Level 1 Dance Leaders
Jack Atkinson and Ross Norman YR10 (Level 1 Sports Leaders( GET
SET 2012 Award Winners
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Leadership Awards Evening Special
YR12 Level 2 Community Sports Leaders YR12 Step Into Sport
Winners
YR10 and 11 Step Into Sport Winners YR12 Rugby Specific
Volunteering Award Winners
YR9 and 10 Arts Leadership Award Winners YR13 Level 3 Higher
Sports Leaders
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Leadership Awards Evening Special
The night ended with the presentation of a very special award to
two young leaders who have excelled this year. The Kerry Dunn
Memorial Award 2011 was presented to Hana Bartle and Robbie
Costello who helped organise and present the Leadership Awards
Evening. The two Gold Young Ambassadors for Sport in Gateshead have
fulfilled their roles with maturity, professionalism and a
tremendous enthusiasm throughout what has been a very tough year
for everyone involved in school sport. Not knowing what they were
letting themselves in for when they applied for the post this time
last year, the two have developed their leadership and
organisational skills beyond belief and the Leadership Awards
Evening was just one example of this. The pair have gone
more than the Extra Mile to spread the word of Leadership &
Volunteering and have been a credit to the Gateshead/Whickham
School Sport Partnership, Whickham School and themselves. They
thoroughly deserve to have their names added to the growing list of
young leaders who have been recognised in this way and Kerry would
be very proud of the work they are doing and will continue to do.
Well done!
Mr Haigh presents Hana and Robbie with the Kerry Dunn Memorial
Award
VIPS Express Their Pride The organisers of this years awards
evening were delighted when the Mayor and Mayoress of Gateshead,
Councillors Joe and Jen Mitcheson accepted their invitation to
attend. After presenting the Level 2 CSLA awards the Mayor asked if
he could make a few comments to the audience. Speaking from the
heart he expressed how proud he was of the pupils and their
achievements and thanked the school and parents for all the support
they give to these talented young people.
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Whickham Arts Leaders Share Skills in the Community
Arts Leadership continues to grow with our students teaching a
wide range of arts based projects in four of our feeder primary
schools, as well as Gibside School and a local day nursery. In
total 26 students achieved an award last year with students ranging
from Year 9 through to Year 13. The Arts Leadership Award was set
up to allow an arts pathway into leadership and is open to
students
from all year groups. There are 3 levels to the Award (Bronze,
Silver and Gold), the more ownership and independence students
exhibit the higher the award they achieve. As well as helping to
run sessions in our own school art club students are encouraged to
work in the wider community where possible. This year we are also
introducing a Community Arts Leaders Award to encourage students to
log their total voluntary hours from the day they start any Arts
Leadership Course. We are also looking for Junior Arts Leaders to
help decide how the art club is run and what kind of activities
they would like to get involved in.
They (Year 12 students) were quick to set up and tidy up after
the activity. We would be more than happy to have them back in the
future and as they conducted themselves very professionally in this
setting. They were a credit to you and Whickham School. Praise
indeed! Jane Armstrong Arts Co-ordinator, Fellside Primary
School.
Taking part in the Arts Leadership Award
has given us more confidence in communi-
cating to large groups of people. It is a fun,
highly rewarding and great experience in
interacting with younger children Hannah
Ramsey and Jade Urwin - Year 13
Jessica Atkins demonstrates printing to Year 4 students at Front
Street Primary as part of the
Arts Leadership that took place during Rich Experience Week
The Gibside Team with their artwork then bottle tops were added
by the
Gibside School Students
Kate Fitzpatrick (Year 13) helps Year 6 students at Fellside
School to paint their
clay dinosaurs
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Welcome to a new feature for the Whickham
Leader where we
catch up with an ex-student and find out what theyve been up
to
Bitten by the Leadership Bug! By Katie Priesltey
I got involved with Sports Leadership in year 10 with the Dreams
and Teams programme and since then Ive never looked back. This
programme allowed a group of leaders from Whickham to travel to
Holland to meet up with Dutch leaders, live with them and organise
a festival for approx 200 school children. The trip itself was a
slight baptism of fire for me as, despite being involved in several
sports teams, the only previous experience I really had of coaching
was leading a few drills in training. After 2 long days of
planning, the festival went off without a hitch and I was bit by
the sports leadership bug! From then I looked at how to get
involved in my local community. I started by helping to coach the
year 7 Hockey team once a week, helping to run drills and umpire
matches. I also began to coach the induction groups (for children
aged 8-11) at my Harriers Club. In year 12 I took A-Level PE and
subsequently was involved in the Community Sports Leader Award
(CSLA) and in year 13 I decided to participate in the Higher Sports
Leader Award (HSLA). This involved helping to lead and organise
various festivals, including and the Top Link Festivals in both
2009 and 2010. I continued to coach at Blaydon Harriers, in
addition to helping officiate at the Blaydon Race and Young Athlete
League Competitions. I also helped Fellside Primary school with
their after school Hockey sessions. All of this helped me to
achieve my Step into Sport Gold Award for over 200 hours of
community volunteering. Currently I am now a fully qualified
Athletics Coaching Assistant. I work with Blaydon Harriers coaching
sprinters aged 11-16 and have recently started coaching with the
North Of Tyne Athletics Network. To take my leadership to the next
level, I am currently in the process of applying for the role of
Camp Councillor with the Camp America 2012 programme something
which if Im successful, will mean I will be spending the 3 months
of my summer in the USA running summer camps for American kids and
teenagers with a bit of travelling thrown in! This is just one of
doors that have been opened up for me as a result of sports
leadership. Before going to University I had a job interview with
the Youth Sport Trusts 2012 Leavers Programme for a 2 year
internship with LOCOG, the organisation in charge of organising the
Olympic Games. I was lucky enough to get down to the final 20
applicants and went for an interview at Canary Warf, in London.
Unfortunately I did not get any further; however Im immensely proud
of getting so far, it was a great experience and something to write
on the C.V! I have also been lucky enough to kit carry at a
professional athletics Grand Prix, meeting athletes such as
Phillips Idowu, Mo Farah and watching Asafa Powell warm up! It has
also led to some paid coaching work and built up some contacts in
sport, something which I hope will become useful once Ive finished
my degree. Volunteering has allowed me to gain confidence, learn
how to take on responsibility and improve my communication skills.
Ive had a lot of different and new experiences. The leadership I
have participated in has allowed me to discover something that I
find extremely rewarding and as you can probably tell something Im
extremely passionate about! When I finish my Sports Science degree
at Northumbria University I would like to do a Masters and become a
Physiotherapist. Im 100% sure that the skills I have developed
while coaching and leading will help me in this.
Katie receiving her Gold Step Into Sport Award for over 200hrs
of Voluntary work from Newcastle Eagle Fabulous Flournoy