Kic.in2.Study

Supporter to Reporter

Ten Kic.in2.study students spent four days at the Cobblers Study Centre over half term learning how to be sports reporters.  The training was led by staff from Radiowaves and included opportunities to learn how to conduct an interview and how to record and edit radio stories as well as a visit to the Northants 96 radio station.  To find out more go to the Cobblers Study Centre page on the Northants Study Centres website.

We love Grendon

The first day of half term saw a group of Kic students at Grendon to take part in canoeing and archery.  The sun shone and the morning on the river was enjoyed by all – even those who ended up in the river rather than the canoe!  The archery lesson was cut short by rain, but not before we’d identified a few budding Robin Hoods.  We ended the afternoon playing team games - the drainpipe game, the levitating stick and stepping stones across the molten lava!

Once again our thanks to Bennett and Stephen for their work in making sure everyone had a good time.

Autumn term 2008

The new school year has started well for Kic.in2.study.  One group has started at the Diamonds Study Centre on Monday nights and another at the Cobblers Study Centre on Wednesdays.  We’re looking forward to an interesting term with a range of activities planned.

 We have a number of new staff – Helena has joined the  Projects team and will be working with Val on Kic.in2.study and other projects.  Sara is working with Rob at the Diamonds Study Centre and Jaimie is working with Jean at the Cobblers Study Centre.

Hazard Alley

The first day of August saw year 6 and 7 students meet at the Steelbacks Study Centre to try out the Apple computers, make name badges, and have a game of continuous cricket before heading for Milton Keynes to visit Hazard Alley. 

There they experienced a number of scenarios aimed at teaching them how to keep themselves safe - they learned about fire safety, water safety, road safety, the dangers of building sites and railways, farms and dark alleys.  They looked at dangerous situations in the home and watched a video about internet safety.  They also practised making a 999 call and how to put an unconscious person into the recovery position.

Back to Grendon

Kic.in2.study students returned to Grendon at the end of July.  This time we tried the climbing and abseiling tower, the zip wire and the low ropes - including the dreaded swamp!!  The weather was wonderful and everyone had a great day.  For some it was the opportunity to overcome a fear of heights, for others a day to challenge oneself, and for others a chance to improve on previous achievements. 

Everyone demonstrated either bravery or determination and everyone could be proud of themselves.  Some people impressed with the support and encouragement they offered to others.  Thanks go to Kurt, Tom and Stephen from Grendon who made it possible for us to have such a good day.

Longtown Visit

Twelve young people recently spent four challenging but enjoyable days at Longtown Outdoor Education Centre with Kic.in2.study at the end of July.

Click on the photo for a full report and a gallery of photos. Leave a comment to let us know what you think.

Year 8 Kic.in2.study at the Cobblers

The year 8 kic.in2.study group have just completed a ten week programme based at the Cobblers Study Centre.  Attendance was excellent and we saw a great improvement in confidence in a number of the young people.  Early sessions were dedicated to getting to know each other and learning to work as a team.  Margaret’s drain pipe game was great fun, and we almost cracked group juggling. 

 We were lucky to have the opportunity to tour the stadium, visiting many areas the general public don’t usually get the chance to see.  Lots of photographs were taken and the students then used Publisher to create a comic strip incorporating photographs and text.  The stadium was the location for the orienteering activity which brought out the competitive spirit in several people.  

A presentation by the healthy food and drink team saw us sampling a range of fruit, some familiar, some fairly strange, and then we made and taste-tested several smoothie recipes.  Mmmmmm  

We followed up this activity by devising a healthy menu for the Cobblers team on a match day.

A memory workshop challenged us all to improve our memory skills through a series of activities ranging from the familiar “I went to market….”, Kim’s game, practising grouping  things together, card memory games and more complicated visualisation tricks.  Everyone saw some improvement in their ability to remember things.  On another occasion we looked at different types of intelligence and tried to work out where our strengths lay – were we number smart, people smart, body smart, word smart, myself smart, picture smart, nature smart or music smart?

One week saw us visiting Franklin Gardens to join a PfS group from the Saints Study Centre in a Circus Skills workshop led by the county jester Kevin Burke.  Research has shown that these activities give the brain a bit of a workout and aid concentration.  We also saw how it encouraged the students to persevere at an activity and keep practising until they’d mastered it.  We saw some great juggling, fantastic work with the flower sticks, superb plate spinnng and impressive stilt walking.

Bellboating was a new venture for the Kic.in2.study programme and we are very grateful to Margaret for organising our session at the Northampton Sailing Club at Pitsford reservoir.  She assured us the boat was virtually unsinkable, provided everyone with buoyancy aids, a quick lesson in the rudiments, and before we knew it the Kic.in2.study boat crew were on the water! 

This has been a fantastic group to work with and we will miss them on Wednesday evenings.  However we hope to see them on some of the holiday activities on offer, and again next year.

Year 10

Year 10’s Kic.in2.study programme began in the Autumn term when the group got to know each other, toured the stadium and took part in sessions lead by the University of the First Age. These sessions focused on learning to learn, learning styles and different intelligences. The group came back together in the summer term to hear a presentation from Aim Higher and one from Connexions, take on the Diamonds Club Challenge, tackle three Robolab challenges, a number of problem solving tasks, a map activity based on the location of Premiereship football clubs, and various ICT tasks using both Publisher and Powerpoint.

In addition the students took part in additional workshops on Circus skills and Shakespeare, holiday activities at Silverstone Study Centre and the Saints Study Centre and visited the Emirates Stadium. They are now looking forward to their visit to Longtown Outdoor Education Centre at the end of term.

Evaluations at the end of the programme described it as fun, interesting, challenging, brilliant and good. Robolab was the favourite activity.

Grendon

During half term year seven and eight students had a fantastic day at Grendon Outdoor Education Centre where mountain biking and raft building were the order of the day.  Mountain biking over an obstacle course which included a seesaw and a limbo pole gave us a chance to develop individual skills whilst raft building (in the rain) focused on team work.  Most students gave the day full marks for enjoyment.  Comments included “The best day ever”, “Terrifying but fun,” and words such as Excellent, fantastic, funnilicious, brilliant and awesome.

Kic at the Emirates

Fourteen young people and four members of study centre staff  visited the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC during May half term.  We began with a tour of the stadium including visits to the directors box, the press lounge and the changing rooms.  We were very impressed by the size of the stadium and by the luxuriousness of the changing rooms.  We weren’t able to go near the pitch because there was work going on to set up for a concert later in the week.

We also went to the club museum where we learned a lot about the history of the club, and to the club shop where we saw a huge range of Arsenal memorabilia.