The South Ribble School Sports Partnership Conference

Tuesday 24^th March 2015 saw one of my key placement learning experiences take place. This was the annual South Ribble School Sports Partnership Conference held at ‘Wellington Park, Windsor and Kent Suit, Leyland'. 

The event brought in delegates (Primary School Physical Education Teachers and also Head Teachers) from various Primary Schools around the South Ribble Borough. The aim was to display what we as a School Sports Partnership implement into school sport events and physical activity. The conference was held from 9-3 pm, with the morning session (9:30-11am) comprising of guest speakers from ‘Mrs Jan Horby ‘Head teacher at Our Lady Star of the Sea’, talking about ‘Using PE as the key to raising standards in the school’. This was followed by Stacey Mullock from the Youth Sports Trust, and then followed by Glen Swindlehurst, Head of Primary PE, School Sport and Outdoor Education, explaining how the South Ribble School Sports Partnership link to the national and local school sport strategies. (See photo below for format of the conference).

From 11:15-3pm the SSP morning and afternoon workshops took place, which was then ended with a great inspirational closing address speech from Mark Eccleston (Paralympion and Gold Medalist). For the workshops the delegates were split up into three groups and each group had 20 minutes on each workshop. With regards to my duties, I was hosting a workshop along with another member of the SSP team (Alison - School Games Organiser), and we both talked about the latest developments in our marketing and promotions strategy. This included the latest about our School Games Website development and our brand new SSP Official Website Page and Social Media Sites, and our upcoming plans until the end of the academic year. Therefore 3 x 20 minutes sessions were carried out informing all the teachers what I, and the SSP team have been working upon during my placement since October. This experience was a little daunting at first, as talking in front of 10 teachers for 20 minutes (30 overall) at a time was a little challenging. Considering this was my first time talking in front of a group of industry professions, I thought I held my own and used my communication and confidence, which I have developed over the course of my placement experience so far, to my advantage, and delivered a confident pitch. (See the pictures below which shows me in action at one my workshops).

In addition, another task I had prior to the conference was creating a SSP video montage comprising of significant school sports events over the course of the current academic year. This montage comprised of various photos, videos, quotes from the pupils participating in the events (personally obtained at every event) as well as key facts and statistics of the South Ribble School Sports Partnership. The video is approximately 20 minutes long and beings with the basic stats and then progresses into a mixture of pupils, teachers, leaders and the SSP team in action at the events. I really enjoyed carrying out this task as it tested my imagination and creativity for the content and style of the montage. In addition, I had to meet deadlines, therefore this developed my ability to work under pressure and work independently which are key stills for graduate employment (The Pedagogy for Employability Group, 2012; Binks and Exley, 1992). Unfortunately I could not upload the SSP video montage to my post, due to the file size, however, at the end of this post is a couple of sample screen shots from the video, just to give you a flavor of the content included.

This day was excellent and allowed me as a university student to really understand the importance of school sport and promoting the School Sports Partnership as a whole, and personally thought the event was brilliant. I felt I further strengthened my confidence and communication skills from talking to various teachers from schools around the borough, with regards to the importance and issues regarding social media and websites, as well and the upcoming plans we have to really engage with our target audiences online, via digital communications, and also via print communications. I hope that I can attend another conference the same as this, and show what South Ribble School Sports Partnership have achieved in the upcoming year, as we have a lot more exciting events coming up soon, and on a personal note, I have a lot a exciting tasks to complete the week ending of June, when I am involved in the Lancashire School Games Final, in Blackpool. Therefore would like the opportunity to put my skills and expertise into practice and deliver an effective workshop.

When reflecting back on this particular placement experience, the theoretical model I used to assess my experience was Schon's (1991) 'Reflection in Action' and 'Reflection on action'. I used reflection in action throughout my workshops, whereby I had to think on my feet and adapt to the questions being asked. I had to make sure I knew what I was going to say and do next, and this really came down to my decision making, confidence and communication skills. Ensuring that I was confident in my pitch and made decisions on what I wanted the teachers to carry out in the workout was entirely on me, and therefore I though I carried out this particular experience well. Decision making, and also patience were two skills I preliminary highlighted I wanted to develop prior to beginning my placement. These two skills were found from completing my personality and psychometric tests carried out in September. Therefore I can defiantly say that I have used my ability to make decisions in a professional setting, which is great for my personal transferable skills development.

When reflecting on action, again I think that during my workshops I communicated confidently with my fellow SSP team mate and the teachers and made decisions on the spot. In addition, I think my preparation and time management was very good as I had to ensure I had a power point workshop ready for the delegates, as well as what I planned to say throughout the workshop.

Schon (1991) Reflection Model:

However, one aspect I could potential work upon for future pitches and workshops is making my pitch very concise, due to time constraints. Ensuring I only mention the most relevant details will save me time. This will come with experience, and this is something I hope to further develop in the forthcoming weeks on placement. 

The conference format:

Picture of me and Alison at one of our workshops:

South Ribble SSP Conference Video Montage, created personally:

References:

Pegg, A., Waldock, J., Heny-Isaac, S., Lawton, R. (2012). Pedagogy for employability.Available: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pedagogy_for_employability_update_2012.pdf. Last accessed 25th April 2015.

Binks, M., Exley, K. (1992). Observing the Output of Institutions of Higher Education: The Case of Graduate Attributes, University of Nottingham, Nottingham.