May 23, 2013
Coaching
Students are attached to a ‘Home Team,’ spending an hour and a half each week with their coach in groups of 8-10. We know that by working in groups small enough to get individual attention, students will be able to make rapid progress in their academic studies as well as be supported effectively in their social development.
Once a term students, in their coaching groups, will attend ‘Citizenship Theme’ days where they will do sessions based around a core PSHCE subject. Often these sessions will be run by external agencies and specialists. Examples of past CT day topics include Healthy Living, Sexual Health and Understanding the Law.
What do we do in a Coaching session?
- ‘Check-in’ An opportunity to ‘temperature check’ pupils’ physical and emotional well-being through discussions about the previous weekend or holiday. Ensuring that students are not interrupted whilst they speak is vital within this process. Active listening is a key skill for both students and staff to develop and is one of the most difficult to master.
- Weekly log Planner check, uniform check, attendance, rewards, reply slips and letters to be sent home.
- ERIC (Everyone Reads In Coaching) A minimum of 10 minutes silent reading. Any reading material will improve pupils’ literacy skills. Building up a bank of magazines, books, and newspapers provides a wide variety of resources. Newspapers provide an excellent opportunity to discuss current affairs and students are actively encouraged to offer thoughts and opinions on issues.
- Educational games A wide range of games will be available to coaches that will help develop key skills within students, particularly numeracy and literacy as well as the capacity to plan and be strategic. These include games such as Scrabble, Boggle, Connect 4, and Countdown.
- ‘Check out’ Staff may find it useful to ‘check out’ at the end of coaching to draw the session to a close in a structured manner.
- Monitor Progress Reports The coaching sessions within the final week of each half term are devoted to discussing students’ Progress Reports on both an individual and group basis.
- Assemblies A programme of assemblies is delivered on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday to reinforce themes explored through Citizenship Theme days.
