Week 4 - LEAGUE POSITIONS - The North Walsham Rugby Club Fantasy League

31 March 2006

Carrow Road recently played host to Norfolk's first 'Playing for Success' Conference when nearly 200 people from schools and organisations working with children attended this inaugural event on the 23rd March.

The conference highlighted the work of Norfolk County Council Children's Services through the 'Playing for Success' programme, including the Norwich City Study Centre at Carrow Road, Tackle Learning - a project in partnership with North Walsham Rugby Club using rugby to inspire learning, the Sports Colleges initiative and the new King’s Lynn Stars Study Centre.
The conference offered delegates the opportunity to have ‘hands on’ experience of the projects plus the chance to sit in on an Ian McMillan workshop.
Ian McMillan is Barnsley FC’s poet-in-residence, Humberside Police’s Beat Poet and Yorkshire TV’s Investigative Poet. He is a Royal Literary Fund Associate Fellow at Northern College Barnsley, Rotherham College & South Yorkshire WEA and a honorary doctor of both Sheffield Hallam University & North Staffs Polytechnic. He was BBC R4 Today Programme’s 2005 Election Laureate and is a regular roving contributor to the programme.
Rosalie Monbiot, the County Council's Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: "Playing for Success is making great strides in Norfolk and thousands of children and young people have already benefited.

"The conference gave people the chance to find out more about the innovative approach to learning through sport, which really is having a positive impact on so many children."

Workshops at the conference included:

• Tackle Learning and The Haka - a hands-on experience using rugby-themed activities.
• Canary Classroom - warm up activities and how football is used to inspire young people.
• Sports Colleges - Meet the 'Playing for Success' teams from Norfolk’s Sports Colleges and experience a 'Playing for Success' session.
• King’s Lynn Stars - introduction to Norfolk’s latest Playing for Success facility and find out how speedway can help raise the achievements of young people.
• Poet Ian McMillan - using words to kick start and sum up the day.

Keith Grainger, Norfolk’s PfS Manager, said: "Sport can be a really big motivator for children, and not just out on the pitch or in the sports hall, but in the classroom too.

"'Playing for Success' is about giving children that boost to help them get back up to speed in literacy, numeracy and IT."

The conference ran from 9.30-2pm, with guests having the chance to tour the stadium in a behind the scenes look at Carrow Road.

April 2006
The winners of the Tackle Learning Fantasy League met up at Hilltop Outdoor Centre in Sheringham early on Sunday morning (23rd April) ready to enjoy a thrilling days worth of adventure activities. The activities they undertook were; climbing, archery, mountain biking and the assault course. See photo's below.

This prize was kindly donated by Hilltop Outdoor Centre.

17 October 2006
Sport set to Boost Learning for Hundreds of Norfolk Pupils

North Walsham Rugby Club is set to become the latest high-profile sports club to host a Norfolk County Council Study Centre.

The launch of the Viking Learning Centre at noon on Saturday October 14 follows the launch of other successful centres at Norwich City Football Club and King's Lynn Stars speedway.

Now, with Saturday's opening of the new Viking Learning Centre at the club's Scottow ground, hundreds more children are set to benefit.

Rosalie Monbiot, Norfolk County Council's Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: "The Viking Learning Centre will be a wonderful resource where sport can be used to get pupils excited and engaged in learning. Tackle Learning has already proved a big success, and we're delighted that North Walsham Rugby Club is continuing to work with us to boost the learning and self-confidence of hundreds more children through sport."

The Viking Learning Centre will be officially opened by Norman Lamb, North Norfolk MP, at 12.20pm, before the club's game against Ding's Crusaders. Pupils from Swanton Abbott Community Primary School will be there, and will perform the Haka as part of the launch at 11.45am.

North Walsham RFC’s head of marketing, Peter Treglown, said: “The Viking Learning Centre underlines the club’s commitment to rugby and all sport in the community and to supporting young people throughout Norfolk. The feedback we have had so far has been fantastic.

“It is a superb facility and we are enjoying this fruitful partnership with the County Council. The club is delighted and very proud that the Viking Learning Centre is opening and is looking forward to welcoming thousands of pupils over the coming years.”

The centre, which takes its name from the club's Viking nickname, will build on the work already undertaken with many local primary schools through the Tackle Learning initiative, launched in Norfolk and involving the County Council and North Walsham Rugby Club, last April. Already 18 schools and more than 400 pupils have benefited through the Tackle Learning programme in Norfolk. With the launch of the new centre, the focus will continue to be using rugby-based activities to help improve youngster’s literacy, numeracy and ICT skills, along with boosting their confidence and how they approach learning.

Lisa Christensen, Norfolk County Council's Director of Children's Services, said: "The Director of Rugby, players, ex-players, coaches and committee members have all given up their time to spend with the partnership schools which has been fantastic.

"We all learn in different ways and the great thing about the centre is we're offering a different approach to get youngsters excited about learning. They can then take that back into their schools and it helps with their on-going development. It works because of the successful partnership between schools, the rugby club and the County Council."

Children, aged between 9-11 years old, will come to the centre for three hours every week for 10 weeks, with the focus on literacy, numeracy and ICT. At the end of the programme a celebration event takes place in the clubhouse, where pupils make presentations about their learning to invited family and school guests.

Mark Scott, Norfolk County Council's Tackle Learning Co-ordinator, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to deliver a range of subjects in the superb setting of North Walsham Rugby Club, which offers open fields, woodlands and all the associated facilities of a top rugby club. The new high-tech ICT centre is state-of-the-art and decorated with the club’s logo and colours and adorned with first team photographs.

"Sport is a huge motivating factor for many young people and has the power to inspire them in many ways. We believe we have created an environment and ethos that is different from school but one that is designed to be safe, inspirational and welcoming to all our students."

The ‘Tackle Learning’ initiative was developed by the DfES and is part of an extensive national network using sport as a tool for learning. Integral to the unique Tackle Learning programme is the SAQ (Speed, Agility and Quickness) delivery. This is a physical training and conditioning initiative used by some of the world’s leading athletes, sporting clubs and schools. It develops multi-directional footwork that helps in sports but also games involving movement, athletic speed and quickness of reaction, balance and co-ordination

There are now over 150 centres up and running across the country as part of the DfES Playing for Success Programme at football, rugby, cricket, basketball, ice hockey, gymnastic and other clubs.

Mr Scott added: “We have fantastic links with the club and with access to their personnel and the facilities, I believe we can make a big difference to the learning aspirations of everyone who uses the centre."