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

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.

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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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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