Strictly Come Dancing isn’t a patch on this!

Over 100 pupils from 9 primary schools in the Retford Oaks family attended a Dance Showcase at Retford Oaks. They had the opportunity to learn about several different types of dance (Hip Hop, Tap, Ballet, Irish, Street and Break Dancing). They were given an insight into the cultures where each dance originates and also into the traditional costumes/dress that is worn by the different types of dancers. It was then time for the pupils to have a go at each dance themselves and to get down and boogey! I would like to say a big thank you to Kelly Trotter who put in a lot of time and effort training and preparing the Year 11 Leaders who delivered the showcase.

Jamie Bird

SSCO

Come and get your strawberries and cream!

A fun and rewarding morning’s tennis was had by all the 100 primary school pupils who attended this festival at Retford Oaks. Lesley Rodgers (Tennis Coach) has spent a lot of time in the past few months coaching tennis to pupils from the primary schools in the Retford Oaks’ family. This festival gave the pupils the opportunity to show off their newly learnt tennis skills and to develop them further by taking part in numerous enjoyable activities and games. I would like to say a big thank you to Lesley for all her efforts and also to all the pupils who made it such a fantastic event!

Jamie Bird

SSCO

Beckingham School YR1 & YR2 pupils

I started off by introducing the pupils to Street Dance and letting them listen to different types of music. They all liked ‘Now Your Gone’ by Basshunter which actually proved to be a favourite round all the schools especially the younger children. I showed them various steps and gestures which they remembered very well from week to week. As they got more used to the steps I began to put a few together to show them how a routine works. I split them into two groups and they ‘performed’ to each other. By the end of the 6 weeks they had managed to remember, with a little bit of intervention from me, a routine to the whole length of the song. Which for their age group, was a fantastic achievement. Well Done Beckingham!!

The children also made me a book of pictures that they had drawn of themselves doing their favourite steps and moves!

Clarborough School

I initially set up my visits to Clarborough School with Alison teacher of Year 6 children who wanted as many children as possible to have the opportunity to dance, and was very keen for me to visit the school and use their excellent new facilities in their new school. The school wasn’t quite ready for me to go in straight away, therefore we decided that I would do some sessions with FS2 & year 1 children, year 2&3 children, Yr 4 children and years 5&6 children. Consequently as each group only got a few session we didn’t achieve a full routine. However FS2, YR 1,2&3 children learnt a variety of steps and saw how they could fit together as a small routine, and Year 4,5 & 6 managed to put together a small routine to song chosen by themselves, ‘Forever’ by Chris Brown and ‘Crank That’ by SouljaBoy.

The teachers also requested that I send them details of the steps we used so they could teach this to other children at a later date.

St Swithuns School YR6 pupils

This group of children really impressed me. They worked extremely well as a team and fully engaged during their sessions. They only had 5 weeks as they were on another project for one of the weeks. I went in to the school on this one week and did a one off session with Year 4 children.

I started off by introducing the children from year 6 to ‘Streetdance/Freestyle’ by discussing with them the style and attitude needed when performing this style of dancing. They all overcame their shyness and even the timid ones developed an attitude.

We then worked on different steps and again finished with a polished routine to ‘Its like that’ by Run DMC.

They decided that they would like to costume the routine and perform this. So on my last week the school arranged for the performance to be done outside as their hall is too small to accommodate audience and performers. The pupils dressed up and a lot of parents came to watch them perform as well as the rest of the school.

Mrs Preece, their teacher, had commented to me that the children where really enjoying their dancing and every week they arrived asking when their next session was and were always very eager to dance.

The children handed me gift on the last day as a Thank you which gave me a lot of satisfaction to know they had enjoyed my visits.

Rampton School

The sessions at Rampton where slightly different to the others as they wanted to get a number of children to have the opportunity to dance not just one particular year group. Therefore we decided that I would do one group of Years 1, 2 & 3 and another group of Year 4, 5 &6 as they have smaller numbers of children. The younger children chose’ Now Your Gone’ as their music and the older ones chose ‘Pump It’ by Black Eyed Peas.

Time only allowed each group to have 3 sessions each but the classes were structured as with other schools and again we managed to get each group to have a routine to perform. They plan to show these routines at a concert later on in the year.

I also sent the teachers, Diane Barber & Steph Hogan details of all the steps and the steps used in the routines as the were very keen to teach it on to other pupils.

Well Done Rampton

Ordsall Primary School

At Ordsall I did three 1 hour sessions with children from year 2 and 3 sessions with some children from year 4. The year 2 children danced to ‘Heartbreaker’ by Will.I.Am and the older children danced to ‘Pump It’.

As we only had 3 sessions the younger children didn’t quite get their routine finished as it was quite a long song and a more complex routine than the other KS1 children at other schools had done. However they still enjoyed it and their teacher Mrs Becky Duggan had requested all the details of the steps so she could teach this to other children. The children from Year 4 did get their routine finished, and I know they wanted to teach this to the other children that had not had the opportunity to be involved with the dance sessions.

Finally

I have been overwhelmed by the welcome I have received in all schools and it makes me very proud as a Dance Teacher to know that these children have been given the opportunity to see how Dance can give them a lot of satisfaction and to be proud of themselves.

WELL DONE EVERYBODY !!!

The Untouchables!

Bracken Lane Primary School were run away winners of the Tag Rugby Festival held at East Retford Rubgy Club on Wednesday July 2^nd. Steve Shaw, a fully qualified rugby coach,  lead a coaching session in the morning before the seven feeder schools from the Retford Oaks family competed against each other in a tournament during the afternoon. Bracken Lane put on a fantastic performance and managed to defeat each of their opponents ensuring that they were crowned 2008 champions!

It’s now up to the other eleven primary schools to challenge them and win it from them next year!

Boccia - A Paralympic Sport

Boccia is a Paralympic sport for people with severe physical impairments, predominantly Cerebral Palsy, however anyone with a disability can compete to a national level. It is like French Boules and is played in the seated position on a court similar in size to a badminton court.  The Youth Games final is open to anyone with each team having at least one person with a disability playing on court. Alex Thornhill, Jordan Beard, Rebecca Merills and Courtney Hudson all represented the Bassetlaw District in the Nottinghamshire Youth Games. It was held at the Harvey Hadden Sports Complex on Wednesday July 2^nd. Each team member showed tremendous battling qualities and gave a good performance. Team Captain Alex Thornhill lead his team to a sixth place finish. A big well done for getting so far!

Grab the net - it’s a big one!

Sam Mumby and Jake Bartel were part of a team of four who represented Bassetlaw in the Nottinghamshire Youth Games Angling contest. It was held at Sutton Pond, Sutton Lawn, Sutton-in-Ashfield on Saturday July 5^th. The competition results were determined by the weight of each team’s overall catch. Both did extremely well and helped their team to a very respectable third placed finish.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!

A hugely successful multi skills festival was held at Retford Oaks High School on Tuesday 29^th April. A total of one hundred students attended from seven schools in the Retford Oaks’ family. They had the opportunity to improve and develop their agility, balance and co-ordination by taking part in numerous different activities, tasks and games. Everyone involved had a fantastic time which was largely down to the Leaders who planned and delivered the activities. They all did a superb job which was recognised by both students and staff. A big thank you to Kelly Trotter for all the hard work she put in to ensure that the event went smoothly and for making sure it was such a great success!

Look out for more fun and games at Retford Oaks very soon!

BOCCIA COMING AT YA!

This year Retford Oaks are taking part in the popular Bassetlaw Schools Boccia League. Pupils are attending weekly practices, and have competed in two competitions to date. The competition is really heating up and it will be a close call to who will be in the final. Schools which are taking part include Portland, Valley and Serlby Park. The students involved have never had the opportunity to take part in any out of school competition, or had the opportunity to represent the school. This is a great achievement for Retford Oaks improving individuals self esteem and increasing participation. Well done to Alex Thornhill, (Captain) Jordan Beard, Courtney Hudson, and Rebecca Merrills.  

What a fantastic start to this year for Retford Oaks. Tuesday 9th October started the festivals with Rampton, St-Swithuns, Walkeringham, Ordsal, and Misterton Primary all collaborating together for a morning of creative dance at Retford Oaks. Eight enthusiastic dancers from the school whom are working towards their dance young leaders award, Choreographed and directed a dance piece for the primaries based on the 4 seasons. Over 60 pupils took part in this collaboration, the response was fantastic. The idea for this event was to give pupils the opportunity to experience something new and work towards a performance. Retford Oaks theatre style seating in the hall was a perfect choice for this dance showcase, developing pupil’s confidence and giving them the opportunity of performing to an audience.  
Overall this was a super morning. Giving pupils the chance to explore dance movement, inspired them and opened their eyes to the world of dance.  
Young Leaders were:- Lynsey Watson, Blade Williams, Natasha Barnard, Olivia Hughes, Luke Forman, Katie Pattenden and Lara Rooney.

I have now delivered my first Young Leader training to twelve pupils from Ordsall Junior School.  I worked with six Year 5 and six Year 6 pupils.  All pupils were extremely responsive, motivated and enthusiastic which made it a very enjoyable experience.  The two hour session was a great success with all Leaders making significant progress.  I will be following up this initial training with another two hour session very soon.

I am delivering a similar session at St. Peter's Primary School this week and I am looking forward to taking further sessions and working with pupils from our other primary feeder schools in the coming weeks.  I have enjoyed having the opportunity to put faces to names and look forward to meeting some of the other SSCOs at the next SSCO meeting later this week.

Jamie Bird (SSCO Retford Oaks High School)