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What was planned?

The project was a partnership between Leeds Metropolitan University with Leeds City Council Sports Development Unit, Yorkshire Gymnastics, St. Mary’s Catholic Comprehensive School, Priesthorpe School, Boston Spa Sports College, and Royds School. The aim of the project was to build capacity in selected Leeds schools to deliver Key Stage 4 Gymnastics and extended curriculum gymnastics. The project also aimed to provide coaches, trainee teachers and development officers with the appropriate knowledge and skills to work effectively with schools to support both curriculum and out-of-school learning in gymnastics. A further element was to extend the opportunities available to talented and gifted students, to achieve higher levels of achievement in gymnastics.

What was done and when?

The project was in two phases with two schools involved in the first phase (May to July 2001) and the other two involved in the second (September to December 2001). The project was based in the Sports Centre at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Approximately 50 students from years 9, 10 and 11 attended each phase. They were selected by the schools targeting those with interest and aptitude in gymnastics and others who had previous gymnastic training/experience. One of the schools in Phase Two of the programme included students who were underachieving and at risk of exclusion.  Because of the nature of the programme, the delivery was adult driven but the students were involved in the planning of the content of individual sessions.

Each phase consisted of 8 sessions. The pattern of the programme is exemplified in the organisation of Phase Two. The first four sessions were after school, 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., at the Leeds Metropolitan University gymnasium; sessions 5 and 6 were at the respective schools and the final two sessions, were held in the afternoon from 1p.m. to 5 p.m. and took place at the specialist Gymnastics Centre. The school students worked with one of four specialist coaches and their teachers at each session.

An additional development for Phase Two was the involvement of second year undergraduate PE students to provide assistance at the same time developing their own gymnastics skills.  During each phase there were sessions in the specialist Gymnastics Centre of the university as well as in a more conventional gymnasium similar to a school gymnasium so the teachers involved could emulate the activities as if in their own schools.

What has the impact been?

The evaluation by the team members specified benefits to the students as follows:

• Increased confidence.
• Increased gymnastic skills which will benefit theiroverall performance and assessment at GCSE level.
• Social development.
• The opportunity for boys to re-evaluate their perception of gymnastics and to address their stereotypical images of gymnastics as something ‘for girls’.
• The opportunity to see university as ‘somewhere for them’ – opening up the doors of higher education to all the students, but particularly to the group typical of those usually underrepresented in higher or further education.

The structured interviews carried out by the external evaluation team with a representative sample of students confirmed the leaders’ views.  The school which included in their group the youngsters at risk of exclusion noted a considerable improvement in attitude and the raising of self-esteem by participating.  Teachers attributed a considerable increase in their teaching skills to their work with expert gymnastic coaches and also working in a specialist gymnasium with some items of specialist equipment which were new to them.

What was learnt and what were the next steps?

All the teachers involved said that the experience of working on the project had raised the quality of their teaching, being more adventurous in teaching gymnastics and being able to challenge students more.

At Boston Spa College the success of the project with their Year 11 students had prompted the introduction of gymnastics to Year 10 girls. The knowledge and techniques they had acquired were also being used to develop in-service training work with primary schools in their area as part of their mission as a specialist sports college.

Schools reported that they had gone on to purchase gymnasium equipment from their school funds from ideas and experience gained during the project. They indicated that the project had enhanced their working relationship with the university and this would continue to flourish in the context of the Initial Teacher Training partnership. They stated their firm intention to develop further work with the specialist coaches in the school curriculum and after school activities.

The experience gained from the project is to be built on by the university in developing their remit for widening participation in their partnerships with schools.  The gains in skills by the undergraduate students participating will result in cascading of this knowledge and expertise to their placement schools.