January 2010
Recent xl Club activities
xl clubs ready to tackle Tag Rugby
Students from thirteen Year 10 xl clubs are looking forward to
participating in this term’s RBS Six Nations tag rugby initiative.
The tag rugby programme involves eight training sessions run by a
qualified RFU coach, culminating in a final tournament for all
participating centres in February. Other opportunities offered
through the initiative include community project work with local
rugby clubs, a healthy lifestyles workshop and the chance to design
a ‘spirit of rugby’ poster for an RFU competition, as well as
participation in other RFU events.
Rugby is used as a targeted process throughout the initiative to
help the students develop skills such as teamwork, communication
and leadership, to fit in with the wider xl curriculum.
Barnet College
xl Club raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer
The xl club at Barnet College took part in fundraising
activities to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. These
included designing and selling hats and t-shirts, as well as
dressing up with pink accessories and asking shoppers at
Sainsbury’s to dig deep and contribute. Congratulations to the
group for their efforts for such a worthwhile cause.
Testwood enjoy
a day at the Races
On 24 September, 10 students from Testwood Sports College
attended the second Racing Experience Day hosted by the British
Horseracing Authority and Fontwell Park in West Sussex.
The students were given a full tour of the park including a walk
of the course and behind-the-scenes access to the weighing room,
the stewards’ office and the stable office, where the horses are
checked against the race list. They learnt about the many different
jobs involved in the day-to-day business of a race course and
racing with brief overviews given by the Clerk of the Course, the
Head Groundsman and the Chief Steward. There was also Q&A
sessions with 13 times Champion Jockey, A P McCoy and up-and-coming
young jockey Rhys Flint.
The day was rounded off by the students watching three
races from their own VIP marquee directly in front of the first and
last hurdle.
Crown Woods
School
The xl club took part in the Let’s Get Cooking event with BiTC
where they created a vegetable patch on an unused plot of land on
the school grounds. The day was spent digging and planting the
garden, playing interactive games to learn about nutrition, and
taking part in a practical sessions where they made sandwiches,
wraps and fruit salads using healthy ingredients. The xl club now
maintain the garden on a regular basis. The xl club also took part
in an Otesha Grow Your Own workshop where they worked with Year 6
students from a local primary school to help them plant seeds.
St Augustine’s and BUPA
Following a lot of hard work before the summer, when St
Augustine’s xl Club worked at a BUPA care home creating a community
garden and planting vegetables and flowers, they returned last term
to witness the successful results of their hard work and to harvest
some of the vegetables with care home residents.