A group of second year administration pupils from Kilmarnock Academy enjoyed an unexpected meeting with the Kilmarnock FC first team players. The group of pupils visited Rugby Park on a sunny but icy Tuesday morning and were greeted by the Under 21 squad clearing the snow from the pitch. Later the pupils returned to the pitch to see the players in action in training.

What, may you ask, has meeting the players to do with learning about administration? Brian Sproul, the Community Development Coach, emphasised that administration has a big place in a football club. Brian delivered an interactive session with the pupils to show how the club uses IT – for example coaching session plans are created using football specific software and Microsoft Word; motivational and informational presentations for the players are created using PowerPoint.

Sean McConnell, one of the visiting pupils said of the visit, “it taught me that learning how to use Word and PowerPoint are important, even if you don’t think it is. Oh, and that Josh Magennis is a lot scarier in real life!”

The visit captured the ethos of Curriculum for Excellence – that is building knowledge and understanding of the workplace, and finding out what employers may expect of them and what they should expect from employment. It was also valuable for pupils to appreciate the importance of their subject and hopefully pupils will be more interested and motivated in class.