Tag: physical education

Braes Cluster Day of Dance 2016

IMG_1155Morag Simpson and  Morag Young, PE Lead Officers within Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised and delivered a Day of  Sottish Dance for the Braes Cluster. Avonbridge Primary kindly agreed to host the event with Sheildhill Primary and California also attending.

The day was a great success with lots of fun had by all and some fantastic dancing on display. The pupils from all schools worked well together, helping each other through the dances. We were treated to a creative Scottish Dance experience from California Primary at the interval. A huge thank you to Avonbridge for hosting and to all participants for performing so well on the day. We would also like to take this opportuity to thank Tesco in Camelon for providing the water and snack for the day.

Scottish Day of Dance

DSC_0328Morag Simpson and Morag Young, PE Lead Officers from Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team, along with Catherine Halcrow (PE Specialist), organised the Annual Day of Scottish Dance at Falkirk Town Hall on Friday 20th March 2015.

The event was a huge success with around 300 pupils attending. Once again the Jack Delaney band provided live music to accompany the dancers. The programme included a variety of dances with varying degrees of difficulty allowing schools to participate in as few or as many dances as they chose.

The day provides a great opportunity for schools to join in a fun celebration of Scottish dance, deepening their understanding of Scottish Culture at the same time. Pupils also gain the experience of mixing with other pupils from across Falkirk.

Thistle Wing Wheelchair Dancers again performed at the interval as did Larbert High S2 School of Dance Pupils. Both of these performances were very well received.

Our Provost Pat Reid showed his support again by attending the event and talking to many pupils and staff.

Both PE Lead Officers would like to say a big thank you to all the staff and pupils who worked hard at preparing the dances to make this day a big success. A great time was had by all.

Reminder: If you are interested in attending the Day of Dance in 2016 – There is an online resource available to assist you with the preparation of the dances.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJBh6ZaUFm-Fs9vS-uKUrfu4z5veg3s56

Gymnastics – Using Apparatus

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers from Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised a Gymnastics twilight for primary class teachers and specialists. This course was led by Anne Murphy,  from Education Scotland and specifically focussed on using apparatus. Anne demonstrated how to provide a progressive Gymnastics programme focussing on the Significant Aspects of Learning in PE from Early Level through to Second Level.  This was a follow on course from the first session with Anne in February, focussing on  developing practical content with literacy and numeracy links.

Examples of the very positive feedback are shown below.

“This was a wonderful course to support teachers, such as myself, when working to build confidence in our own practice.”

“The opportunity to learn more about the various techniques and how to carry them out properly was excellent and very enjoyable.”

“Demonstrations of the equipment has allowed me to be more confident using the equipment in my teaching.”

 
 

 

Raising the Bar in Physical Education

Morag Simpson and Morag Young PE Lead Officers for Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised a hugely successful Raising the Bar Event for Physical Education on the inservice day on Thursday 13th February.

The day provided the opportunity for delegates to expereince  a combination of  practical workshops and presentations from both Education Scotland and HMIE. Feedback from all sessions has been extremely positive with the opportunity for Q & A sessions being greatly appreciated by all.

Morag Simpson and Morag Young are hoping to provide the same opportunity at the next inservice day on the 2nd May 2014.

Here are some examples of feedback given:

“Excellent day, informative and very useful”

” A very interesting day with lots of fun ideas and activities”

” Great having notes and resource links”

“Excellent resources to support teaching”

Braes Cluster Day of Dance

Morag Simpson and  Morag Young, PE Lead Officers and Marian Boyle, Support Officer for Health and Wellbeing,  all within Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised and delivered a Day of  Sottish Dance for the Braes Cluster. Avonbridge Primary kindly agreed to host the event with Wallacestone Primary and Sheildhill Primary also attending. The day was a great success with lots of fun had by all and some fantastic dancing on display. The pupils from all schools worked well together, helping each other through the dances.

A huge thank you to Avonbridge for hosting and to all participants for performing so well on the day.

New Interdisciplinary Learning Blog!

Yvonne McBlain and Malcolm Wilson of Falkirk Council Service and School Improvement Team have created a new interdisciplinary learning blog. Yvonne will develop and maintain this blog as a major element of support for IDL across Falkirk Council education establishments.  She is working hard to fill the blog with useful material and valuable IDL practice. Click here to visit, and contact yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk if you have suggestions, ideas or  interdisciplinary learning practice to share.

Physical Education Conference

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers for Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team attended the  inaugural conference for the Scottish Association of Physical Education Teachers (SATPE). This was held at  Tulliallan Castle on Saturday 2nd November 2013.   The occasion highlighted the importance of professional dialogue, the sharing of good practice and the unity of practitioners across the country. The key note speaker was Paralympian David Smith, a truly inspirational individual.

Presentations from the event will be available from the website shortly. www.SATPE.co.uk 

Individuals can join SATPE for £25 or a primary school membership costs £40. For this membership you will gain access to an online journal, teaching resources, notification of relevant events and discounts from association sponsors.

The PE Lead Officers across Scotland are encouraging schools to join the association to assist their professional development in reaching the 2 hour PE target.

Better Movers and Thinkers

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers for Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team delivered a twilight course to primary staff on the  Better Movers and Thinkers Programme. This programme is an innovative, exciting and challenging movement and learning programme for Physical Education, that focuses directly on enhancing the links between moving and thinking and how these elements scaffold the development of physical performance and inter-disciplinary learning.  The practical content was delivered and developed in response to the questions and identified needs of the participants.

Feedback was extremely positive and participants are looking forward to the follow up session in February.

Examples of some feedback are shown below:

“Really interesting course with many ready to use ideas, can’t wait to try with my class!”

” Enjoyed the layering effect of tasks as it really allows for differentiation”

” ..will implement right away, very motivational”

Physical Education – Dance

Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers from Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised a Dance twilight for primary class teachers and specialists. This course was led by Anne Murphy,  from Education Scotland. Anne demonstrated how to provide a progressive Dance programme covering the Physical Education Experience and Outcomes, focussing on the Significant Aspects of Learning in PE from Early Level through to Second Level.  She also showed how to incorporate numeracy skills, literacy skills and topic work.  This was a practical course and participants enjoyed the way in which the course was delivered in an extremely inclusive and creative manner. Course participants were able to identify that this method of teaching Dance  would ensure a positive learning experience for all and highlighted that you didn’t need to be a dancer to teach Dance!!

Examples of the very positive feedback are shown below.

“Fantastic ideas for creative dance which I could see working with my class, they would be  motivated and would get a lot of enjoyment from it”

“ How to allow pupils to take ownership and problem solve”

“I did two dance twilights last year and both were difficult to implement. This one was fab! 

“Plan to use these ideas in term 3 and link to literacy”