The Albion Foundation and the Premier League Primary Stars programme uses the power of football to improve the PE teaching skills of local primary school teachers.
Shanice Sharp, a teacher at Ferndale Primary School in West Bromwich has worked alongside Foundation Primary Stars coach Owen Layton throughout the programme to create collaborative, high-quality PE lessons at the school.
The lesson and Shanice’s personal development since switching to the year one class, have been largely improved by the commitment to the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) process, helping both parties understand the areas in which they can excel.
“At the start of the term, I was asked what I want to work on and what are some of the things I want to develop in my own personal practice this year,” Shanice began. “At first, I found it a little bit of a struggle with the year ones and getting them to listen, and the number of instructions that I was giving.
“He's really shown me how to simplify them and how to just plan effective lessons.”
Owen found areas in which Shanice could improve from the pre-questionnaire, which meant they could soon get started on that all-important team teaching,
“The focus was to do a bit more of behaviour management,” Owen said. “Because she was dropping down from year four year one was a big change for her, and she put that on the pre-questionnaire form as well.
“It was also how to progress activities in keeping the children engaged. So, from then on, we plan the lessons, and I would send her the lesson plans and if she had any questions, she'd always let me knowand I’d be there to help her.
“She’s done fantastically well, in lesson one, she taught the first lesson on her own so I could watchand see how she usually teaches PE. I could tell that just when talking, she wasn't very confident, she'd take too long in her instructions and discussing tasks.
“Then as the weeks went on with our team teaching, I would teach one lesson, she would teach another lesson, then by the end of the sixth week, it was night and day.
“She became much more confident in talking, wouldn't talk so much for instructions so they were clear, sharp, and the kids knew exactly what the task was at hand.
“She’s developed really well.”
The lessons were delivered in accordance with the Premier League Primary Stars, encompassing each of the lesson values throughout.
“I think that they link really nicely with our school values,” Shanice said. “It was quite easy to integrate them into the lessons and then outside of the PE lessons into the classroom as well.
“The children respond to them really well and they can talk about what they are and how they’ve applied them to their work too. I think the children have really enjoyed PE lessons this term and I think part of that has been because of Owen being there as well.”
The children concur and believe the lessons have been a bundle of enjoyment as they build foundation skills within the subject.
“I liked the things that we did and the things that we’ve learnt,” Daisy-May, a pupil said. “We’ve been learning more about catching and throwing.
“We got certificates and stickers for good teamwork; I also got a merit.”
“I really enjoyed PE with Mr Layton, he made PE more fun,” Noah, another student said. “I enjoyed playing with all of the equipment.”