Orienteering Development Project
Monthly Report, 9 February, 2004 M G Hardy
Overview
267 participations outside the club in the development programme in the month under review, involving coaching at 4 primary schools and one special school, together with introducing coaching exercises to members of staff at one primary school. Mike has attended a "A Club for All" course and an "Equity in your Coaching" course, and the latest planning meeting for the Tees Valley Youth Games
Special needs
53 children with various special needs at Ash Trees primary school in Stockton had a two-hour introduction to orienteering session, which was very successful - we hope to be commissioned to give more presentations. An innovation was indoor orienteering - the standard school map had been modified to include a network of indoor corridors, around which control markers were placed.
Preparation is ongoing for the British Trail-O championships at Simonside on March 20, plannng Gerald Helm, mapping John Bedwell, controller Mike
Orienteering will be presented to Holmwood special primary and Tollesby special secondary school in the coming month
NEJS - Karen Heppenstall
A training day with YHOA has been planned for Feb 14 in Northumberland and a further session a month later to tune people in for the CompassSport cup
Mainstream development - Jon Williams
Introductory coaching has been given to Pallister Park Primary, Park End Primary and to staff members at Rosewood Primary in Middlesbrough, and to Roseberry and Whitehouse primaries in Stockton
Two schools competitions, 17 March at Preston Park and 24 March at Summerhill, Hartlepool, 3 further competitions in summer term and the Tees Valley Youth Games in June are in prospect.
Three further schools are booked in for February/March
Jon is currently involved in completing the map update of Wilton and Lazenby Bank
Clavering Primary in Hartlepool and Laurence Jackson Sports College in Guisborough have requested modifications of the CLOK junior O-tops in their own colours. Arrangements are being made to supply these
Middlesbrough Schools
The programme to map 20 Middlesbrough Schools and offer coaching, funded by an Awards for All grant, is nearing completion. 19 schools have received their maps and the last awaits completion of major building work.
Each mapped school is offered two hours coaching as part of the deal, for pupils, or staff, or a combination of both, and to date 10 have had sessions delivered. It is hoped that the upcoming Youth Games will encourage these schools to compete in the inter-schools competitions.
Stockton Schools
Of the 23 Stockton schools in the mapping programme funded by the New Opportunities Fund through the School Sports Co-ordinator, 16 have been delivered, and introductory coaching sessions have been delivered to 5 of these to date.
Darlington Schools
Having completed the first term of a three year project in Darlington, involving mapping two primary schools each term and the secondary school into which they feed, followed by a six week coaching course for the two primary schools as part of their after-school club programmes, Dodmire Juniors and St John's primary, together with Eastbourne Comprehensive School, have been designated for support this term. This programme is also funded by the New Opportunities fund and the School Sports Co-ordinator
Richmond Schools
Work here, detailed in the November report, and funded by an Awards for All grant awarded to the Swaledale Outdoor Club and supported by CLOK, is under way. Seven primary schools and two secondary schools are in the process of being mapped, with coaching booked at the primaries. Subject to land access being agreed, a formal opening of the district's first permanent orienteering course is scheduled for May 9th
Mapping
In Darlington, construction work has virtually eliminated the permanent courses at Skerne Valley, Eastbourne Sports Complex and South Park, and in Middlesbrough the same fate has overtaken the POC in Albert Park. We are in contact with the Local Authorities to re-do these maps once the major work projects have been competed
We are competing an update of the Civic Centre POC for Hambleton District Council in Northallerton, together with Allertonshire School, and are in discussion with Bedale Secondary and Primary schools regarding provision of our standard schools map pack
Clubmark
Our proposals for systems to make the club a safe and attractive club for juniors, as required by the Clubmark accreditation system, have been accepted by BOF. We now need only to attend a "Coaching Children" course to complete the Clubmark requirements, and at out request Tyne and Wear Sport have organised such a course on March 23rd,and have reserved two places for the club
Finance
We have been asked to re-submit our grant applications to Hartlepool and Stockton Community Chests, and the Local Network Fund representing Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland has our application under current consideration. A number of back-up questions has been asked, which is taken as an encouraging sign!
Prepared by Mike Hardy, 09 February 2004