Head of Education Lucy Connell offered an update for the winter term, and what’s to come after the Football Education students return from the Easter break.
Another term has come to an end and the final push is upon us. It doesn’t seem 2 minutes ago since we were enrolling students onto our courses and inducting them into life at the County Football Education programme. Everyone has come so far.
I can safely say that most, if not all of our learners have settled into life with us at SSV and we couldn’t imagine this academic year with out them.
Since Christmas, we have all been extremely busy, both in class and outside of class.
Our Level 2 students have continued their qualification learning about leadership styles and theories and planning activities for a variety of groups. They have been visited by an ex-student of ours – Toby Green; who discussed his role within the Stockport County Community Trust and what it takes for him to plan excellent, fun and challenging sessions for young people.
They were also visited by the County Academy Coach; Jamie Crowther who explained what it takes to plan top quality sessions for the Scholars here at Stockport County. They were then treated to being able to watch Jamie’s plan be put into practice on the football field.
Our Level 3 Students have continued to be stretched and challenged in their academic work and have been focussing on the more practical Coaching Units (first and second years) as well as the Technical & Tactical Unit (Year 2) and Self Employment & Sports Development (Year 1) units.
Our Sports Career Pathway (SCP) students have also continued to be pushed with a demanding timetable of theory work alongside their enrichment timetable. This term, the enrichment has included delivery of sport sessions at a number of local primary schools, hosting a SEN sport session at SSV and analysis of a number of FE games to name a few. The SCP students have a trip to Carrington to observe the first team to look forward to in Term 3 – very exciting!
Alongside the academic aspects of the course, all of our Level 3 Students have had the opportunity to hear from external agencies in a bid to encourage them to consider their options at the end of the course. We have had visits from a number of Scholarship Programmes including; 5-0 & USSA. We are also working extremely closely with a brand-new company called “Routes”. Routes is a CV building application in which our students are able to build on in class, add photos, videos, bios etc. The app itself allows students to individualise their CV (whether they are looking to pursue their football career or if they would like to apply for jobs/apprenticeships) and it creates a mini webpage that they can send to prospective employers/ coaches. Super high-tec!
Some of our students attended the University & Apprenticeship fair in Manchester this term. The learners conducted themselves impeccably, engaged in meaningful conversations with the reps there and hopefully it gave them some ‘food for thought’ moving into Year 2 and after they finish with us.
On that note; I am delighted to confirm that from our second year cohort, 27 students have applied for University through UCAS and all 27 received offers! The majority receiving offers for ALL of the courses & Universities they applied for. We are extremely proud of them – Well done!
Alongside the visits & guest speakers, we have had a number of external agencies come to talk with the students with a more health & wellbeing focus. First up was “Kooth”. Kooth is an online, anonymous & free counselling service. The speaker from Kooth discussed the importance of mental health with the students and explored what they can do if they are ever struggling. We also had “Against The Odds”. This was a really emotional presentation focussing around betting and gambling and the dangers associated with it. The students really engaged with the speaker – who talked to them from a personal background.
I’m sure you will have seen on social media, 20 of our Year 2 students have just returned from a football tour in Spain. They did exceptionally well in the tournament and conducted themselves in a professional & responsible manner throughout. We are all extremely proud of you. A big thanks also to the 5 members of staff who accompanied the boys and planned & organised an amazing trip for them: Adam Fairhurst, McCauley Haigh, Tony Coyne, James McDowell & Dan O’Neill – Thank you!
So, we move onto the final term. We still have a huge amount of effort needed to cross the line and the hard work doesn’t stop yet. We have an exciting term ahead, including; studying the final units of the course, work experience placements, more guest speakers & visits, end of term awards & playing on Edgeley Park.
Thank you for your continued support.
