Project Touchline

Project Touchline is run by Chris Andrew who is a Rugby Coach and Minister in the Diocese of Gloucester and Church of England.

Chris leads our whole school in Collective Worship to start our Thursday's every week for six weeks. The focus in the Collective Worship is our school values, scripture and sport. Each class then takes part in two PE sessions during the day. There is a time of prayerful reflection of our school values at the beginning and end of each session.

In week two our children will all have an additional opportunity to have a time of reflection and prayer in our Lunchtime Prayer Club.

All of the PE teaching is progressive, exciting and fun and is designed for the children to live out our school values during the sport sessions. The programme consists of twenty games that teach the skills to play the sports but also allow our values to be shown as the main priority.

Creative artwork is completed in week four which allows the children to reflect and create some stunning artwork featuring their own experience of the programme.

 

Week 1: We had a wonderful time today with Mr Andrew for the first part of Project Touchline. For session one, we focused on the value of love and how we could display selflessness in everything that we do. We played the games of Lions and Rabbits, Touchline Bulldog and Secret Chaser.

Lions and Rabbits: One person was a rabbit and the other, a lion. Lions had to chase the rabbits and try to tag them. Once tagged, they would exchange the rugby ball, shake hands and swap over.

Touchline Bulldog: One Person is in the centre. They are "on". The other pupils have to try to make it to the other side and touch the ball down without being caught.

Secret Chaser: Pupils stand in a circle, facing outwards. One person is chosen to be the 'secret chaser'. They have to tag somebody without being discovered. Once tagged, they join in as the secret chaser. Pupils play until one person if left standing. 

The children got a lot out of the session and displayed excellent team values! We can't wait for next week!

 

Week 2: We focused this week on our new value of faith. The children have made great progress with their respectfulness and listening skills this week; particularly during our prayer club. As part of the sporting aspect of the project this week, we have played the games of Police and Golden Nuggets and Sharks and Seals.

Police and Golden Nuggets: The children are split into different teams. One team are the police officers. They have to protect the "golden nuggets" in the centre. It is the job of the others to retrieve as many of the "golden nuggets" as possible without being caught by the police. If successful they can return with the ball to their team. If not, they must return the ball to the centre and try again later.

Sharks and Seals: Some children are in role as seals. They must successfully swim around without being caught by the "sharks" in the centre. Next week, we will move onto level 2!

 

Week 3: It is difficult to believe that we are already halfway through! Our focus this week is on the value of friendship and we have certainly seen a lot of this over the past few weeks already.  During the Rugby games this week, we have played level 2 of Sharks and Seals, as well as Sumo Tag.

Sharks and Seals level 2: Some children are in role as seals. They must successfully swim around without being caught by the "sharks" in the centre. Next week, we will move onto level 2! Level two involves the addition of "orcas" who are able to attack the sharks. If caught, sharks become an orca.

Sumo Tag: Pupils pair up and shake hands. They stand in the stance of a Sumo wrestler. Next, they attempt to take the tag from their opponent. Once this occurs, they shake hands and another pair can have a go!

 

Week 4:  During this week we completed some artwork based on what we had learnt from the project. This week our focus was on "Love". Mr Andrew includes these in his talks with all schoolchildren and informed us that some of our pieces were shared in schools as far as in Wales! We also focused on passing skills this week. This was particularly tricky! A new game was introduced during this week - 5,4,3,2,1.

5,4,3,2,1: Pupils number themselves 1-5 and take turns passing and moving into a space. This game is all about communication and good hand-eye co-ordination.

 

Week 5: This week our focus was on communication. We practised escape from the blue zone, where we had to help the rugby balls to "escape" without being caught by the two defenders. The winner was the first team to successfully steal all of the balls. This week, our focus value was "faith."

 

Week 6: During our final week, it was extremely chilly – it is hard to catch a rugby ball with gloves on but we tried our best. We played our favourite games and evaluated on our learning. We were very sad to see the end of this project and have all learnt a lot about the values: Love, faith, respect, friendship and courage.