• Summary

School-club links were encouraged and developed as a result of Booker Gymnastics Club becoming GymMark accredited. The head coach, Kate Dutnall has worked to develop gymnastics within 5 schools, to build the confidence and knowledge base of teachers and to inspire over 200 children. This work has had amazing results, which will continue to benefit the community.

• Objectives

- Development of strong mutually beneficial school-club links. 
- Aim to improve the quality and confidence in the delivery of the gymnastics curriculum within schools. 
- Increase participant engagement in gymnastic activities. 
- To increase the number of children involved in gymnastics through the setting up of after school clubs.

The main aspirations of the project were to provide support and guidance to schools within the area of Booker Gymnastics Club, which would result in sustainable benefits.

• History

In 2003, Kate Dutnall became the manager of Booker Gymnastics Club. She spoke of the club as being a ‘flourishing club offering recreational gymnastics with a small general competition squad.' It was not long after this that she became aware of GymMark and decided that this would be the way forward for the development of the club. Booker Gymnastics Club already had many of the key aspects for GymMark accreditation in place. This included having qualified coaches and performing regular equipment checks. However, the club prior to GymMark accreditation had no school-club links in place. This has since been achieved and what a difference it has made to the development of gymnastics in the area.

• What happened

GymMark accreditation has encouraged Booker Gymnastics Cub to start school-club links. Following this the club received a grant from English Gymnastics to develop and strengthen their links by releasing the head coach to go into surrounding schools to help develop gymnastics.

The use of the Key Step Gymnastics was an invaluable resource for use within the schools. It enabled the teachers to learn the teaching of gymnastics in a progressive, systematic step-by-step way. The head coach was able to explain and demonstrate the use of Key Steps, which allowed the teachers to implement this on subsequent sessions.

At the Disraeli School all aspects of Key Steps was taught as well as introducing different ways to use equipment such as the wall bars, benches and tables. This promoted the creativity of the teachers. The inclusion of a child with Downs Syndrome was achieved at the Meadows County Combined by adapting the skills when necessary. St Johns School made very quick progress and had the full support of the Headmaster. The school will also be taking part in the 2008 youth games. The teacher of year 2 at Beechview said that he could not wait to teach his year 5 class the following year. This is incredible given that a lot of teachers are scared to teach gymnastics because it is perceived as being a dangerous and difficult sport to teach within a school setting.

The head coach is currently at Millbrook Combined working with Years 1 and 4. The Deputy head is very keen to involve children in sport and has bought a new vault and gym mats. In addition, the teachers have set up after school clubs and the demand for this has been so high that it now runs twice a week. The school is looking to recruit one of the coaches from Booker Gymnastics Club who is studying BTEC PE at sixth form to volunteer at these sessions.

• The results

The project has been very successful at each and every school that has been involved and it would appear that the project has benefited all.

The quality of the teachers' delivery has been aided and improved through the use of Key Steps and from the guidance of a fully trained BG coach. The coach had the specific gymnastics knowledge that could be imparted onto the teachers and then implemented in their lessons. The general consensus from the teachers is that they were not aware how easy gymnastics is to teach if you follow step-by-step progressions. This is one of the big advantages of using the Key Steps Gymnastics Resource within schools.

The rewards extend not only to the increased teacher confidence in delivering gymnastics but to the children and their subsequent enjoyment and willingness to learn. This project has given the children the opportunity to have a go. Some of the amazing results have included all children that have been involved in this project being able to perform a backward roll down a slope. I am sure that you will all agree that this is an astonishing outcome for primary school level gymnastics. The head coach has also reported children mounting onto the high vault, performing forward rolls on the floor and even giving progressions towards handstands and cartwheels a try; skills that were beyond the teachers wildest dreams.

The benefits of this scheme for the children are enormous. The head coach has witnessed an immense improvement in the children's body awareness and the confidence all the children have gained from these lessons has been truly inspiring, says Kate.

Gymnastics participation within the local area to Booker Gymnastics Club has increased as a result of this project and resulted in many more children having the experience of being able to partake in gymnastics. Many of the schools that have been involved are located in deprived areas meaning that the majority of the children would not get access to gymnastics outside their school environment. There is some fabulous raw talent in the local schools and children with such keen willingness to learn, and now they have after school gymnastics clubs where they can develop. The teachers have set these after school clubs up as a direct result of the project. The teachers have had the confidence from the work that the head coach has done with them during curriculum sessions to then go and start after school clubs. The simple progressions mean that the teachers can see that gymnastics is not a dangerous activity and thus results in the children they teach in the future to get more out of their gym classes.

• Future developments

Kate is continuing her work by going into other schools within the area to touch the lives of many more.

• Contact Details

For further details on the project please contact:
Helen Bushell (Regional Development Officer - South)
Tel: 07739512182 Email: helen.bushell@british-gymnastics.org