U Can Shine - Adult's comments

Evaluation from Birley Spa Community Primary School
Jermyn Crescent
Hackenthorpe
Sheffield
S12 4QE

Ian Read – March 2007

The following is a non-exhaustive list of the observable benefits of the ‘physical activity’ element of U Can Shine:

The activities engaged every child without exception, largely because the approach encouraged children to be successful in a supportive way.
The activities fostered teamwork and this had tangible benefits back in class, particularly where the class teacher re-enforced the messages.
There was a noticeable difference in the skill level and physical fitness of many of the children. The pupils in their evaluation also highlighted this. I often observed children practicing elements of the Olympic Programme at break and lunchtime.
The physical challenges really engaged the ‘competitive’ (read tendency for misbehaviour) boys – they often made good team captains and they loved the ‘Olympic Programme’.
The children were ‘ready to learn’ after the physical activity.
It was consistent – every week for at least 30 minutes.
It was a lot of FUN!

Personal Goal and Target Setting

Following the physical part of the session, pupils worked back in class on setting personalised goals and targets. Each pupil had their own workbook (with funky stickers) and each week they learned to identify targets to reach a goal around the 5 outcomes of Every Child Matters. As part of this goal setting process pupils learned to identify hurdles that might stop them reaching their goal, think of people that could support them and set a timescale for achieving targets. There was also an important element of review built in at frequent intervals.

Children Involved

We chose Y4 pupils at our school because we felt that Y4 pupils would be able to grasp the concept of goal/target setting and then hopefully they would have another 2 years with us to practice using and refining the technique.

Key Benefits

Again this is a non-exhaustive list of some of the observable benefits:

Pupils often set and achieved targets that helped them in school – these were often around friendships and their own behaviour.
All pupils grasped (in varying degrees) the concept and had lots of practice.
The process was ‘scaffolded’, which helped children to identify the steps involved in the process.
Within the 6-month time frame so far, children, have got better at setting realistic targets and more honest at reviewing the success.
The realisation that children could set themselves a target and achieve it was an important factor in the perceived gain in self-confidence.
When looking at ‘bullying issues’ and ‘getting on and falling out’, children realised they were able to do something about their problems for themselves.
Many children put in their evaluations that they, ‘learned more about themselves’ and they were ‘more able to talk about feelings’ (about 25% of pupils listed these points in response to an open ended question, ‘What was good?’)
It was consistent – every week for at least 30 minutes.
It was FUN!

What the Children Thought In addition to the benefits listed above, the U Can Shine programme had other significant benefits reported by the pupils in their evaluations. These included:

A gain in self-confidence – 52 out of 62 pupils (almost 85%) felt they had gained in confidence since the start of the programme.
Children were more motivated – 26 out of 62 pupils (42%) listed this factor in response to the open-ended question, ‘What was good?’
Children felt happier – 56 out of 62 pupils (90%) listed this factor in response to the open-ended question, ‘What was good?’
24 out of 62 children (almost 40%) listed having more friends as a ‘What was good?’ factor.
42 pupils (over 65%) said they felt healthier and fitter.
In response to the question ‘What could be better?’ 67 out of a total of 96 responses said either, ‘Can we do U Can Shine twice a week?’ or ‘We don’t want U Can Shine to stop’.

Summary

After completing almost two thirds of the U Can Shine programme in our school, I have seen enormous benefits for the children and teachers involved.

U Can Shine underpins much of the SEAL curriculum and it has potential to positively impact on much more of the curriculum because it embraces the key components of successful learning – it makes children feel that they are UNDERSTOOD, it promotes SELF ESTEEM, it builds SELF-CONFIDENCE and it EMOTIONALLY ENGAGES children because essentially it is about them! I would have no hesitation in recommending U Can Shine as a programme for any school, regardless of their setting. My advice for schools taking up U Can Shine is, the more you engage with the project, the more your school and your pupils will gain from it!

Ian Read (Assistant Head teacher - Every Child Matters)

Click here to see Ian Read giving his feedback on U Can Shine
(6MB Windows Media Player file)