CSC Training Day Tour: London Revisited

The final date on the training day tour of 2016-7, hard on the heels of my day on Teesside, took me back to London.

This time I took a back seat to watch and learn from Jonathan Bryant's impressive delivery.

Eight delegates were in action at Forest Gate Library, with the usual excellent mix of strengths and qualities. This time we had teachers, TAs, actors and even Andrew Lewis, the current Over-50s British Chess Champion and England International.

It was a long journey (one bus, four trains, two underground trains and one taxi) but definitely worth it to meet the delegates and to see Jonathan's methods and ideas in action.

Here are a few captured moments from the entertaining and instructive day, which also included guest appearances by CSC's Chris Fegan, Richard Harding and...Jack Scott.

CSC Training Days are advertised here.

Tune in to Chess

It is wonderful when good news shows it still has the ability to travel as quickly as the bad.

The ink had barely dried on the feature in both The Guardian and The Observer when ITV contacted Park End Primary School to further investigate the impact of chess on their children and staff.

Together with Park End, I was delighted to welcome Rachel Bullock to the school for a morning of filming and interviews.

The feature is scheduled to run on tomorrow (Thursday 29 June) night's Tyne Tees show (and possibly further afield) from 6.00 p.m. but I have an advanced photo record of the day to share with you today.

Headteacher Julia Rodwell was first to be interviewed

My turn next

The Y6s were filmed enjoying some games of chess

Five Y6s were chosen for individual interviews. They were extraordinarily good!

We popped into the small hall to find the Y3s engrossed in a game on the big board and set

Then it was off to the staffroom - to find the staff were all playing chess too!

Individual staff interviews. They were almost as good as the children.

Finally, we presented Rachel with her very own CSC chess set. No more excuses - time to learn how to play!

Thank you Rachel and everyone at Park End. We are all looking forward to seeing the show!

MCL - The Perfect Hosts

The facilities at last week's CSC Teesside Training Day were second to none.

No other training day has enjoyed such space, equipment and flexibility as the Middlesbrough Community Learning Centre (Acklam School site).

We hope to return there next year, but meanwhile I can highly recommend the room, facilities and service. The photographs show our training day in action in the Farndale Room.

Anyone requiring a suitable room for a course or seminar should contact the MCL:

CLC Building
Acklam Grange School
Lodore Grove
Middlesbrough
TS5 8PB
UK

Phone: 01642 811400
Email: info@mcls.ac.uk

Or visit their website.

Tell them the chess crew sent you!

CSC Breakfast

Following hard on the heels of the newspaper publicity mentioned yesterday, Chess in Schools and Communities made an appearance on BBC Breakfast this morning.

My friend and CSC colleague David Hardy, co-orindator of the Manchester area, did us all proud.

CSC Teesside Hits The Headlines

“Teachers rush over to me saying, ‘come down and look at this child – she can’t do simple sums, but she’s beating everyone in the class at chess!’

Read all about it here!

CSC Training Day Tour: Teesside

The three most recent CSC training days have taken me to London, Newcastle and Leeds. Today brought the tour back to Teesside and the excellent CLC Building at Middlesbrough's Acklam Grange School site. 

The day started well with the fabulous sight that greeted us.

We had 13 delegates for the day, which is an increase on our standard number of 10. Indeed, we have broken our attendance records in all of our Teesside events this year.

The delegates proved to an excellent mix of parents, teachers, TAs and chess players. They worked very hard all day long and can certainly be proud of their efforts.

Here are some captured moments from a busy and productive day.

It looks like I am threatening Sean and Paul into making strong moves

Little did Jonathan suspect that he would be coming all the way from
Stoke to be asked to move around the room in the style of a bishop

Sarah, having moved around the room like a rook, makes it back to her chair - in straight lines

However, everyone had to make way for Queen Sophie

Regal!

It is good to be queen for the day

Concentration!

Knights are tricky

Enjoying the written work

The stares!

Rachel, a long-time supporter of chess in schools, was my PA for the day

Jay - now a teacher - was my chess pupil at Primary School

Mini-games in action and Sophie looks pleased!

More concentration!

Even more!

The magnificent lunch. Nothing but the best on Teesside

Quite possibly a delayed reaction to one of the morning's jokes

Hey - stop chewing that pen! Would you do that at home?

Slightly out of focus group shot (you can tell Rachel didn't take this one)

Thank, you everyone! The fabulous qualities you all brought to the day made it a very enjoyable occasion.