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Today's visit was amazing. We were thrown in at the deep end because Lucy, Martha and Amelia were absent but this actually worked in our favour. With Lucy's absence I think the boys felt less like they were in a teaching or led environment and were more comfortable sharing their ideas and feelings with everyone else. With less students in the room it also probably felt like they were being controlled less.  Nick and I attended the session without much of a plan because Lucy was going to lead most of the session. Because of this we were forced to think off of our heads and improvise with what we would do before we went on to creating posters (this was planned roughly).  We warmed up with a shake out followed bu splat which we played a few times and only one boy stayed out. However, by the end of the first games he could see that the other boys were having so much fun and wanted to join in the game. We then went on to play sardines which for the first time the boys seemed...

Today's lesson didn't go exactly to plan considering the fact that Lucy couldn't be with us during the session. This meant that we had a different teacher and so our session style was slightly different. We did manage to stick to the lesson plan to a certain extent but most of the session was taken over by a large discussion about what interested the boys in politics and we continued to discuss things that could be changed about the world. However during this time the boys went on a lot of tangents and began joking about drugs and other inappropriate things. For what I observed, the boys weren't so keen on Jack and took advantage of the fact the Lucy wasn't there. Also the fact that Jack was taking more control of the session then Lucy had previously taken made the boys lose interest quickly. They also found it weird that Jack took his shoes and socks off to run the session which was quite funny to us and almost normal but it definitely wasn't for the boy...

Friday 9th first session- Martha Nick Harmony Sam   Name game  -  ball toss one in possession of the ball as they say there name and a hobby before passing to someone else.   (Ran by Harmony) Warm up -  walk around slowly, then gaining speed, introduce jump, clap, freeze and touch the floor maybe also use opposites if appropriate. (Ran by Sam) Warm up  - Shaking the body from hands and legs starting at 8 down to 1. (Ran by Sam)   Game - Sardines. Call out numbers and the participants need to get into groups of that number. Groups must be made of the exact number given and any left are out. These participants that are out should help the person leading the activity rather than just sitting out so that their focus isn't lost. (Ran by Harmony)     Cool down -  spine roll and loose shake to calm the participants and get them to focus for the next activity which is less physical (Ran by Harmony) ...

During our visit we met the year 9 students at Beckmead School for Boys. The boys were very nice but initially quite shy which we expected and happened to reflect the way that we felt too. Once we'd calmed down and began doing the workshop which was led by Lucy, we began to chill out a bit more and become more relaxed which caused the boys to relax too. This warm up meant that by the time we got to the first activity we were able to communicate with the boys easier because the initial unknown fear had vanished. The first warm up consisted of us walking around the space so that we could all be singular and therefore gain focus as a solo. This proved difficult for the boys as they all clumped together in the center of the space at the start which was a reflection of their embarrassment and was accompanied with laughter. However eventually the boys spread out more with direction and were able to become focused because they weren't bouncing off of the same embarrassment and nerve...

The school is a 'Special Educational Needs (SEN)' school 'for pupils aged 11 to 16 with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs.' This means that some of the children have behavioral issues however a lot of the bad behavior probably derives from other things such as a reaction to emotional or mental issues. There are only 192 students at the school which means that the children are able to get the attention that they need and are not overwhelmed by a mass of disruptive children. Taken from  https://www.croydon.gov.uk/special-schools/beckmead-school Video taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtKUubMGoAE