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The Plymouth School of British Sign Language is pleased to be able to teach its courses at The Pilgrim Centre, and thereby offer its students some of the resources and facilities that they offer.

The details about the Pilgrim Centre printed below are copied with their permission, and our thanks, from their Information pamphlet.

The Pilgrim Centre is an exciting, new resource for pupils aged between 9 and 14 from schools in Plymouth. It is based at Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park ground in purpose built premises. Facilities include ICT suite, Internet access, reading lounge, kitchen and cloakroom.

What is Playing for Success? ‘Playing for Success’ (PfS) is part of the Government’s National Framework for Study Support. It is an initiative that establishes out of hours Study Support Centres within football and other sports environments. Its aim is to use the medium and environment of sport to motivate pupils aged 9 to 14 who are struggling with their study or who have become disillusioned by traditional learning styles.

Playing for Success (PfS)
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
Plymouth City Council
Plymouth Argyle Football Club
The Football Foundation.

The Pilgrim Centre has achieved the National QiSS award at Emerged Level in recognition of the quality of its curriculum, management and resources.

Sessions run for 2 hours over a period of 10 weeks. The Centre offers a relaxed environment which is intended to motivate and encourage pupils to develop skills in:

Self esteem
Aspirations
Enthusiasm for study
Healthy life style

The Centre Manager and a qualified teacher work with volunteer tutors and mentors to support pupils’ learning. The mentor’s role is wide ranging; supporting small groups and individual pupils with specific tasks or developing the Centre’s website. Mentors may also be involved in target setting, paired reading or simply ironing designs on t-shirts. Mentoring is also worthwhile for the volunteers; we offer references and accreditation to the Centre’s helpers.

The Centre uses state of the art ICT as a major incentive to learning. Pupils have access to many on-line resources and study software. We offer:

10 PCs with flat screen monitors and 10 Laptop computers
Broadband Internet access
Colour Laser and Inkjet printing
Digital Video and still Cameras with live mixing studio
Animation and Music Mixing software
Poster Printing software and large format printer

Students are awarded prizes and certificates at a special Celebration Evening at the end of the programme. Pupils, parents, teachers and everyone involved get to meet players and club staff in a formal presentation held at Home Park Stadium.

On Match Days and Saturdays, we run Family Learning sessions where children and their parents, grandparents or carers can come and learn at the Centre. The sessions are informal, ICT based and include either Animation, Film Making, Music Mixing or Control Technology.

The Centre and ICT facilities are available for hire during school hours and holidays. We also offer taught courses for groups of pupils, staff or individuals starting from £250 per day. We are happy to work with teachers who wish to plan off-site curriculum activities and can off access to The Stadium and Centre facilities for use as a learning resource.

Activities days and Fun days as a way of rewarding pupils can also be arranged and designed to meet an individual school’s needs.