1. Birmingham Summer Camps – Training “Birmingham Style” Musings and Reflections

2. Birmingham Summer Camps – Training “Birmingham Style”
Objectives:
Rationale
How the camps worked
Reflections: what went well and what went wrong!
Musings: how can we improve things / the future
Questions?

3. Rationale
Retention
Opportunity to intensively teach “well”
Fun!

4. Year 1
Focus: new ringers (because we had a ready-made group through a local link with a Cathedral choir)
Thus recruitment was fairly easy…

5. Use each individual’s skills, even if they do not want to teach.
Key ingredients…
Keen volunteers prepared to give up their time to help
Use each individual’s skills, even if they do not want to teach.

6. Key ingredients…
2. Lots of good ideas – be creative! 3. An outing / variety of activities 4. Keen participants

8. 2 X groups aided differentiation
Peer assessments
Visits to Cathedral
Ringing games: frisbee
Non-ringing games!
Lots of cake breaks
Handbells
Outing to 2 towers and bowling
Outing to Worcester Cathedral: the Ringing Centre

9. More than just a coloured sheet!
Followed a set teaching pattern to ensure continuity between teachers

10. Success? Yes! Fantastic progress made All but one completed
Group mixed in well and questionnaires were positive

11. Success?
And no…
1 x continued ringing (bringing his whole family into ringing and now confidently ringing Stedman Cinques).
But no others continued…
A unique individual?
In all, a lot of effort for one ringer… (though the others might come into it at a later date and it does help raise profile of ringing)

12. Overall reflections on 2012
Better communication needed with parents over commitment
Greater variety of activities
/less intense days

13. Year 2
Recruitment for new learners was less than successful… We haven’t solved this yet…

14. Year 2
Focus: existing ringers
Skills-based and developing links

15. Various activities

16. Overall reflections on 2013
Was very good for building up skills
Excellent progress made in quick time
Focus on theory and practise
No new ringers though…

17. Musings… Recruitment remains key Social media?
It is a lot of effort – what do we get back?

18. but…
“Overall I really enjoyed the course and I learned a lot and I’d like to thank all the instructors for making it such a great and memorable week.”
“I think I am definitely a better ringer after this week”
“It has been surprisingly fun. If it’s on next year, I’d sign up”

19. Potential obstacles which can be overcome!
Funding
Resources
Support
Organisation

20. Trickier obstacles … in Birmingham anyway
Recruitment
Long term gains (retention of new ringers)

21. Birmingham Summer Camps – Training “Birmingham Style”
Overall conclusions…
A lot of good fun
Huge progress can be made in very little time
It is certainly not impossible and worth the effort
We have not got it perfect in Birmingham, but we are trying
The more we share good practise, the better!

22. Birmingham’s future
Summer Camp 2014 Birmingham School of Ringing

23. Thank you for listening
Any questions?