Summary of Standards Day 2012

After the standards day Malcolm

The 1 Star award is important because it forms the foundation for becoming a good paddler in the future.

There is very little content to the 1 Star, therefore we need to coach it very well.

Comparing the Coaching notes and the Assessing notes, it is clear that we should coach to the best of the paddlers’ abilities but assess to the criteria, which allow for a lesser expertise – although it →

Easter school holidays are only a week away and we have a few spaces left on trips and activities to get you out of the house and keep you amused. Sunday 1st April: 0900-1600 Local Day Paddle £20 Student £25 Adult →

p>Canoe England Team South Coach Update

Adventure Dolphin, Pangbourne, RG8 7DA

Saturday 28 April 2012

BCU coaches, no matter what level of award or experience, are invited to the coach update forum being held at Adventure Dolphin Dolphin Centre, Whitchurch Road, Pangbourne Reading, Berks, RG8 7DA on the 28th April 2012. →

Agenda for Climbing Standards Session

9.30 Welcome and Tea/Coffee 15min

9.45 Prior to session 5mins

9:50 Standards

Best practice, acceptable practice and unacceptable practice 5mins →

In the name of research I would like people to share their favourite ‘on the river’ recipes which can be carried successfully in a thermos flask. I’m thinking fail safe recipes for hot chocolate, a favourite stew, and possibly some strange (but delicious things) you’ve seen, or tried, from a thermos flask. →

To celebrate the festive seasons AD and Berkshire Canoes have some prizes. To win please comment in 20 words or less ‘Whats the best thing about doing adventurous activities?’The winner in the under 16 gets Sweet T shirt, Nookie mat, Noseclips, 2 DVD, Pyranhna Sponge, Wet shoes and stickers. →

At the recent Canoe England Southern Region Annual meeting, the following members of the team gained BCU Anniversary Awards:

Janet Gillespie – Event Volunteer (Recognition of volunteers who work behind the scenes at local, regional and national →

Currently, the BCU does not require coaches to update their Safeguarding training after 3 years, so if the coach has a certificate that is older than 3 years, it will still be valid. Again, for further information please visit the link to the Canoe England website.

All BCU coaches need a recognised Safeguarding and protecting children certificate. →

Please canallcoaches be aware that as of 31st December 2011, you will have to have an enhanced CRB through the BCU, andyou will have to send into the BCU offices at Bingham, a copy of their Safeguarding and Protecting Children and Vulnerable Adults certificate. Although this has been published in CoDe, many coaches are still unaware of these requirements that will come into effect at the end of this year. →

Wehave spaces on aWhite Water Safety and Rescue course on the weekend of 24th - 25th September 2011. Cost £180 including transport and food for the weekend. Ring the office to →

Reading Smiles are a group of young people from The Avenue School. They have been working towards the paddle power scheme ready to do there Practice Expedition from Shilling ford to Wallingford then camp over night and start again finally finishing near the old fair mile hospital.

Comments from the Public were all positive and we may have changed a small amount of public prejudice over the wkd as we received comments such as “I never new disabled people could do →

The Palm Buoyancy aids are fitted with a Elastic Safety feature to stop the zips Falling Down.

Can all staff and participants ensure that theyfastened down please.

Dave Treagus (Youth activity →

The daytime programme has worked with 155 groups between April and July of this year.

The days are tailored to the needs of each of the individual groups. This has included courses of developmental work. Highlights of the programme have included long term project involving young people from Brookfields school, castle get active, Newton House and the →

This year the top club canoeing programme has been hugely popular with local secondary schools. Since April we have had 28 schools join us to undertake a five week programme of paddling. During the five weeks the young people have been working towards the BCU Paddlepower start award and learning about Bell Boats, Canoes and Kayaks.Many of the young people have been linking into other areas of the centre programme including holiday and evening →

Readingsmiles are a group who have been joining us after school on a Thursday afternoon. The group are working towards a paddling expedition which will be taking place during the school summer holidays. The group is made up of young people with Special Education Needs who are being supported by peer mentors from local secondary schoolsDuring the last eight weeks the group have been having fun on the river in Bell Boats and rafted canoes. The group have completed two local →

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR TEAM SORTED FOR THE REGATTA YET?

On Sunday the 10 July we are holding our Annual Youth Regatta based at Adventure Dolphin. This is a fun event with activities based both on and off the water.

The day starts at 9.45am, with races starting at 10am. All races should finish around 4.00pm with certificate presentations. The event is based on the River Thames so all the family can see what is going on. We recommend that you bring a picnic and plenty of →

Evening courses started in April using the BCU star awards to support the training on the water. Feedback from the courses has been positive with many people returning to continue their paddling development. Since April the centre has seen 201 people attend an evening canoeing course in Pangbourne and 65 at Newbury. →

The following Cadets have completed their BCU Cadet Award Robert Willison, Adam Vaughan, Joe Stevens, Jamie Carter and Robert Parker. A big congratulations to the cadets for all the hard work and hours they have volunteered to the centre. It has been great to see so many of the cadets moving into the BCU coaching system and becoming involved with the Level 1 training →

The centre has been successful in a funding application for young people aged 14 years and above to access Evening canoeing courses. The funding has been awarded from Berkshire Sport and will support 80 young people to take part in the courses we are running at the centre. The project will be running in July and →

Gold stars to those who attended, black marks to those that didn’t! But, its not too late to redeem yourselves. The results of the meeting should be emailed out to all coaches in the next few days (or you may get it before you read this!). If you would like to volunteer to help or run any events then please let the office know. If you don’t get the email then please let the office know so that we can make sure that you are added to the staff mailing list, ditto if you →