Five Things I learned Through My Open Campus Placement Experience

During my Open Campus placement, I worked as a student coach delivering physical activity sessions, including athletics and badminton. I worked with pupils from Year 1 to Year 6, with class sizes ranging from 30 to 60. Some pupils had Additional Learning Needs (ALN), supported either 1:1 or by their teachers.

The sessions varied depending on age groups. Years 1 to 4 focused more on fun, active games to do with the main skills in athletics while Years 5-6 developed sport-specific skills, particularly in badminton, football and tennis.

Five Things I learned:

1. The importance of preparation: I learned that being well-prepared with activities and backup ideas was essential. As someone who enjoys planning, this helped reduce my nerves and ensured sessions ran smoothly. It also meant I could quickly adapt when plans changed.

2. Adapting activities for different abilities: Working with a wide age range and ALN pupils taught me how to differentiate activities. Creating easy, medium, and hard variations ensured all children could participate. This improved my confidence in adapting teaching.

3. Confidence grows through experience: At first, I lacked confidence, especially with the older years and using an authoritative tone. However, through repeated sessions, I became more comfortable leading activities and communicating clearly, particularly during badminton sessions with Years 5 and 6.

4. The value of collaboration: Working alongside Primary Education and Sports Coaching students helped me learn new coaching techniques. Observing others and sharing ideas improved my own delivery. Although communication sometimes broke down, overall teamwork strengthened session quality.

5. Flexibility is key: Not everything goes to plan in a session. I learned to adapt quickly, whether that meant changing an activity or responding to pupils’ energy levels. Asking children for their input like, suggesting games, also helped keep them engaged.

One of the most supportive aspects of my placement was my supervisor, Evangeline, who provided guidance through meetings and messages. This helped me feel more prepared and supported throughout.

The induction session also provided useful coaching tips and activity ideas and websites to use for planning purposes. Additionally, working with peers and sharing ideas made planning easier and more effective. Having a variety of games ready, along with clear demonstrations, helped sessions run smoothly.

One improvement would be clearer communication between peers during sessions, as this sometimes affected organisation. Another would be having more structured planning time as a group before sessions to ensure everyone understood their roles.

Overall, this placement was both challenging and enjoyable. It helped me develop confidence, adaptability, and coaching skills. I will take forward the importance of preparation, flexibility, and inclusive practice into future teaching or coaching experiences.