ECB targets schools for major development push

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is to invest heavily in education in a bid to further promote cricket amongst Primary and Secondary School children. Over the next three years, in excess of one million pounds will be invested directly into comprehensive education projects, which will be implemented in schools at the start of the education year in September 2000.

Educational resource packs will be produced and distributed to pre-service and in-service teachers at Primary and Secondary School level throughout the country. Backed by Channel 4, the packs will comply with government recommendations for Curriculum 2000 and will enable teachers to deliver cricket to children across the education curriculum.

Suggested lesson plans and ideas will encourage teachers to introduce cricket into mainstream subjects, such as Mathematics, English and Science. In addition, cricket teaching methods will be suggested for all areas of PE activity.

On the playing side, Kwik Cricket will continue to be promoted and played in Primary Schools. In Secondary Schools, however, a new innovative version of the game will be introduced, called Inter Cricket.

A total of 25,000 resource packs will be produced to cover the 19,893 Primary Schools in England and Wales, and 5,000 more advanced packs will be produced in CD-ROM form to cover the 3,940 Secondary Schools.

Keith Pont, ECB's Director of Development, said, "Cricket can be introduced into the classroom in many different ways. In Mathematics, children could calculate averages, run rates and work with cricket statistics, for example. Studying contrasting writing styles of newspaper match reports could introduce cricket into English lessons, or a Science class could look at understanding how a ball swings or spins."

Education specialists and practising teachers, as well as cricket coaches, have all been heavily involved in the development of the resource to ensure that it is of genuine relevance and help in today's classrooms. The packs will be highly user-friendly so that even teachers without an in-depth knowledge of cricket will be able to benefit.

Lengthy research has ensured that education for disabled children is also incorporated into the packs, thus underlining ECB's commitment to make cricket accessible to all.

To fit in with education planning cycles, details of the content of the resource packs will be sent to schools by the end of the coming summer term, in order to enable teachers to use the new resource in their lesson planning for the start of the next academic year.

Distribution of the resource packs will be targeted at teachers who show a genuine interest in receiving and using the information. County Boards and their cricket development officers will be responsible for the targeted distribution of the packs through a mixture of coaching visits to schools, INSET (In-Service Education Training) courses, and tailor-made courses for teacher training colleges.

Primary Schools

The resource pack for Primary Schools will be divided into two sections - one for implementation into the classroom and the other for implementation in PE lessons.

In the classroom, the resource pack will outline possibilities for including cricket in the teaching of a number of different subjects: Mathematics, English, Science, ICT (Information, Communication, Technology), Design Technology, Geography, History and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education).

The practical section of the resource pack for introduction into PE classes will fit into Key Stage Two of the National Curriculum. Ideas for activity will be presented on warm-ups, cool downs, skill practices and activity games.

Kwik Cricket will continue to be used as cricket's introductory game in Primary Schools, where it has already been successfully used for over 12 years since its introduction in 1988. Over one million Primary School girls and boys currently play the game - a quarter of all Primary School children in the country.

Secondary Schools The resource pack for Secondary Schools will be produced in CD-ROM format to reflect the increased technology used in Secondary School education.

As with the Primary Schools pack, it will feature exercises for both the classroom and PE lessons, albeit at a much more advanced level.

The CD-ROM will include computer animated graphics, photographic stills and video footage for coaching purposes. It will be possible to download all material for use in the classroom. In this way, teachers will be able to custom-build their own lesson plan from a menu of suggested ideas. Furthermore, internet hotlinks will direct teachers to cricket related web-sites to provide additional assistance.

In September, Inter Cricket will be introduced to encourage increased participation in the game amongst children at Secondary Schools. Supported by CGU and Sportsmatch, this game is designed for boys and girls who, for reasons of facility or ability, cannot play hard ball cricket and so will bridge the gap between Kwik Cricket and the traditional game. It will benefit, in particular, 12-14 year olds and inner-city schools.

Capable of being played in the playground or on grass, Inter Cricket will feature a number of unique selling points such as a white, rubberised ball with a stitched seam, numbered coloured shirts or bibs and a free hit rule as in the CGU National Cricket League.

Notes:

The Secondary School CD-ROM will be previewed for the first time at the Education Show, which is taking place at the NEC, Birmingham, on 23-24 March 2000

Inter Cricket will be launched in South London on Thursday 30 March. For further information / an invitation please contact Mark Hodgson at the ECB