Geddington University opened its
doors on Monday 28th September.

The University has been set up as
part of Northamptonshire County
Council’s Race To The Top. The
aspiration is to inspire Geddington
children to aim high in life and to
give them opportunities to extend their
classroom learning through work with local
businesses and community partners.
Throughout the first week,
Geddington University welcomed
over 60 children. The first session
kicked off with Northamptonshire
Fire Brigade; the children learnt
about safety in the home and
were asked to talk with their
families about fire exit route
plans for their homes in case of
fire. Children have also had the
opportunity to work with Steve
Bennar, a local cricket coach, who will be
improving the children’s cricket skills as well as
developing their teamwork and communication
skills. Barclays Bank volunteers visited to teach
the children how to code; the aim is to get the
children to develop a shark game and, over the
following weeks, improve how the game works
and create new rules using their new coding
skills.

Father Rob attended from St Mary
Magdalene Church in Geddington
putting together a choir group and the
children got to practise their chanting
skills.

Geddington University is partnered
with Kettering Buccleuch Academy, so
every Tuesday the children will attend KBA
for their afternoon activities. During this time,
they will get the opportunity to
participate in sports activities or
get the chance to be supported
with their homework by older
children who are volunteering
their time. Following on from their
first session, children will then be
able to attend masterclasses led
by teachers. This term focuses
on science activities, which the
children were very excited about!
The partnership with Kettering
Buccleuch Academy will continue for the
whole year and each term a new topic will be
covered. It is even planned to explore the sport
of Quidditch in the summer term!

For the Christmas term, exciting activities
planned include the teaching of theatrical skills
by members from the Royal and Derngate, and
the exploration of food science and cookery
skills with Love Food. Nikki Peacock, a local
author, will be working with creative writers
developing skills to enable the children to be
confident in writing entries for a competition.
Geddington University also hopes to work
with Northampton University on a code-writing
competition.

The team behind Geddington University would
like to thank all the businesses and community
partners that have offered their time and
support so far. They are still looking for local
businesses to volunteer or for individuals who
are willing to support a homework club, so if you
have something to share, please get in touch.

For details, please contact Kelly Smithyman,
Race To The Top Administrator, by email on
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or call her on 07872 921 934.

 
Geddington University