Cyber Coach helps make exercise fun and engaging for students
The first ever leisure product shortlisted for a BETT Award, the Cyber Coach is currently helping Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council provide the varied range of sports activities as outlined in the Government’s Extended Schools Programme. The council has already purchased 19 Cyber Coach systems for its schools and plans to have nearly 30 in place in time for the summer.
In a bid to provide pupils with engaging and healthy sports activities, Janet Worrall, Extended School’s Coordinator for Kirkby Collaborative1 recognised the potential that the Cyber Coach had to help meet the council’s Extended Schools Programme. Janet, who is responsible for 16 of the 54 schools in the area, comments: “Keen to promote a healthy lifestyle and to prove to pupils that exercise really can be fun, Cyber Coach enables us to provide all our schools with up-to-date dance and fitness activities for breakfast, lunch and after-school clubs. The extended schools programme relies heavily on the goodwill and availability of teaching staff. Using Cyber Coach we are able to reduce the pressure on staff and offer a truly diverse range of stimulating sporting activities for very little cost.”
Containing hundreds of video clips delivered through a digital screen, Cyber Coach is easily transportable and can be set up in large indoor locations such as sports halls, assembly halls and classrooms Janet comments: “Currently, each primary school has access to Cyber Coach for an entire half-term and the freedom to use it however they see fit. This has helped us provide a wide range of routines and dances at a fraction of the cost of employing specialist fitness instructors.”
Teachers are also using Cyber Coach for warm-up sessions and to enhance the PE curriculum. Janet comments: “Staff find it really useful for cardiovascular exercise and dance activities. What’s more, if a particular PE instructor is taken ill, any other member of staff can take their class and provide a truly engaging lesson.”
Each Cyber Coach session is delivered by fitness specialists from around the world including Dean Hodgkin, voted Best International Fitness Presenter 2007 at One Body World, New York. Janet comments: “The kit is so simple and easy to use that even our dinner ladies have started using it during wet break-times to keep the children entertained and to provide some exercise. We’ve even had groups of teachers and parents using it in the evenings to learn Salsa!”
Predominantly used with Key Stage 2 pupils to date, Kirkby Collaborative intend to use the brand new Cyber Coach Key Stage 1 routines with younger pupils in the very near future. Janet comments: “We are very excited about the new videos for younger pupils which will make a great addition to existing activities such as ‘wake and shake’ at breakfast clubs. Continually on the look-out for engaging fitness activities, we are now also keen to purchase dance mats from Cyber Coach. Pupils in Knowsley simply won’t be able to keep their feet still!”
Cyber Coach costs £5,950 + VAT. Brand new for 2009 is Cyber Coach Class Editor for PC (£495.00 + VAT) that enables schools to add video clips to create new exercise routines and programs. Teachers then simply upload the new routines back onto the Cyber Coach machine using a USB drive. For further information about Cyber Coach, please visit the web site at www.cyber-coach.co.uk, contact tel: 0845 869 2848 or send an e-mail to info@cyber-coach.co.uk.
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