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.
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