Broxtowe

Forest School at Broxtowe Country Park, Wednesday mornings, free

Update July 2017: This group has finished for the time being, as the ranger has moved to a different park. You can check the Facebook page to see if it’s re-starting in another location.

Date: Wednesday mornings in term time.

Time: 10am to 12 noon.

~~Venue: Meet by the gate of Phoenix Park Adventure Playground, 52a, Westleigh Road, Nottingham, NG8 6JY.~~

Venue update: “the meeting location has now changed. It is now at the new park entrance, by the BMX track. Postcode: NG8 6GT“. I.e. the entrance at the end of Alwyn Road, where it meets Woodfield Road & Lindfield Road.

Area: Edge of Broxtowe Country Park, Broxtowe.

Age range: “Any age, but need to be able to concentrate and follow guidance, as we may have fire, tools etc.”

Price: Free, as it’s run by a Park Ranger.

Organiser: alastair dot glenn at nottinghamcity dot gov dot uk.

Facebook page for Forest School at Broxtowe Country Park

Booking: No need to book, just turn up. The Facebook page is visible to anyone, whether or not they’ve got a Facebook account, so you may want to have a look first to see if there’s anything special happening that week, or check for last-minute cancellations.

From Alastair, the Park Ranger:

Term time, Wednesdays 10am-12pm.

Run by Broxtowe Park Ranger Alastair Glenn. I have much more experience running activities for older children (10yrs+) but anybody is welcome and hopefully we can learn and have fun together!

From a home ed parent:

It’s our favourite activity during the week! Very nice to be in a wild park, in a different age group of home ed kids, and do some nature crafts and educational projects, games and free play. Welcome!

From another home ed parent:

We really love it. The kids have really got into it. We don’t make it every week, but they miss it if we don’t.

Alistair is great with my very shy kids. He has encouraged them and engaged with them. When we go, they talk about it for the rest of the day.

Physical access:

Mostly off the path, may be rough/wet ground. No toilets on site (plenty of trees).

Map showing the entrance to the park that’s the (updated) meetup point:

Full page larger map of the same thing.

Nearest bus stops (updated to reflect new meeting point): “Denton Green”, on the 78 route, Turquoise Line, or “Coleby Road Top” which is on either the 78 route or the 35 bus, Orange Line. These are about 300 yards from the park entrance meetup point, near the roundabout at the other end of Alwyn Road.

(Note that some families will already know that roundabout as the home of Nottingham City Gymnastics Club.)

Next nearest: The 77 bus, Turquoise Line, stops at “Flamsteed Road”, about 800 yards west of the meetup point.

Parking: There’s on-street parking on nearby roads.

Leadership Academy at Nottingham City Gymnastics Club

Participants at Nottingham City Gymnastics Club who are 11 or older have the option of joining in with the British Gymnastics “MY Leadership Academy”.

Here’s a short video from British Gymnastics, explaining it (about 4 minutes)

The end of the video talks about sending off for info from British Gymnastics, but that’s what a club has to do if setting up the scheme. NCGC already has the scheme running, so the next step for an individual young person is tell the NCGC organisers that you want to do it, and they’ll tell you more.

British Gymnastics summary page about the Leadership Academy

Related info: NCGC runs four gymnastics sessions a week aimed at home ed young people. See earlier posts here (for times) and here (for more description). Or if you’re ready to book onto a series of sessions, just click through to the club’s booking page.

New home ed sessions at Nottingham City Gymnastics Club – now 4 days a week.

The sessions at NCGC are proving so popular, they’ve now added extra ones on Monday and Wednesday mornings. And the times for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons have changed slightly.

The times of home-ed-specific sessions are now as follows:

Monday	10am-11am	“Structured” session
Monday	11am-12 noon	“Unstructured” session
Tuesday	12.45-1.45pm	“Structured” session
Tuesday	1.45-2.45pm	“Unstructured” session
Wednesday	10am-11am	“Structured” session
Wednesday	11am-12 noon	“Unstructured” session
Thursday	12.45-1.45pm	“Structured” session
Thursday	1.45-2.45pm	“Unstructured” session

Other info about the club and sessions remains the same, so please see previous writeup. Or if you’re ready to sign up, just click through to the club’s booking page.

Acting Up home-grown drama club, age 4 to 8, Cinderhill/Aspley, one Tuesday a month

Date: One Tuesday morning a month, usually the first or second Tuesday in the month.

Currently booked for 2016:

7 June
5 July
9 August
6 September
4 October
8 November

Time: 10.30am to 11.30am approx, and we have to leave the premises by 12pm.

Venue: Bells Lane Community Centre, 194 Amesbury Circus, Nottingham NG8 6DD. The community centre is on the inner round bit of the “Circus”, just by the junction with Dulverton Vale.

Area: Cinderhill/Aspley, on 79 and 35 bus lines, about three miles north-west of Nottingham City Centre. Broxtowe Country Park is less than half a mile away “as the crow flies”.

Age range: 4 to 8.

Price: £3.50 individual child or £5 per family.

Booking: Holly says “Please let me know if you’re thinking of coming so I can be on the look out for new faces, and also it helps me to plan accordingly, but there’s no need to book!”

Email: actingup at non-school-nottingham dot org dot uk.

There is a 30 minute slot then a 15 minute break followed by a 20 minute slot.

We start with a welcome song and then I guide participants through the activities.

I aim to include games, songs, movement, rhyme and other exercises to encourage creativity, communication, confidence and, of course, fun (sorry it doesn’t begin with C)!

The sessions are quite flexible and I adapt to the mood/ interests of the participants as much as possible.

Access info:

Disabled access, including parking, ramps and toilets.

I think there are many elements of the session that would be accessible however best to contact me before hand to discuss particular needs.

Map showing Bells Lane Community Centre:

Bigger map showing Bells Lane Community Centre

Nearest bus stop: “Dulverton Vale“, on the 35 route, Orange Line and 79 route, Turquoise Line. Important: there are actually two bus stops on the 79 route both called Dulverton Vale! The one you want is in between stops called “Eltham Drive” and “Walbrook Close/Bells Lane“.

This stop is only about 150 yards from the venue.

Nearest tram stop is Phoenix Park, just over half a mile away – but the buses go much closer.

Parking: There is a small car park, and off road parking too.

Home ed sessions at Nottingham City Gymnastics Club, Tuesdays & Thursdays

Date: Tuesday and Thursday afternoons during termtime. You can choose between Tuesday and Thursday, or do both.

UPDATE: From Sept 2016 there are extra days and adjusted timings – please see new post.

Venue: Six Ways Community Centre, Denton Green, Broxtowe, Nottingham, NG8 6GD.

Age range: 4 to 16 maximum; in reality the current age groups are more like 4 to 12. You don’t have to have done any gymnastics before.

Area: Broxtowe, on the 35 and 78 bus routes.

From the city centre, it’s about 3 miles, out north-west-ish through Aspley: towards Eastwood or Kimberley or Junction 26, but not that far. The gym club is about 300 metres from one of the entrances to Broxtowe Country Park.

Time: 1pm to 2pm, 2pm to 3pm, or do both hours.

The first hour is the “structured” session, 1pm to 2pm. The coaches guide people through doing specific activities.

The second hour is the “unstructured” session, 2pm to 3pm. The children decide for themselves what to practice, with the coaches on hand to keep an eye and to help if requested.

The Tuesday session and Thursday session both follow this format.

Parents and other children can wait in a sort of small café area with a window through to the gym. Or you can leave and do errands, as long as the club has your phone number.

Price: If you’re visiting, one hour £5, two hours £7.50, or if it’s your first time it may be free (ask at the club).

If you’re signing up long-term, you pay by the month. At current prices it works out £4.05 for one hour, down to £2.70 per hour if you went to all four hours. Prices page.

Booking: At the time of writing, both days are full up with a waiting list. You can contact the club on the morning of a session and find out if there’s a place that day because of someone missing it.

To get onto the waiting list, or sign up if a place becomes free, go to the NCGC sign-up page and look for where it says “Home Education Gymnastics”.

The club also runs children’s gym sessions in “after-school” hours, open to all. Most of those are at Six Ways; some are at the Portland Centre in West Bridgford.

Nottingham City Gymnastics Club home page

(Photo is from the club’s web site – probably not a home ed child.)

Map showing the NCGC building, a.k.a. Six Ways Community Centre:

Bigger map showing NCGC building

Buses: The 78 (Turquoise Line) and 35 (Orange Line) buses stop almost next to the club, at Coleby Road Top bus stop, and are fairly frequent. Both buses go into Nottingham City Centre via different routes; the 35 also connects with Bulwell to the north.

Parking: The club building has a small car park. It’s usually possible to park there.