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Today is a very exciting day for Evolve…it is the first ever XLR8 Transition Camp! The first one is in Lincoln and although I am unable to attend, I am meeting Lincoln’s Regional Manager, Damon Fox, on Wednesday and I will be able to find out how it is going then.

The XLR8 camps are the first of their kind and give Year 6 pupils the opportunity to spend time at the secondary school they will be attending in September. This allows them to get to grips with the new environment as well as meet their new classmates and staff. The XLR8 Camps are made up of three different activity sessions; Talent, Vitality and Enterprise. This means children will be able to develop their physical, creative and problem solving skills. Evolve, with the help of the Project HE:RO Health Mentors, are running the XLR8 Transition Camps in Lincoln, Yorkshire and Birmingham so there are plenty of children who are going to be able to get involved!

The XLR8 camps exist as a result of the £50 million summer schools fund provided by the UK government in order to help the most disadvantaged pupils. The government believes that transitional summer camps are necessary due to the fact that many pupils can struggle to make the jump to secondary education. The Department for Education add that ‘moving to a larger school and having to tackle a more challenging curriculum can be daunting for some pupils and they can suffer as a consequence. This results in a dip in their performance, which can persist throughout their time at school’. Therefore, summer transition camps are clearly very much needed and are worthwhile and rewarding schemes, which is why Evolve has chosen to get involved.

I think that XLR8 is an excellent idea and I particularly like the fact that it is not just physical activity but that there are also talent and enterprise activities for children to get involved with. I’m really looking forward to visiting the Birmingham XLR8 Camp and getting involved there.

For more information on XLR8 visit www.xlr8camps.com.