INSPIRE - Youth Sport Trust · INSPIRE. Wednesday 28 February 2018 Ricoh Arena, Coventry Join experts from the world of sport, education and health, including Harvard professor Dr

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FEATURE

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WELLBEING

LEADERSHIP

ACHIEVEMENT

Is secondary PE in trouble? Find out what 600 PE teachers said about the subject and how the profession itself is leading change

Are your children ‘school ready?’ How physical activity and sport can give children a helping hand in early years

YST 2018 Conference Leaders in education, sport and health to offer inspiration and ideas on sport changing lives... for good!

Sports Colours, what’s in a tie? How one school is tracking the impressive GCSE results of ‘Sports Colour’ students

LEADING INNOVATION IN PE AND SCHOOL SPORT

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG | SPRING 2018 | @YOUTHSPORTTRUST

INSPIRE

Wednesday 28 February 2018 Ricoh Arena, Coventry

Join experts from the world of sport, education and health, including Harvard professor Dr John Ratey, to hear how sport, PE and physical activity can successfully tackle some of the key challenges facing young people and schools today.

The conference will give delegates plenty of time to network, hear best practice and exchange ideas with inspirational colleagues from their areas of interest.

To find out more and book, go to www.youthsporttrust.org/conference

Speaker highlights

Dame Katherine Grainger, Chair of UK Sport will explore the importance of culture and climate in a performance environment

Amelia Walker, Ofsted will focus on the findings and lessons learned from current research

Geoff Barton, ASCL and Lubna Khan from Berrymede Juniors debate the need for courageous leadership in schools

John Hume, People’s Health Trust and Debbie Lye, Spirit of 2012 will discuss the importance of avoiding top down solutions and focusing on interventions that work

Join the conversation

#YSTconference@YouthSportTrust

WELCOME CONTENTS

04 YST 2018 Conference

06 Physical Education: What’s happening?

08 Young Voices on the power of sport leadership and volunteering

10 Primary school PE could be transformed for a generation by new funding

13 Re-imagining the future of Secondary PE: a special supplement

14 What do teachers tell us about PE in secondary schools today?

16 How the profession is leading the way with PE at the heart of the curriculum

18 Action research project exploring sport participation and attainment

20 YST solutions: Resources and Learning

22 Can physical activity help early years children with ‘school readiness’?

25 Membership spotlight

26 Did Ofsted consider PE and school sport when they visited your school?

28 National Governing Body spotlight: Boccia England

29 Pause for thought: Stealing the sport back from esport

30 Headteacher’s final word

ALI OLIVERChief Executive Officer Youth Sport Trust

Welcome to the spring 2018 edition of INSPIRE magazine. Last term brought great news for primary schools with the doubling of the government’s investment into the PE and School Sport Premium. We hope that all primary schools will grasp this historic opportunity to invest in their staff and students, not just for today but in ways that will transform the role and contribution of PE and sport to education for generations to come. On pages 10-11 we see how the best primaries are using this funding sustainably to create lasting change.

During the autumn term we undertook a survey with 600 PE teachers in secondary schools. The results were alarming, revealing that secondary PE and sport is heading for a potential crisis. Our survey revealed plummeting KS4 curriculum time, widespread challenges with maintaining an extra-curricular offer and a fall in the perceived value of PE. Our secondary PE special supplement on pages 13-20 explores these issues and showcases how inspirational practitioners are putting PE firmly front and centre in their schools.

We also take a serious look on pages 22-23 at the other end of the school system. A NAHT report last year highlighted growing concerns over whether children are physically, emotionally and socially developed enough to be ‘school ready’. Only 10% of children aged 2-5 years-old are meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation for 180 minutes of physical activity a day. We outline the strong correlation between improving physical literacy, and for example, developing the fine motor control needed for handwriting or the social skills needed to confidently make friends.

Our 2018 YST Annual Conference is themed ‘Sport Changing Lives for Good’. It looks at how PE, sport and physical activity positively contributes to the lives of all young people and how this can be

done sustainably — for good! This is the must attend event for schools leaders, PE teachers/coordinators and all those working in wellbeing and school sport. See pages 4 and 5 for full details.

After saying goodbye to our inspirational chair Baroness Sue Campbell CBE in the last edition, I am delighted to introduce our new chair Neil Davidson CBE. Neil brings a wealth of business expertise and a lifelong love of sport and what it can bring to young people. In his own words on accepting the role:

“I passionately believe that sport has a massive role to play in tackling some of the big challenges of today when we see increasing levels of obesity and mental health issues affecting young people. I would not be the person I am today without the significant role that sport has played in my life from an early age. It is incredibly important that we ensure this and future generations of children get those same opportunities.”

All that remains is for me to wish you, your students and your colleagues a happy 2018. We hope your PE and school sport endeavours bring health, happiness and success on and off the sports field.

Have you subscribed to YST News — our monthly round up of young people, health, sport and education stories, commentary and blogs? If not, head to our website to sign up: www.youthsporttrust.org

@YOUTHSPORTTRUSTSPRING 2018

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Youth Sport Trust CEO, Ali Oliver introduces the programme for the 2018 YST Annual Conference on 28 February at Ricoh Arena, Coventry.

Our 19th annual conference theme this year is ‘Sport Changing Lives for Good’. It was Nelson Mandela who spoke so powerfully about sport and how it can inspire, unite and create hope to replace despair. He talked about how sport can ‘speak to youth in a language they understand’ and ‘is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers’.

In an extraordinarily changing world, where pressures on young people are ever increasing we heed these words. Our conference has a dual focus; looking at how sport, PE and physical activity shapes the good in young people, improves their physical and emotional health and leads them to achieve positive outcomes in their lives. We also look at how leaders and practitioners can ensure the contribution sport makes to improving personal, social and physical outcomes for young people can be sustained – for good!

Our annual conference will continue to tackle the big topics and education questions of the day; including how to use PE to re-engineer a broad and balanced curriculum, support mental wellbeing, tackle childhood obesity, promote social mobility and cohesion, grow staff and student resilience and ultimately, raise whole school standards through sport.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

We have been trying to get our keynote speaker to British shores for some time so I am delighted that Dr John Ratey has agreed to talk about his worldwide mission to re-engineer schools, corporations, and individual lifestyle practices by incorporating exercise to achieve peak performance and optimum mental health.

Dr Ratey is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognised expert in Neuropsychiatry, often working with children with pronounced mental health challenges. His work has established him as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection, a subject he looks at in his ground-breaking book which included the Naperville High School case study that linked exercise to academic performance ‘Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain’. His latest book, ‘Go Wild’, explores how we can achieve optimal physical and mental health by ‘re-wilding’ our lives.

Our closing address speaker Katherine Grainger (Olympian and now Chair of UK Sport) will explore the relationship between organisational culture and climate and high performance.

MINI-KEYNOTES

Delegates at the conference will get the chance to hear from Amelia Walker from Ofsted. Amelia was previously responsible for the Chief Inspector’s Annual Reports and is now Deputy Director with responsibility for overseeing Ofsted’s research and evaluation programme. In 2017-18, this has included Ofsted’s research into the curriculum across all school settings and their recent thematic research study into primary schools, looking at obesity, healthy eating and physical activity. Her address to conference will focus on the findings and lessons learned from this latter research study.

What we do know already though, is that strong leadership of sport, PE and physical activity in schools and working on solutions with young people themselves, are both vital components to realise successful impact through sport. The conference will invite inspirational current/ former school leaders such as Geoff Barton General Secretary, ASCL and Lubna Khan from Berrymede Juniors to debate the importance of courageous leadership which is particularly important in the context of PE and sport and it’s role and long term contribution to pupil wellbeing, achievement and attainment (see pages 13-20).

YST 2018CONFERENCE

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In a separate debate session we welcome CEOs and senior leaders in the charity sector such as John Hume (People’s Health Trust) and Debbie Lye (Spirit of 2012) to discuss the importance of avoiding top down solutions and focussing on interventions that work with young people and their communities to address the social determinants of health and get ‘upstream’ of the issues which impact on long-term concerns like social mobility, employability and wellbeing.

WORKSHOPS, EXHIBITION AND AWARDS DINNER

The conference will give delegates plenty of time to network, hear best practice and exchange ideas with inspirational colleagues from their areas of interest. The 2018 conference will address: outstanding use of the Primary PE and Sport Premium and the government’s childhood obesity plans, including how schools can achieve 30 active minutes a day by creating active schools to support pupil progress and achievement.

For secondary colleagues, it will also look at how PE and sport can tackle

DR JOHN RATEY

DAME KATHERINE GRAINGER DBE

the mental wellbeing issues caused by exam stress; GCSE PE; the role of sports coaching/leadership in developing routes to employability and sport and SEND students.

Delegates will get the chance to visit our innovative exhibition where alongside the Youth Sport Trust and Youth Sport Direct, many of the leading commercial providers and national governing bodies of sport will be showcasing their latest products and interventions for the sector.

Preceding the conference on Tuesday 27 February will be the Youth Sport Trust Awards Dinner to celebrate both outstanding practice and individuals who have a made a difference to young people’s lives through sport. To nominate in any of the categories please visit www.youthsporttrust.org/ awards-dinner

This conference is a great opportunity to renew your sense of passion and purpose. It will equip you with the ideas and inspiration to help you ensure that in your school, MAT or community setting, sport changes lives for good! We very much hope to see you there.

For further details about the conference and awards dinner, the programme and our line up of speakers and contributors please visit www.youthsporttrust.org/yst-2018-conference


YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

DEVELOPING LIFE SKILLS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS THROUGH PHYSICAL EDUCATION

A group of 25 schools in Lancashire are really excited to have been working with us over the last two terms. We have explored and modified the principles of My Personal Best, that has been so successful in our secondary schools, to meet the needs of primary school children.

The approach that has evolved, where life skills are explicitly taught in PE can also be taken across the whole school and be embedded into the school ethos. This has been received really well by staff and more importantly pupils. The approach enables children to flourish in PE, school and life, and aims to improve children’s health, wellbeing and achievement.

The content will be available for delivery in member schools from September 2018. Regional and cluster training will take place during the summer term where schools will receive resources to support the teaching of life skills. The principles use the multi-ability model and fit neatly with TOP PE,

it will also link nicely through transition into My Personal Best in the secondary setting.

INVALUABLE BESPOKE CPD

When was the last time you visited another PE department and used the opportunity to critique your own practice? Ask yourself, is it time for a visit? Nathan Murdoch, YST PE CatalYST and Team Leader for PE at Robert Blake Science College in Cornwall made the most of his journey to Loughborough for the national networking day by visiting two other PE CatalYSTs on his way. Here are his reflections from visiting Matt Bowler at King Alfred’s in Wantage and Sarah Johnson from Redhill Academy in Nottingham:

“My main focus was on modernising my KS3 curriculum and assessment. Both conversations left me buzzing with loads of ideas and methods I could consider of how to implement them. As a CPD experience, I cannot recommend it enough – we talk of ‘bespoke’ or ‘personalised’ CPD and this was exactly that. I got answers to all my questions and had four hours of high quality conversation directly related to my own outcomes. I was able to

Will Swaithes, Head of PE and Achievement at the Youth Sport Trust, provides an update on the current PE landscape, including recent recognition of our valuable programmes.

PHYSICAL EDUCATIONWHAT’S HAPPENING?

put into context so much of what I currently do and was able to find some actions in order to improve.”

If you would like to explore a similar sort of school visit to support you in reflecting on your current areas of priority then please contact [email protected]

GCSE PE SUBJECT LIST REVIEW

The widely debated GCSE PE activity list was again discussed in the House of Commons in November where the then Minister for Children and Families, Robert Goodwill MP, responded to challenges from other MPs about a parent in Nottingham questioning why their son is unable to use a recognised Olympic sport as part of his practical assessment in GCSE PE. Mr Goodwill confirmed that “the government will review the activity list in autumn 2018, following the first examinations next summer.” We will of course be keeping our members up to date with an opportunity to have your voice heard around this important issue. Access House of Commons Transcript via this tweet bit.ly/Tw_HoC and register your interest to be kept in the loop with that consultation via bit.ly/2wpTpXS

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WILL SWAITHESHead of PE and Achievement Youth Sport Trust

For details of our resources and learning please visit www.youthsporttrust.org

INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING NEWS: PE WITH AN EBACC SUBJECT?

Becoming a PE teacher remains very popular, with PE being the only secondary subject bucking current recruitment shortages and remaining oversubscribed year on year. There may be good news though for anxious providers as the National College for Teaching and Leadership has introduced “a new scheme for 2018 to 2019 that allows School Direct lead schools and ITT providers to request additional PE places.”

Trainees filling these places are required to undertake additional training to teach an EBacc subject (English, English literature, maths, history, geography, science or languages) alongside their main specialism of PE. For recruitment purposes these will be ‘PE with’ courses and trainees will only have to demonstrate the teaching standards in PE whilst receiving supplementary training in an EBacc subject.

THE HEALTHY PUPILS CAPITAL FUNDING

In March 2017 the previous government announced £415m of Healthy Pupils Capital Funding for schools to use to develop their facilities for either healthy eating or sports provision – including changing rooms, playgrounds and sports facilities. This pledged funding was thrown into uncertainty by last summer’s election but questions from MPs in the summer elicited that £100m of this is still being made available in a one off funding opportunity for schools in 2018-19.

This funding will be distributed in two different ways. Single academies, small MATs and sixth form colleges were able to bid for funding via their Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) before Christmas last year. Local authorities and MATs with over five schools and three thousand students will get an allocation as part of the School Condition Allowance (SCA) going to their responsible body (RB). Further guidance on using the latter will be coming from the DfE in late January/early February

2018 and we will make sure this is swiftly passed on to YST member schools.

Read more here www.youthsporttrust.org/news/dfe-update-healthy-pupils-capital-fund

GOOD NEWS FOR YST PROGRAMMES PROMOTING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Three of our programmes have been recognised as high quality, thought-leading and credible evidence-based interventions in a recent review conducted by UK Active and endorsed by Public Health England. Start to Move, Girls Active and Change4Life Sports Clubs recently featured as showcase exemplar case studies of effective practice. With childhood obesity at alarming levels schools in all phases will want to up the physical activity rates of their students. Access the full report at bit.ly/moving-at-scale


JORDAN ROSSER (18) Rhondda Cynon Taff

Being a Young Ambassador is a brilliant opportunity. It’s a chance to promote sport and physical activity to others, get young people more involved in sport, and teach others the benefits while being a positive role model. I first got involved in golf aged 11, and challenged Golf Development Wales to adjust the rules for disabled golfers so I could compete in mainstream competitions.

I’m now a Gold Young Ambassador, a member of the Disability Sport Wales Youth Board, and the Golf Development Wales National Youth Panel. I feel happy knowing I’m helping others to build their confidence and try new things, while building my own confidence at the same time. I’m giving back as sport and volunteering have given me so much.

BRONNIE GRIFFITHS (19) Aberdare in Rhondda Cynon Taff

I’ve loved every minute – it has built my confidence enormously being a Young Ambassador. I make sure the Gold and Silver Young Ambassadors are receiving the guidance and support they need to be the best they can be. I’m also undertaking a project to help Young Ambassadors within higher education to transfer so they can feel supported and have more opportunities throughout their studies.

My favourite moment is when I was able to be part of the planning and running of the annual Gold Ambassador Conference with the other National Steering Group members. It’s something I’ve always wanted to be a part of and it finally came true last year. The one new skill that has stood out for me is public speaking. I never thought I would be capable of speaking in front of hundreds of people!

The Young Ambassador (YA) programme was born in 2006 to bring the ‘Singapore promise’ to life, a commitment made in 2005 by Seb Coe to ensure the London 2012 Games had a lasting legacy on young people around the world. The spotlight examples below come from Wales, with ongoing investment from Sport Wales, the YA programme continues to grow through every level. The YA movement maximises the potential of Young People to contribute to the wellbeing of their own and future generations.

CHLOE JORDAN (17) Pontypridd

As a Young Ambassador I help increase the amount of sport participation in my community – both competitively and recreationally. I do this by running hockey in school at lunchtimes and help set up tournaments between schools. I mainly do my volunteering with Hockey Wales. I go to all of their hockey events and do their social media, lead a team of ball patrol, or just help in general. I’m now trying to do more work with Disability Sport Wales to try and promote disability sports as it’s something I’m passionate about.

A few of my highlights so far are volunteering at big events like the ‘I am team GB’ event and the ‘School Games 2017’. I’ve met loads of new people and it showed me how big and passionate the volunteering community is.

YOUNG VOICES ON THE POWER OF SPORT LEADERSHIP AND VOLUNTEERING

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For more information visit www.clubsolutions.wales/Young-Ambassadors

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

Active 30:30 Resource Pack - £99

Includes:

• Practitioner guidance resource • Action plan template• Activity review wall chart• Sample resource cards• Engagement cube• Timetable adaptation template• Reward certificates• Tips and guidance on how to share

success and engage families

60 minutes, every child, every day. Achieve the government ambition of 30 active minutes in school and influence the remaining 30 minutes at home, clubs or in the community.

For more information go to www.youthsporttrust.org/active3030

active school10 steps to an

YST Level 2 and 3 members can access the full resource at an exclusive rate of £54! Contact [email protected] to claim your coupon code

Benefits of Active 30:30

• Increases physical activity outside of curriculum PE

• Influences remaining 30 minutes to be achieved by families, clubs and community groups

• Supports practitioners to create an active school

• Maximises impact of learning principles already established in school

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

We have been speaking to headteachers and PE leads across the country about how the funding will be vital in helping them to make a sustainable and long-term improvement to the quality, quantity and impact of PE and sport on children’s wellbeing, learning and achievement.

We work with more than 6,000 primary schools and have been supporting them to help ensure the funding boost has the maximum long-term impact. In October last year, we profiled some of the great work being done in schools already with a media campaign to raise awareness of the possibilities this funding creates. The results saw St John’s RC Primary School in Manchester appear on BBC Breakfast and BBC Sportsday for its ‘Year of Cycling’ and schools across the country profiled in regional media.

Training for teachers, more varied activities, and new equipment to get classes moving were some of the key things schools wanted this funding to achieve — and we couldn’t agree more.

Ali Oliver, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said: “There is so much potential for what schools can achieve with this extra funding — it presents the best chance we have in a generation to really transform PE

Primary schools across the country recently had the Primary PE and Sport Premium funding doubled by government – ushering in a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to transform PE and school sport.

PRIMARY SCHOOL PE COULD BE TRANSFORMED FOR A GENERATION BY NEW FUNDING

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SIMON WARDHead of Communications Youth Sport Trust

and harness its potential to improve children’s wellbeing.

“This generation is facing a health crisis as it experiences the lowest levels of physical, social and emotional wellbeing on record. So we must be ambitious.

“By 2020, we want to see every primary school teacher professionally developed to help teach physical literacy with the same skill and passion as language literacy and numeracy. We know that for all the training a primary school teacher receives, they often get very little guidance on how to educate their pupils in and through movement, exercise and physical activity.

“Children’s first formative experiences of PE at primary school have an impact which can last a lifetime. Get it right and we will transform the life chances of a generation. Get it wrong and too many children will continue to miss out on the benefits that physical activity brings to their health, happiness and wellbeing.”

With the average primary school receiving up to £18,750 extra sports funding to help bring PE lessons into the 21st century – according to the Department for Education’s latest report — we looked at how schools are making a change.

For more information on how the Youth Sport Trust can help primary schools to develop better physical literacy in your school by 2020 visit www.youthsporttrust.org/PPSP

FIVE VISIONSWe have set out five outcomes that we believe this investment should be delivering for young people, schools and the education system to significantly improve children’s formative experiences of physical education and school sport. At the heart of these bold ambitions is better support for primary teachers who currently receive an average of just six hours of initial teacher training in PE.

Using the Primary PE and Sport Premium, we believe it is possible to transform schools by:

ONE Every primary school teacher receiving support and training to help children develop their physical literacy.

TWO Closing the gender and disability gap which sees girls and children with disabilities much less likely to participate in school sport.

THREE All coaches working in after-school sport to be professionally trained in how to coach children as well as how to coach sport, with the introduction of nationally recognised training and standards for coaching children.

FOUR Two hours of PE on the curriculum at every primary school with a focus on sporting activities as a vehicle for self-development. This should maximise the potential of PE and school sport to improve children’s performance in the classroom as well as their physical, social and emotional wellbeing.

FIVE An Active School action plan for every school ensuring 30 active minutes per day for every pupil through active travel, active playgrounds and active classrooms.

Who: St John’s RC Primary, Manchester

What: Launching its ‘St John’s Year of Cycling’ to promote cycling to the whole community. The campaign will be bigger and better than ever because of the premium funding.

How: Bronwen O’Donoghue, headteacher, said: “Our students already do at least 60 minutes a day physical actively but the premium will mean that our year of cycling is bigger and better than originally planned. We can have a greater focus on Active Travel given the road issues surrounding the school. As part of our initiative it will mean that each child will have a five-week on site coaching cycling block, access to an off site cycling experience at either the velodrome, BMX track or Longford stadium, access to balance bikes, BMX bikes and mountain bikes, and link with our local clubs – Simply Cycling and Manchester Triathlon club as pathways to community cycling. We will also be able to continue teacher professional development and investment into assessment so we know the progress and achievement of our pupils.”

Who: Holy Family School, Surrey

What: The school is among the top 5% of schools nationally in terms of academic progress and attainment. Headteacher, Steve Tindall, has put the school’s rising success over the last three years down to its integrated PE and sports programme. But it would not be possible for the school to continue developing children through sport without the extra funding the premium will bring. The school reported last academic year that 96% of its upper KS2 children attended extra-curricular sports clubs and more than 90% of children across KS2 attended extra-curricular clubs.

How: Steve Tindall, headteacher said: “Our PE and sports programme has contributed fully to this success as we merge and utilise key sporting values and principles within our academic curriculum. Children who enjoy sport are positive and this leads to a resilience and determination in class. Without this additional funding, we simply could not afford to run so many potentially effective programmes, interventions and projects.”

HOW SCHOOLS ARE SPENDING THE PREMIUM:


For more information and to register for free sample resources and lesson plans go to www.mathsoftheday.org.uk

Headteacher Steve Tindall has implemented Maths of the Day, resulting in notable improvement in both attitude to and attainment in maths. In this case study, he discusses why Maths of the Day has added value to the curriculum and how teachers and young people are all benefitting.

OBJECTIVES

The initial aim of implementing Maths of the Day was to reengage a group of bright Year 5 and 6 girls who were underperforming in maths. The idea was to adopt the positive messages applied through the physical elements to the maths challenges in order to raise attainment.

ACTION

After using the free sample lesson plans available on the website, we decided to trial the programme. Dedicated slots within the timetable were allocated to the intervention group with the focus being ‘fun, challenge, action, learn’.

The resources were simple and easy to deliver, and the variety and number of lesson plans available is invaluable as it saved precious time and provided inspiration for meaningful and productive sessions.

IMPACT ON THE SCHOOL

The school recorded an increase in attainment in maths for the Year 5 and 6 group initially targeted, with outstanding progress and achievement in their final SATs levels. All teachers have committed to one cross curricular session per week to embed practical learning across the whole curriculum.

IMPACT ON THE YOUNG PEOPLE

The most striking and satisfying development since using the programme is the increase in self esteem and confidence when approaching Maths lessons. Maths of the Day has helped to eradicate the ‘fear factor’ which has been replaced with an understanding that maths can be fun and success is achievable. Pupils are now able to think problems through from start to finish and solve them in a logical and productive way.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Simple, easy and timesaving for teachers – there are 1800 lesson plans and over 250 homework ideas teachers can use effectively with all age groups.

• Ability to draw out children’s enthusiasm and passion for sport and apply the character skills learned to other areas of the curriculum.

• Proven to increase attainment and improve attitudes to maths.

MATHS OF THE DAY

ADVERTORIAL @YOUTHSPORTTRUST

I love the fact children are proactively channelling their natural competitiveness into Maths challenges. They are often learning so many Maths concepts without realising they’re doing Maths. It’s fabulous to see so many smiling faces and increased achievement in the subject”

Steve Tindall - Headteacher

I never ever thought I’d be able to do Maths this well. I can’t believe it; I’m actually quite good now. I’m really pleased we did Maths of the Day!”

April, Year 6 Pupil

Holy Family Catholic Primary School is a Youth Sport Trust Level 2 Member and Quality Mark Gold school based in Surrey.

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At the YST we have become increasingly aware of the decline and gradual demise of physical education as a curriculum subject within many secondary schools. At a time when young people are experiencing unprecedented rates of obesity, poor emotional wellbeing, and where interpersonal skills and social interaction are becoming a thing of the past, we are in danger of losing a subject that is unparalleled in its potential to address the challenges of this generation. While primary schools are benefitting from a doubled investment in the PE and Sport Premium, secondary PE departments are under threat from a narrowing curriculum, and the deeply worrying loss of core PE time at KS4.

It is therefore a time to be bold and repurpose physical education. While retaining its essence as education through the physical our aim is to reposition it as a curriculum subject which delivers wellbeing outcomes and in so doing supports learning and wider achievement. PE was once about building physical fitness of potential soldiers for the Boer War (military drill), at other times in its history it has served a different social purpose (the physical health of those living in pre/inter war slums), but today it can no longer be dominated by learning technical skills in sport. PE today should be wholly focussed on helping the current generation of children to be physically healthy and emotionally well so that they are in a position to achieve in school and life.

The most pioneering PE practitioners and headteachers we work with are at the vanguard of doing this work

already. They are using the subject to address wellbeing issues which stand in the way of students achieving their potential in school and life – they are using PE in developing self-esteem, raising aspirations, building self-control and helping students manage the symptoms of anxiety. They are also exploiting the potential of sport as context to teach essential life skills like resilience, creativity, empathy and team work; precisely those skills sought by employers. Some of the schools we are working with have even transitioned their PE department to lead on whole school wellbeing and in particular, adopting the strong evidence base linking getting active with good mental health and improved performance in the classroom.

We believe now is the right time to repurpose our subject very publicly. This secondary PE special supplement aims to lay out the challenges PE faces but also highlight the great practice and innovation that can be achieved when it is driven by a skilled and committed profession. We hope you enjoy reading it and that it spurs all readers to reflect on their continued commitment to PE and how they are developing a diverse PE and sport offer to benefit and engage all pupils.

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As the former head of a Specialist Sports College, I have seen first-hand the transformative power that PE and sport can have on a secondary school and its students. Now as General Secretary of ASCL, I also appreciate the pressure all headteachers are under to secure ever-improving exam results. It sometimes feels as if it needs courage to protect a truly broad and balanced curriculum under current accountability scrutiny. But, it is bold leaders we will need to be if we are to avoid the loss of extra-curricular sport from our schools and risk core PE disappearing from the KS4 timetable.

The decision we took at my former school in Suffolk to become a Sports College was, at the time, controversial with staff, governors and parents. They thought it might be a dilution of a commitment to academic excellence. In fact, the reverse was true. The range of opportunities offered through sport lifted pupils’ aspirations. A focus on their health, leadership and global citizenship became part of their lessons and hardwired into the everyday ethos of the school. I am convinced this focus led to better behaviour and academic achievement.

Now, as society continues to shift its priorities, the benefits of physical and emotional wellbeing through PE have never been more important – for children and young people, for staff, and for our communities.

GEOFF BARTON General Secretary ASCL

RE-IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF SECONDARY PE: A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT



CORE PE IS BEING SQUEEZED OUT OF THE TIMETABLE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

What the picture showed was a widespread and ongoing decline in the hours of core PE in the secondary curriculum. This was at every Key Stage, meaning students from 11-18 years-old are universally getting less physical education.

The picture is most concerning for 14-16 year-olds. Responses from over 600 PE teachers in 487 different secondary schools in England confirmed a 24% decrease in core PE at KS4 in the last academic year alone and nearly four out of every ten schools showed a persistent decrease in curriculum PE time over the past five years.

Some of the reasons for a decline in curriculum time were ‘cuts to PE staff’ and a ‘lack of interest from Ofsted’ but the biggest single reason behind the loss of PE time was to allow extra timetabled sessions for core subjects, driven by the pressures of Progress 8 and the EBacc. Many PE teachers even reported that at KS4 some students were not allowed to attend their timetabled PE lessons due to having to attend intervention lessons in maths and English.

At a time when obesity is placing record demands on the health service and the poor emotional wellbeing of our young people is a subject of significant debate (including

a wide held view that it hampers their achievement) this squeeze in curriculum time of a subject that can help tackle both is indefensible.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION IS NEITHER PROPERLY VALUED NOR PROPERLY MEASURED IN SCHOOLS

In our survey, 97% of responders felt that their subject should be more valued for the benefits it brings to young people. Interestingly it was felt that PE needed to be valued more by school leaders, by parents and by young people themselves.

The main issue includes the narrow approach taken to judge the success of the PE department within a school. Departmental success and individual pay progression is often judged by the GCSE exam results for the less than one in five students who take PE as a qualification at KS4. It is not judged by the contribution of the PE department to the other 80% of students in KS4 or indeed the overall health and wellbeing of all pupils within the school. Only one in 12 Ofsted reports mention PE compared to the more than half of reports that mention maths or English (TES article October 2017).

There are encouraging signs however, that this could change in the next 5 years with Ofsted current and potential future interest in a greater focus on curriculum content, design and purpose. Over half of respondents called for schools

to be formally measured on pupil wellbeing, a view increasingly mirrored by powerful voices in the public eye, including educational commentator Sir Anthony Seldon.

WHAT IS NEEDED TO MAKE PE A MORE VALUED PART OF THE CURRICULUM?

The survey respondents identified a number of groups that they felt would need to become stronger advocates of the value of the subject for it to maintain its valuable position in the curriculum. ‘Government being more vocal on the value of PE’ was at the top of this list.

Respondents also identified the need for the PE profession to improve their collective advocacy around the subject. There was recognition that teaching of PE across the wider profession is more variable and where young people have a bad experience of PE and school sport this can put them off physical activity beyond school and all the lifetime benefits it brings.

A one-size-fits-all focus on PE as a ‘basket of sports’ should be replaced by a wide range of physical activities aimed to support young people’s physical and emotional health and develop their life skills. Teachers need to be using approaches carefully matched to students’ individual motivations to avoid alienating those who lack the interest or ability to participate at a competitive standard.

Will Swaithes, YST Head of PE and Achievement, talks of his concern about reports from teachers and school leaders about what is happening to physical education in our secondary schools. In response, we undertook a survey of secondary PE teachers to understand the issues further and this is what we found.

WHAT DO TEACHERS TELL US ABOUT PE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS TODAY?

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

For more information www.youthsporttrust.org/sec-survey

COMMENT

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on a Fit and Healthy Childhood published a report (bit.ly/APPG-PE) into PE in December 2016. Like this survey, it painted a particularly bleak picture of our subject and provided a great many recommendations, but over a year later we haven’t seen any meaningful change at a policy or practice level. On current trends there is a risk that PE disappears altogether from the secondary curriculum and whoever is in political power over the next five to ten years risks being the administration on whose watch PE disappears from our schools for good.

Our view echoes that of the Chief Medical Officer, who calls for a minimum two hours of physical education in the curriculum for every child. Physical education and its contribution to young people’s physical and emotional wellbeing must be seen as the bedrock of a good education. Delivered well the subject equips young people with the knowledge and skills to undertake sport and physical activity for life. The evidence linking this to future health, happiness and prosperity is unquestionable.

The subject and the wider profession itself will have to change and adapt just as has been the case for food technology, religious studies and computing over the years. PE has enormous scope to move universally to a subject that teaches all pupils the essential life skills that they need to survive and thrive. Overleaf we look at how leading practitioners have re-shaped the subject for their schools.


Over the last two years the Youth Sport Trust has established a pioneering ‘PE CatalYST’ movement. These are chiefly secondary heads of PE with a passion for re-shaping PE as a subject and putting it right at the beating heart of their schools. This has included adopting YST’s My Personal Best approach to developing life skills through PE. Here are just five of their stories to inspire you to make a change.

Despite the worrying decline of physical education on the secondary curriculum in some schools, there is a new breed of PE teacher looking to drive the subject forward. Will Swaithes, YST Head of PE and Achievement looks at how they are doing this by placing their subject at the centre of whole school improvement and student development.

HOW THE PROFESSION IS LEADING THE WAY WITH PE AT THE HEART OF THE CURRICULUM

GREAT MARLOW SCHOOL

Joe Clarke, Head of PE, as part of his NPQSL course is using the PE department’s YST My Personal Best approach to develop life skills across the school to improve the social, moral, cultural and spiritual values of the students. Joe very much believes that; “schools should not just be considered ‘exam factories’” and that students should reach their full potential both academically and through opportunities to develop their own character. By promoting a series of core values/life skills across the school, staff have encouraged students to show the character traits that will give them the potential to be successful in and out of school”.

During the autumn term they focused on promoting resilience and responsibility across the school through tutor time, assemblies, as an overt focus in lessons and through student rewards. Joe empowered students to lead the whole school inset for staff, a daunting prospect for any 15 year old! But, this highlighted “how resilient/responsible our students can be/already are and worked well in engaging staff and gaining their support”. Great Marlow School has also been involved in our Girls Active Programme (widening participation opportunities in PE and sport for girls), Living for Sport project and has made PE compulsory for sixth formers.

ORMISTON SHELFIELD COMMUNITY ACADEMY

Pete Monaghan, Director of Sport and PE CatalYST, has chosen to use YST’s Youth Sport Award as a tool to reward and recognise pupils. They use it with those selected from each year group as part of their ‘Sport Academy Programme’ – who are providing significant extra sports leader support for their School Games Organiser competition calendar.

He has also made the decision to provide a qualification for all students in KS4 in order to contribute to whole school accountability measures and hence help secure time for the subject. He has highlighted it is still a challenge to combine teaching, gathering evidence for the qualification and ensuring as much time as possible is spent being physically active but it has given students added purpose and motivation for the subject.

VISION STATEMENTGreat Marlow School is a high quality learning environment which inspires students, staff and the community to be compassionate, successful and resilient contributors to a better society.

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

PENRYN COLLEGE

Kate Blackburn, Head of PE and Lead PE CatalYST, has bucked the trend of declining time for PE on the curriculum by amalgamating with PSHE to create a ‘lifestyle curriculum’. This was driven by initial involvement in YST’s My Personal Best approach and has resulted in an increase of lessons from one double a fortnight to three doubles a fortnight and an increase in staff within the department.

On sharing successes to date, Kate was very proud to report a student voice of 98% who enjoy their new lifestyle lessons. In addition to this, competencies like resilience are assessed across the whole school and the lifestyle team deliver intervention to pupils there were weak in those areas across a range of subjects. They have also created ‘staff health champions’ to support the wellbeing of staff and their role modelling of behaviours to students. Further developments being explored this year include improved emphasis on body management, leadership and problem solving within the lifestyle curriculum and developing health and wellbeing prefects in Year 10.

PENRYN COLLEGE LIFESTYLE DEPARTMENT MISSION STATEMENT

• Pupils will understand the importance of physical activity, health and wellbeing

• Pupils will experience a variety of activities to promote lifelong participation

• Pupils will develop personal, social and thinking skills through physical activity and apply these across all lessons.

ME IN CORE PE

JACK HUNT SCHOOL

Vickie Bracken, PE teacher, Duke of Edinburgh coordinator and one of YST’s lead PE CatalYSTs, has further embedded the YST My Personal Best approach within the PE curriculum to ensure meaningful and relevant provision for all. The vision at JHS is about ‘Being Different, Belonging Together’ and they aim to use sport to facilitate the development of healthy, aspirational and confident young leaders who value lifelong physical activity and contributing to their community. As a result of this, there has been:

• Improvements in student confidence

• Improved understanding of the life skills required to be successful

• Increased engagement from previous disengaged students in PE.

EXAMPLE PROGRAMME OF STUDY

BADMINTON Responsibility and active listening

NETBALL Self-management and Integrity

INTER-HOUSE COMPETITION Kingball/Dogdeball

SWIMMING Resilience and empathy

GYMNASTICS Innovation and collaboration

INTER-HOUSE COMPETITION Netball/Football

DANCE Evaluation and effective speaking

ATHLETICS Self-motivation

ROUNDERS Motivating and influencing others

INTER-HOUSE COMPETITION Rounders

KING ALFRED’S ACADEMY

Matt Bowler, Director of Physical Education and YST Lead PE CatalYST explains how his team “strives to discover and develop the full potential of every student within an academic and sporting environment, by engaging and challenging them through an ‘outstanding’ curriculum and enrichment programme. I believe that fostering high academic and sporting performers who aspire to achieve excellence is integral to our culture and duty. Our success is built on consistently high quality physical education and school sport”.

There must be something right about their core curriculum offer, given the engagement of students in lessons and the vast number of pupils who choose to participate in their extra-curricular and enrichment offer as a consequence of being ‘activated’. Matt attributes this to how they plan blocks and content of lesson activity based on lesson objectives and assessment outcomes in their five ‘MEs’ (see below). Each lesson has an underlying physical element, but whilst staff are allocated a practical PE space, they are empowered to adapt the activity (particularly at Key Stage 4) to suit the groups’ needs and motivations. Matt puts a lot of this design down to student voice as a consequence of working with us on YST PE Change Teams (an initiative looking at how pupils can actively help you shape the PE and sport offer).

We regularly share other case study examples via the PE CatalYST newsletter and in some cases as blogs on our website. For example take a look at what Fowey River Academy are doing to ensure the power of physical activity and sport is capitalised on in their school www.youthsporttrust.org/fowey

CreativeME

LeadingME

HealthyME

ThinkingME

PhysicalME

ME


There is immense pressure on schools to deliver ever higher student academic results and this is impacting on school sport and core PE curriculum time across the country. To counter this I wanted to demonstrate just how important PE and sport is as a contributor to the academic success of students within my own school setting.

The work for this began back in 2015 by analysing the comparative exam results from a group of students that were highly engaged in school sport until the end of their time in Year 11. This group of students are our ‘Sports Colour’ students and each had met strict criteria in order to be acknowledged and rewarded for their long-term involvement in school sport.

THE CRITERIA FOR SPORTS COLOURS:

1. Colours should be awarded for very high levels of performance over a sustained period. Just turning out is not enough.

2. Recipients must be considered good and positive role models for other students and be 100% supportive of the PE department.

3. A ‘sustained period’ means regular participation over at least two seasons.

4. At any time sports ties can be taken off a student for not fulfilling the above criteria.

The GCSE results of this group of students were compared to the rest of the year group, showing that the Sport Colour students performed better in all measures in the final GCSE exams they took. Subsequently, we have completed the same data analysis with our Sports Colour students sitting GCSE’s in 2016 and 2017. The results over the past three years show that Sports Colour students have consistently achieved better results than the rest of the year group.

The 59 Sports Colour students in 2015/16 increased whole school Progress 8 by +0.04 and the 59 in 2016/17 by +0.02. All this in a school that is performing significantly above average for Progress 8 has led Sarah to consider, what if more than 25% of their students were able to meet the Sports Colours criteria?

There is strong academic and scientific evidence linking PE, sport and physical activity with good mental health and achievement. In the growing tradition of teachers as action researchers we look at how a Head of PE at one school, Sarah Johnson from the YST member school Redhill Academy, has been investigating the correlation between their high performing sports colours students and their end of KS4 GCSE results.

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT EXPLORING SPORT PARTICIPATION AND ATTAINMENT

The effect of students with Sports Colours on Key Stage 4 exam success

KEY 1 all students 2 non-Sports Colours 3 Sports Colours

Bas

ics

A*-

C E

nglis

h/M

aths

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

68%

1

2

2 2

3

3

3100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

90.7%

NATIONAL AVERAGE

72.6%

100%

78.1%

73.3%

91.5%

78.3%

60.7%

53.8%

59%

65%

1 1

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

IMPACT

Of course there will be criticisms, not least proving ‘definitive’ data causality, with other factors potentially contributing to the success of the Sports Colour students. Whilst I acknowledge this, I also see a group of students leave our school each year that seem more able to cope with the next stage of their lives. I believe that school sport plays a huge role in helping students feel connected to their school. It develops valuable life skills, it builds confidence and resilience, it fosters lifetime friendships and it creates memories that are talked about when they are adults.

Most importantly though, it brings happiness to students in an education landscape where academic outcomes have overshadowed all other outcomes. It is impossible to fully measure the contribution sport plays in achieving academic success, but surely the data helps us show that school sport has a role to play in education, it shouldn’t be marginalised or be replaced with more academic lessons.

“The introduction of Sports Colours was instrumental in raising the profile of PE at Redhill. The fact that our expectations for students to be awarded Colours included both sporting prowess and being a positive role model around the school really gave a lot of our older students something to aspire to. The sports ties that are awarded are highly valued and worn with pride. We found that quite a few of these students gained confidence both in themselves and being seen as student leaders in the school. Although a simple idea, I believe it has had a great effect on student positivity.”

Andrew Burns, Executive Principal of the Redhill Academy Trust

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The Sports Colour reward system at Redhill started in 2005. The qualifying criteria have remained exactly the same over the years and it still plays as large a role in engaging our students in sport. Students in Year 10 and 11 receiving colours in a sport get to wear a ‘sports tie’ which is different from the rest of the school. We have found that this motivates students to continue representing school right up until they finish GCSEs and therefore benefits them in those last two crucial years of study. In a recent review of our whole school reward systems, students reported that the sports tie was the only reward they would happily receive in assembly in front of peers. Rebecca Smith (Year 11) The Redhill Academy Sports Personality of the year 2017 said.

“It makes me proud when younger students (particularly Year 7s) admire and respect me because of my sports tie. Some even ask how they can get one and become determined to do so”

HOW WE HAVE TAKEN THESE PRINCIPLES FURTHER TO REACH ALL STUDENTS?

So, if we have a group of students in school that are walking tall and achieving better outcomes for themselves, how do we then increase the number of students in this group? Each year at the Redhill Academy we engage with students to develop a core PE curriculum which engages students in lessons and motivates students to represent school in their chosen sport.

The PE curriculum is also linked to the 12 YST My Personal Best strands to develop the life skills our students need to be able to thrive in and beyond school, which in turn has allowed all students to experience success and feel

proud of their achievements. We are passionate about raising the profile and contribution of PE and sport and include: reward evenings to celebrate success, gifted and talented programmes, sport contributions to the half termly newsletters with iMovies created from PE and extra-curricular sport and displayed on screens around school to show successes of students outside of school.

It seems to me that the benefits of physical activity are not under scrutiny, it is well evidenced that children and adults need to be physically active to enjoy a long, happy life and I’m sure most school leaders would agree. What does then seem extraordinary is that during these influential years of a child’s life, the opportunities to support them in creating active habits are being reduced with less time for core PE in the school curriculum and less opportunity for extra-curricular sport. I’ve yet to meet a PE teacher that doesn’t feel disappointed by the changes affecting our subject, but we have to continue to make our practice stronger, dispel the old fashioned opinions of PE and demonstrate the impact PE has on young people. If we don’t do it then who will?

FURTHER ACTION

If you haven’t already done so, complete the YST Quality Mark a benefit for Level 2 and 3 YST member schools which helps self-review your vision for, leadership and management of and provision for PE, as well as its contribution to wider school improvement. The YST ten steps to world leading PE blog series is also a great place to look for inspiration www.youthsporttrust.org/10steps Think carefully about what your school sport and physical activity offer includes and whose needs you are meeting through it, for inspiration see www.youthsporttrust.org/wyre


The challenges surrounding secondary PE, our practitioners and young people have been clearly demonstrated throughout this feature. It is no coincidence that as access to high quality physical activity is in decline, so is the health and wellbeing of our young people. We’re also aware of some of the fantastic work going on in some of our schools across the country, so we’ve put together a guide to just some of our YST solutions helping secondary schools to redefine the value of PE in school.

For more information on all YST products, contact [email protected]

YST SOLUTIONS: RESOURCES AND LEARNING

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

LIVING FOR SPORT Transforming aspirations with world class athletes

Since its launch in 2003, our acclaimed Living for Sport programme has used world class athlete mentors to inspire over half a million young people. The programme has been proven to tackle declining emotional wellbeing and boost confidence and resilience in young people. By helping develop vital character and employability skills it encourages improvement in behaviour and attitude to achieve their personal best in life.

Delivery

1.5 day workshop £900

For more information www.youthsporttrust.org/LFS

*All prices are excluding VAT

MY PERSONAL BEST Developing life skills through curriculum PE

My Personal Best aims to develop life skills, leadership and employability skills in young people such as empathy, teamwork and resilience. This award winning support package is designed to inspire secondary PE teachers to confidently teach life skills through core curriculum PE. Each teacher will take an action-research style approach to reposition the purpose and relevance of PE, and share effective practice to adopting this approach with other colleagues.

Delivery

e-learning and digital resources £199

Face to face training (per school) £1,250

YST Level 2 and 3 Members can access Module 1 of the My Personal Best e-learning as part of their member benefits. Full access to the remaining modules and digital resources can be accessed for just £99 (RRP £199).

For more information www.youthsporttrust.org/myPB

YOUTH SPORT AWARD Developing character and employability through PE and sport

The Youth Sport Award (YSA) is a reward and recognition scheme for young people aged between 10-24 years. Its purpose is to evidence learning, progress and achievement in and through sport. It aims to build positive lifestyle habits and behaviours and empowers young people to take ownership of developing their own skills.

Founded with partner Loughborough University, this programme is the first of its kind to develop and grow leadership and management skills using the power of sport. It helps to support wider academic achievement and improve physical and emotional wellbeing by incentivising daily physical activity.

Delivery

Level 3 members receive up to 35 licences and one training place for YSA.

For more information and to discuss your requirements at all membership levels please contact [email protected] or www.youthsporttrust.org/YSA

Level 2 and 3 members can access 10% off all YST resources, training and equipment with our trading company Youth Sport Direct.

To access your discount code see your activation pack or contact [email protected]

play-scheme.co.uk

[email protected] 607 677

Raising attainment and improving attitudes to maths through active maths lesson plans

For more information and to register for FREE SAMPLE RESOURCES AND LESSON PLANS

go to www.mathsoftheday.org.uk

“I never ever thought I’d be able to do Maths this well. I can’t believe it; I’m actually quite good now. I’m really pleased we did Maths of the Day!”

Year 6 Pupil

“As a result of Maths of the Day, attainment in maths – and children’s enjoyment of maths – is improving”

Ofsted

• 1500+ online ‘active maths’ lesson plans• Mapped to the primary maths curriculum• Every maths objective covered• Foundation to Year 6• 250+ Active maths homework activities

for children/parents• Can be funded through the Primary PE

and Sport Premium funding

Use code YSTINSPIRE10

for 10% through January and February

FREE

SAMPLE LESSON PLANS

DECLINING SCHOOL READINESS

Fewer and fewer children are arriving at the infant school gates ready to start their school experience. This should concern us as teachers, parents and as a society; because all the evidence shows that after starting school, the progress of young people who are disadvantaged at four years old fall further behind their peers as they go on through their schooling. So, if the gap is widening in school readiness before children even reach reception, the chance of closing the progress gap becomes ever more challenging.

So what did the NAHT’s 2017 School Ready Report1 reveal about the readiness of our children for starting school? Of nearly 800 responding primary and infant headteachers, 83% per cent reported issues with school readiness with the majority of these believing the situation had actually worsened over the last five years.

Fig 1 shows headteachers most pressing concerns remain children’s language skills; their poor personal, social and emotional development; and a concern with children’s delayed physical development.

TRACEY HEALEY Development Manager Youth Sport Trust

With an NAHT report citing declining school readiness, YST Development Manager Tracey Healey looks at what PE, physical activity and sport could do to help pre-school children take the first positive steps on their school journey.

2223 CAN PHYSICAL

ACTIVITY HELP EARLY YEARS CHILDREN WITH SCHOOL READINESS?

“There is limited parent and child interaction. Four year olds know how to swipe a phone but haven’t a clue about conversations!” Primary School Headteacher (State of Education, 2016)

Fig 1 — What issues are causing concern and which are of most concern for those children that are not considered school ready?1

1 School Ready? A survey of school leaders by NAHT and Family and Childcare Trust (September 2017). 2 Early Years Physical Activity Manifesto – British Heart Foundation National Centre (2016). 3 Start Active, Stay Active — Chief Medical Officers Report (2011). 4 Nike (2015) Designed to Move Active Schools: A practical guide for school leaders.

Speech, language and

communication

Personal, social and emotional development

(including behaviour)

Physical development

(including self-care, eg.

toileting)

Literacy/mathematics

Understandingof the world

97%100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

94%

78%

13%

39%

29%

1%2%

39%

47%

*Number responding to both questions = 520

YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

UK Chief Medical Officers’ Guidelines 2011 Start Active, Stay Active: www.bit.ly/startactive

Physical activity for early years (birth – 5 years)

CONTRIBUTES TO BRAIN DEVELOPMENT & LEARNING

IMPROVES SLEEP

BUILDS RELATIONSHIPS & SOCIAL SKILLS

MAINTAINS HEALTH & WEIGHT

Every movement counts

Active children are healthy, happy, school ready and sleep better

Move more. Sit less. Play together

across everyday

3Hours

Aim for at least

DEVELOPS MUSCLES & BONES

ENCOURAGES MOVEMENT & CO-ORDINATION

TUMMY TIME SWIM

OBJECT PLAY

WALK

DANCE

MESSY PLAY

SCOOT

GAMES

BIKE

PLAY

SKIP

CLIMB

PLAYGROUND

THROW/CATCH

JUMP

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM AND WHY IS ‘EARLY YEARS’ SO IMPORTANT?

It’s clear that children are experiencing more sedentary early childhoods than that of their parents and grandparents. Chris Wright, YST’s Head of Health and Wellbeing had this to say, “Children are now spending more time sitting down or not even moving at all. Spending prolonged periods sat down actually starts the ageing process early in children even as young as six, hardening the arteries and creating inflammation in the system. With only 10% of children aged 2-5 years achieving the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations2 for 180 minutes of physical activity every day it creates an obvious focus on the role of early year’s providers and parents”.

To combat this trend towards inactivity, getting the early years right is essential. Much is made of approaches to developing literacy but growing children’s physical literacy is equally as important if we are to avoid a generation of children who are physically illiterate and inactive. Inspiring an early love of movement and equipping them with the ABCs (agility, balance and coordination) of movement will help them move well and move more.

The evidence is strong, increased physical activity and reduced sitting time will have a direct impact on wellbeing and ultimately result in increased cognition and achievement. “Active children are healthy, happy, school ready and sleep better. When families are active together everyone stands to benefit” Chief Medical Officer3

HOW CAN PARENTS AND EARLY YEARS PROVIDERS SUPPORT EARLY PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT?

The reassuring news is that all of us can make a contribution simply by incorporating physical activity and a love of movement and play into a child’s normal day. It starts with parents and practitioners role modelling active behaviours and reducing sitting time and delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework in an active way. When children see adults enjoying activity they will be more inclined to join in.4 Why shouldn’t ‘The Gruffalo’ create active play opportunities rather than be read with children sat on the carpet? Take the carpet away... in fact take all the chairs away as well!

SPRING 2018 @YOUTHSPORTTRUST

For further information visit www.youthsporttrust.org/healthy-movers

WHAT DID ONE EARLY YEARS SETTING DO TO IMPROVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY?

Many early years settings and infant schools are already doing this well and more are looking to follow their lead. An example is the Youth Sport Trust’s partnership working with early years settings in Cumbria – the Early Years Smart Start pilot. This aimed to embed a sustainable approach to physical activity and additionally contribute to the social and emotional development of 2-5 year-olds. Training to support practitioners was essential and ‘take home packs’ for parents continued the experiences at home.

Projects like these are yielding encouraging results. Practitioners reported a 20% increase in children’s physical activity levels and practitioners felt that their awareness of the importance of physical activity and play had increased greatly. Over 71% of practitioners worked with parents to promote the importance of their children’s physical activity and found that parents were returning unprompted to do more with their children. Six months on with increased confidence through Smart Start, practitioners recognised the links between children’s increased physical activity and the development of speech, language and communication skills.

“I’ve seen a much increased staff knowledge of physical development; it’s brought it to the forefront of the curriculum. The staff like it, the children like it.” Headteacher, Barrow

WHERE CAN I GO FOR MORE GUIDANCE AND RESOURCES?

The Youth Sport Trust supports both parents and early years settings. YST in partnership with Change4Life has produced some simple and practical guidance for parents called Active Parent which can be easily shared with the families of the children in your setting bit.ly/SGYSTC4L. Parents and settings alike could also try Change4Life and Disney’s 10 Minute Shake Ups bit.ly/NHSshakeup

The Youth Sport Trust has also developed a bespoke set of resources and training specifically for early years settings. Called ‘Healthy Movers’ these resources help practitioners and families to develop both the confidence and competence needed to increase children’s physical literacy. We have teamed up with children’s show PJ Masks to produce a range of resources that engage parents and children aged 2-5 years alike. The resources use popular characters Catboy, Owlette and Gecko to develop the physical and emotional wellbeing in children to help them become ‘school ready’. These are further supported by a Healthy Movers at Home set that helps parents continue the good work at home.

Our hope is that these resources support parents and practitioners to confidently grow children’s physical literacy and develop their social and communication skills; making every child school ready.

e-Learning

The e-Learning contains four modules:

• Module 1: Introduction to My Personal Best• Section 1: The purpose of My Personal Best• Section 2: Personal best in PE and in life

• Module 2: The principles of My Personal Best

• Module 3: Learner outcomes

• Module 4: My Personal Best in practice

Using PE to develop empathy, teamwork, resilience and leadership

For more information go to www.youthsporttrust.org/mypersonalbest

through secondarycurriculum PE

Develop life skills

YST Level 2 and 3 members can access My Personal Best e-learning and digital resources for just £99! Contact [email protected] to claim your coupon code

QUALITY MARK

Have you accessed the YST Quality Mark? Our online self-review development tool provides schools with a nationally recognised badge

of excellence for PE and school sport. The tool supports your school to audit the PE provision and identify priorities for a development plan. It has been aligned to Ofsted guidance and supports the Primary PE and Sport Premium. It comprises a series of straightforward benchmarking statements to shape your PE and school sport provision, see www.youthsporttrust.org/quality-mark

YST 2018 CONFERENCE

Now in its 19th year, join us at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on Wednesday 28 February for the essential learning and networking event for school leaders, PE teachers and school sport professionals. See how sport is changing lives — for good.

At the Youth Sport Trust 2018 Conference, you will hear from an unrivalled range of speakers, teachers and trainers. Through keynote speeches, workshops and networking opportunities we will be exploring how sport, PE and physical activity can elevate young people’s aspirations, raise their attainment and improve physical and emotional wellbeing.

Booking is now open, with package options available including our awards dinner on the evening of Tuesday 27 February. All Cluster Coordinators and Level 3 members will receive a

To find out more, please visit: www.youthsporttrust.org/membership email [email protected] or call 01509 226688

complimentary place and Level 2 members receive a discounted rate www.youthsporttrust.org/ yst-2018-conference

CONFERENCE AWARDS

The Awards Dinner takes place on Tuesday 27 February 2018, the night before conference. Award nominations for the seven categories which are, YST Outstanding Primary School, YST Outstanding Secondary School, YST Outstanding SEND School, YST Outstanding Innovation Partner, Youth Sport Award Outstanding Achievement (young person), Campbell CARE Award (practitioner) and Beckwith CARE Award (young person).

YST member schools applying or being nominated for these awards will need to demonstrate how they have used PE, school sport and/or physical activity to bring to life how the power of sport changes the lives of young people, enabling them to achieve their personal best.

Enter now with a 500 word statement and two minute video, see FAQs for more information www.youthsporttrust.org/ awards-dinner

NEWSLETTERS

You should be receiving your membership e-newsletter during the first week of each month. You can see previous newsletters in the National Communications and Updates section of the members’ area of the website.

If you are not receiving your newsletter or if you have colleagues that you

ONLINE CPD ACCESS

START TO MOVE

For primary schools, the Start to Move e-learning modules improve physical literacy and provide every child with the quality opportunities to learn fundamental movement skills and an understanding of wellbeing. By developing physical literacy through our range of training and resources, we can lay the foundations for a lifelong active and healthy lifestyle.

MY PERSONAL BEST

For secondary schools, My Personal Best is a Youth Sport Trust programme that develops life skills, leadership and employability skills in young people. This award winning support package is designed to inspire secondary PE teachers to confidently teach life skills through core curriculum PE.

As part of Level 2 and 3 membership you have free access to the first of each of these online e-learning modules. To access go to your activation pack or contact [email protected]

Youth Sport Trust Membership empowers all schools to achieve the mission of creating a brighter future for young people. YST’s Lucie Fenton outlines some of your member benefits and the 2018 conference.

LUCIE FENTONMarketing Officer YST Membership

25MEMBERSHIPSPOTLIGHT

would like to be added to mailing list then please let us know. Have you changed any of your contact details? Please let us know by emailing [email protected] or calling 01509 226688.


YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

The Youth Sport Trust’s Ali Sturla looks at how one school made sure PE was front and centre in its recent Ofsted inspection.

ALI STURLADevelopment ManagerYouth Sport Trust

DID OFSTED CONSIDER PE AND SCHOOL SPORT WHEN THEY VISITED YOUR SCHOOL?

26

In June this year Blessed George Napier (BGN) School in Oxfordshire received ‘that’ anticipated phone call to say Ofsted was on its way! After a successful day one, the school was heading towards a solid ‘good’ across the board. However, instead of breathing a huge sigh of relief and getting ready to relax the school pushed the inspectors to come back for a second day and ‘dig deeper’. Its rationale for this was linked to the catholic and sporting ethos of the school that it strongly believed it made them outstanding in creating a culture for pupils to feel safe and thrive to reach their personal best. It would seem Ofsted agreed!

“The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Leaders focus relentlessly on ensuring that pupils grow and develop as unique individuals.”

Quote from Ofsted report: Blessed George Napier School, July 2017

The school has preserved it’s Sports College focus and has maintained these principles in its approach to PE, school sport and physical activity. It hosts North Oxfordshire Sport Trust NOSSP, one of the country’s leading school sports

partnership’s that serves over 60 local primary, special and secondary schools. The school has a firm belief in the power of PE and sport to impact positively on personal development and wider achievement. The extra-curricular programme at Blessed George Napier School is wide reaching to cater for the most ‘sporty’ and the less confident.

“The school’s extra-curricular offer is one of its many strengths. Inspectors counted in excess of 25 activities. This does not include the high take-up rates for and participation in sports and fitness activities. The school hosts, co-operates with and draws support from the NOSSP. Pupils are thereby enabled to participate in a wide range of competitions. They also have rich opportunities to develop leadership skills, and to work with and mentor young children.”


The school also has a fantastic leadership programme enabling pupils from Year 7-13 to support local events and festivals, ranging from cricket and dance to targeted ‘This Girl Can’ festivals for less confident children.

Why not share your Ofsted story with us @YouthSportTrust or contact Will Swaithes, our Head of PE and Achievement

You may be reading this thinking ‘our school does that’. We know many schools have a strong PE and sport offer and work hard to ensure every child gets a great experience. However, how many are prepared to put themselves out there, back their work and challenge Ofsted to ‘come and see’. This school was, and look how well that turned out!

“The school’s work as a former sports college helps pupils develop appropriate attitudes to health and fitness, find a sport of choice, and understand the benefits of teamwork and competition.”


Let’s not forget the importance of the Headteacher and the Senior Leadership Team supporting the PE department to ensure all of this happens. Headteacher Fraser Long states:

“At BGN we fully understand the importance of having a range of PE and sporting opportunities in developing a well-rounded person. Our pupils get numerous opportunities in this area and this contributes significantly to their personal development.”

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Tim Hollingsworth CEO of British Paralympic Association

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YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

The Youth Sport Trust is supporting Boccia England in its contribution to tackle the Disability Employment Gap identified by the government by using a Boccia Skills Award, funded by BBC Children in Need and the Masonic Charitable foundation.

NATIONAL GOVERNING BODY SPOTLIGHT: BOCCIA ENGLAND

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Did you know that only 48.3% of people with a disability aged 16-64 years are in employment compared with 81% of non-disabled people (government data, Q3 2016)? Furthermore the proportion of 16-24 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) was higher for those with disabilities (30%) than those without (9%).

Boccia England’s Marc Scott said, “We get to work with fantastic young people in our sport on a daily basis, and knowing the specific challenges that they faces around access to both education and employment we wanted to take positive steps to make a difference. That’s why our skills award is all about developing the young people themselves, and whilst there will of course be a benefit to the sport through an up-skilled participant base, the content and style of the award is completely oriented to the development and growth of the young people that complete it.”

In line with the wider outcomes of Boccia England, the new Skills Award will take each of the life skills at the heart of Youth Sport Trust’s My Personal Best, with a specific focus on employability. Thus, supporting young people with SEND to develop key skills that would aid them gain employment and/or transition into further education.

Youth Sport Trust Development Officer Rachael Batters said, “We have tailored the amazing work which has been done

For more information on our work with National Governing Bodies of Sport www.youthsporttrust.org/national-governing-bodies

with My Personal Best, to underpin the main life skills and principles that make Boccia an inclusive sport for all young people to participate in. The Boccia England Skills Award will aid young people with SEND to be able to showcase their own abilities in a range of environments and situations, making this a great resource for all.”

This programme is structured to ensure that young people are positioned within clubs having commenced the award in their school, ensuring that they get the opportunity to practice their skills in a community setting. This will further build their employability by ensuring that they develop relationships in the wider community context, challenging the young people to set goals, plan, deliver and communicate with a range of peers and other stakeholders.

The ambition of the programme across three years is to engage 720 young people from across 144 schools and an 80% target to transition young people to clubs. If you want to get involved please contact Boccia England via email at [email protected] or to buy Boccia equipment search online at the Youth Sport Direct web shop www.youthsportdirect.org

In case you’ve missed it, this isn’t fantasy it’s very real, so real in-fact that esports will be a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games with a view to full inclusion as a medal winning sport in 2022, and the Paris bid team proposed it for the 2024 Olympic Games. This is a big business and 60,000 players from 120 countries gathered in China to compete for $5.5m prize money in January 2017!

According to the Olympic Council of Asia, who organise the Asian Games, their decision to include esports is a reflection of, “the rapid development and popularity of this new form of sports participation among the youth.” There is also the financial investment of Alisports (a division of Chinese retail empire Alibaba) to consider for both the Asian Games and the IOC of course, but let’s not dwell on all of the motivations behind the decision. Let’s go back to the classroom question – is this a sport? Perhaps it might pass some tests and definitions of sport so let’s reframe the question. Is this what esports could or should be? My contention is that defining competitive computer gaming as esports is both irresponsible and commercially driven, but also that we have the capacity to reclaim this.

In our previous work on virtual competition through Your Sport around ten years ago for primary and secondary schools, which helped those particularly in areas with transport and

To find out more, please visit: www.yourschoolgames.com/taking-part/joining-competitions

facility challenges to compete against other schools but remain on their own site? These competition formats were designed to be measurable around the performance of individuals therefore allowing for objective competitive comparison across clusters and SSPs. This is a great example of YST and school based thought leadership being ahead of the technology, and now we are starting to see this really come to life.

The 2017 School Games National Finals included a Team Pursuit Road Cycling event, whereby all of the cyclists were on their bikes in one room, using adapted rollers hooked up to a computer. This system gave them a visual display of their position on the course and provided

When you take your GCSE or A-level Physical Education group through the perennial discussion on ‘what is a sport’ — perhaps this year you will replace the classic examples of darts and snooker with esports. That’s right, computer games — or put more precisely, two or more people competing against each other using the computer game as their competition environment.

WILL ROBERTSDirector of Operations Youth Sport Trust

29PAUSE FOR THOUGHT: STEALING THE SPORT BACK FROM ESPORTS

performance based data. The cognitive demand on the riders therefore increased as they rode at the front of the peloton and resistance in the rollers increased, the course went up hill and the riders ‘felt’ the hill and were up out of their saddles. You and I could do this, sitting on a bike in the garage 250 miles away from each other, just name the time and date, get online and we can train or compete together. This is surely what esports should be.

Through examples like this, and linking to some excellent historic support from the Youth Sport Trust we can redefine esports to be an extension of sport and physical activity, and not allow sedentary computer games to be legitimised as a replacement for sport and physical activity.


YOUTHSPORTTRUST.ORG

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Working in an inner city primary school in a less affluent area, we recognise that our pupils do not always have the opportunities outside of school that other children may have due to their socio-economic position. Many pupils do not have a garden or an open space to play in, and they often do not have the opportunities to take part in sport outside of school. Therefore it is important to ensure we provide as many experiences as possible, to enable them to realise that they can achieve anything they aspire to. Consequently, we try to take every opportunity there is, as by taking one opportunity this will often open up others that we hadn’t even expected.

One example was when we were offered BMX training in our playground at a PE coordinators’ meeting. We took this opportunity because many of our pupils have often not had the chance to ride a bike. From this, our pupils are now taking part in a BMX tournament at the Lee Valley road track where the London Olympians competed. We didn’t know this opportunity would come from the training but if we hadn’t taken advantage of it when it was offered, our pupils would not have secured this life-changing experience. Another opportunity was when our children were offered the chance to take part in a street dance club at school. From this they then had the

HEADTEACHER'S FINAL WORD

Lisa Lazell, Headteacher, and Anna Sullivan, Acting Deputy Headteacher and PE coordinator, at Cardwell Primary School in Woolwich outline the importance of giving their pupils as many opportunities as possible to widen their horizons and give them life-changing experiences to inspire them. This will help them to develop a mindset that will enable them to realise that they can achieve anything they set out to do.

chance to take part in a dance competition in a theatre in London, alongside dance crews from other schools, and they subsequently danced at the London Youth Games. These are experiences that they will remember forever and which will certainly raise their aspirations.

We have also found that it is important to introduce them to people they can aspire to be like. When Darryl Neita (World Championship silver medallist sprinter) visited the school she explained that she was also once a pupil in a Greenwich school, so our pupils could really relate to her and recognised if they trained hard and showed determination and persistence they could achieve similar to her. This was shown when our pupils, through hard work, belief and determination, won the Sportathon tournament a schools’ sports tournament involving all schools in the borough.

Our pupils were given the chance to watch Charlton Athletic Football Club and then they got to play on the same pitch themselves. They won the schools’ tournament; they believed they could be professional footballers. When the Premier League trophy came to our own school hall we were delighted, and when our pupils stood next to it, they knew that one day it was possible that they too could be in a team that won this fabulous trophy.

Providing inspiring opportunities and experiences for our pupils does mean that more effort and time needs to be given to organise them, but it is worth it. Seeing a child achieve or experience something that they never knew they could is special, and just one of these moments could raise their aspirations and potentially change their lives forever.

LISA LAZELL and ANNA SULLIVAN Cardwell Primary School

Introducing the Active Schools Partnership

Championing the benefits of an active school

Specialists in education procurement, ESPO have

teamed up with Youth Sport Trust to bring you an

online portal of resources and equipment tailored to

meet the challenges schools face.

Visit activeschoolspartnership.org to find out more.

Simply explain in 500 words or less how your school is encouraging activity.

Submit your entry by 23 March 2018 at activeschoolspartnership.org

How to enter:

Win an Athlete mentor visit to your school!

0333 321 2106 www.pgl.co.uk [email protected]

To realise the insidego outside

Courses for KS2 (P4-P7)◾ Multi-Activity – over 50 adventure activities at 16 residential centres in the UK◾ UK Explorer – activities and excursion-based trips◾ Primary to Secondary Transition – building confidence to deal with change◾ Discover More – activity and subject-based courses◾ French Language and Culture in northern France

Courses for KS3-5 (S1-S6)◾ Multi-Activity – fun and challenging activities at 16 residential centres in the UK◾ Year Group Bonding – build confidence through adventure◾ Revision Weekends - study complemented by adventure activities◾ Sports Weekends – netball tournaments and football coaching◾ Field Studies & Study Courses – curriculum-based outdoor learning◾ French Language and Culture in northern France◾ Watersports and Adventure in southern France and Spain◾ Skiing and Snowboarding in Europe and the USA

Bring out the best in your students with a PGL adventure course.

Youth Sport Trust We are committed to building a brighter future for young people through PE and sport

HEAD OFFICE

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YouthSportTrust @youthsporttrust /youthsporttrust /youth-sport-trust

The Youth Sport Trust Quality Mark is a nationally recognised badge of excellence for PE, school sport and physical activity. This online self-review tool supports you to benchmark your provision, identify priorities and plan for whole school development. For secondary schools it is aligned to the Ofsted framework and for primary schools it will aid your ability to meet the accountability associated with the PE and Sport Premium funding.

All Level 2 and 3 members can access their Quality Mark at www.youthsporttrust.org/QM

Contact [email protected] or 01509 226688 for more information or to upgrade your membership for only £150

Being assessed by YST was a really positive experience, Rachel gave me very useful advice which she had seen work at other schools. This has positively impacted on how I will spend the extra amount of the Primary PE and Sport Premium. I am so proud to have achieved the Gold Youth Sport Trust Quality Mark and I would definitely recommend it as it is a fantastic recognition for all the hard work and achievements done by staff and pupils in our school.”

Alex Reddish, PE and MFL Subject Leader Pudsey Bolton Royd Primary School, Leeds

YST Quality Mark

Documents

INSPIRE - Youth Sport Trust · INSPIRE. Wednesday 28 February 2018 Ricoh Arena, Coventry Join experts from the world of sport, education and health, including Harvard professor Dr