The government made a positive statement of intent of the importance of PE, School sport and physical activity in and around the school day with the announcement of the School Sport and Activity Action Plan, with increased expectations on schools to help more young people achieve 60 mins a day activity.

There is also reference to additional investment in the short term to support the implementation of the plan:

• The Department for Education has committed £2.5m in 2019-20 to deliver extra training for PE teachers, help schools open up their facilities at weekends and during the holidays, and expand sports volunteering programmes.
• In addition, Sport England will invest an additional £2m to create 400 new after-school 'satellite clubs' to get more young people in disadvantaged areas active.
• Sport England will also provide £1m to develop a digital resource for girls which will include workout videos encouraging them to exercise.

Other key points include:

• The government and Sport England will work with a range of sporting bodies including the Football Association, Premier League, England and Wales Cricket Board, Rugby Football Union, Rugby Football League and England Netball to ensure that their clubs and programmes can reach even more children.
• The launch of regional pilots to offer “innovative approaches to getting more young people active, particularly among less active groups, such as girls, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds”. Schools and sports clubs will also work together to share facilities and expertise to give boys and girls an equal offer of sport after school, at weekends and holidays.

Implications:

Whilst there are limitations on what can be committed to at this time with a new PM and a spending review expected in the autumn, this plan has committed the government to continued prioritisation of this area.

There is some clear positive messaging regarding the role of Active Partnerships and encouraging schools to engage with APs and to utilise the support available. 

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Primary PE and Sport Premium

Schools must publish information about their use of the Primary PE and School Premium by 31 July. Schools should publish the amount of money received; a full breakdown of how it’s been spent; the impact on pupils’ PE and sport participation and attainment; and how the improvements will be sustainable. The national partners template can be accessed here.

The PE and Sport Premium will continue in the 2019 to 2020 academic year. Funding allocations and guidance will be published later this year, school allocations will be the same as in 2018 to 2019 (on average £18,500 per primary school). Funding in future years will be determined by the Cross-Party School Sport Action Plan which is scheduled for release in the Autumn 2020.

Implications:

For schools – need to ensure that they report in line with the terms of their funding agreement; if they fail to report they are at risk of having future funding withheld. Assuming reporting is completed, schools can then budget for ring-fenced funding for a further academic year.

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New Healthy Schools Rating Scheme

The Department for Education (DfE) have just published full details for the new Healthy Schools Rating Scheme. The scheme will be available for both primary and secondary schools who will receive their rating (Gold, Silver and Bronze) based on their responses the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey.

How does this relate to London Sport?

The Healthy Schools awards are granted based on the responses to the teacher survey as part of the Active Lives CYP survey. If any of your contacts or a borough or a school gets in touch with you wishing to take part, please ask them to contact activelives@londonsport.org and we’ll discuss the next steps with them.

How does the award system work?

As part of the Active Lives CYP survey, teachers are asked about:

• How their school complies to the School Food Standards (SFS)
• How their school provides food education for their pupils and develop their skills in preparing nutritious meals
• How much time and how many sessions their school allocates to physical education each week
• Whether their school monitors active travel and/or promotes active travel

The responses that a teacher gives generates a certain amount of points. As long as a school meets the minimum requirements for each of the 4 sections listed above, the points a school scores will be granted the following awards:

Award	Points
Gold	70+
Silver	55+
Bronze	40+
No award granted	<40

Not all schools will receive a rating – this applies to schools who do not meet the required minimum score or missing a key component and where either they did not complete the teacher questionnaire or did not answer all the required questions for the rating to be calculated. For more information about the scheme and how it operates is available here.

Implications:

For schools - they can attain a Healthy Schools rating purely by completing the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey without having to compile any further evidence that is required for other schemes e.g. Healthy Schools London

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New out-of-curriculum coach deployment guidance

New guidance on how the sport and physical activity sector’s professional standards framework will affect the deployment of coaches in primary schools out of curriculum has been published. The Minimum Deployment Requirements Guidance fact sheet provides headteachers with what qualifications are required from coaches. From 19/20, coaches deployed in schools should:

• Be a minimum age of 18
• Have competed CIMSPA-endorsed training based on professional standards for coaching, coaching children, coaching in the school environment and safeguarding technical standard, or hold a Governing Body Level 2 (or above) qualification in the activity being delivered
• Have attained any additional technical standard required for the activity being delivered (eg gymnastics)
• Have completed a recent enhanced DBS check
• Hold appropriate insurance

Implications:

For schools - they should review the qualifications that coaches working in their school hold, and, where they are using coaching companies to provide coaches, they should ensure that any providers also follow the recommendations.