The Department for Education has today (Thursday 19 July) released the updated School Sport and Activity Action Plan.
The update:
- aims to improve the quality of PE and school sport provision
- encourages two hours of PE a week
- helps to ensure equality of access to sport for girls and boys
- helps to increase the number of children playing sport in school and meeting curriculum expectations, including for swimming and water safety
The Action Plan continues to show a role for School Games, Opening Schools Facilities, Active Lives and the Primary PE and Sport Premium. It can be viewed in full on the Government website.
Alex Ogden, Development Manager for PE, School Sport and Activity commented: “We are delighted to see the latest release of the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This reaffirms the importance of addressing the barriers which face children and young people and builds on the impact we’ve seen across West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire from previous versions.
“While children’s activity levels are increasing across the country, this is at a very slow rate and across West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire we have seen no significant change over the last 12 months. However, with the impetus of this document and existing investment, we hope to move the dial in the right direction.
“We’ve used The Opening School Facilities grant to enable 89 schools across West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire to increase the amount of sport they provide to their students and the wider community and over 1,400 children took part in West Yorkshire’s School Cross Country event earlier in the spring. We continue to establish partnerships in our districts to engage schools with the Creating Active Schools Framework, which trains schools to place physical activity at the heart of their culture and practice to increase the amount of activity children get before, during and beyond the school day.”
“There is rightly an emphasis on providing equal opportunities for girls. However, it is essential that we continue to provide more opportunities for all young people who are affected by inequalities to enjoy movement and physical activity in a fun and inclusive environment.”