The Sports Premium
All children and young people should live healthy active lives. The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that all children and young people should take part in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes every day. Children with special educational needs and disabilities should take part in 20 minutes of daily activity.
Schools have a key role to play in achieving this aim. This is particularly true of primary schools where the foundations of positive and enjoyable participation in regular physical activity are embedded. All children should have equal access to high-quality PE provision and opportunities to experience and participate in a wide range of sports and physical activities. Academic achievement can improve in school because of the benefits children can gain. Schools should use the PE and sport premium funding to help achieve these aims. It must not be used for core-type school activities.
They should use it to make additional and sustainable improvements to the PE sport and physical activity they provide, such as:
- funding high-quality PE and sport for at least 2 hours a week, complemented by a wide range of extracurricular sport and competitive opportunities
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providing or improving equal access to sport for boys
Funding 2023/24 £8000
So far this year we have allocated the funding towards updating a lot of our old equipment especially the perishables that these activities naturally have. Alongside this we have also looked to improve our fitness testing equipment which will look to encourage our younger students to pay more attention to their fitness as well as allowing our GCSE PE students to use these for their coursework lessons. We have spent a total of £2850 on new kayaks and wet suits for the Outdoor Education team, this has allowed students to experience kayaking on open water, an activity they have thoroughly enjoyed because of this. These activities allow for a better progression with a students’ soft skills and building self-esteem and confidence as well as adding to our water safety offer in school. A large amount of the premium has also been used to put a new bouldering wall in the therapeutic hub which was opened in April 2023. Alongside the funding received the school also put over £25,000 towards this and we now have students using this wall both during the academic day but also during the evenings when the residential students can use it.
Throughout the previous 5 years, we have allocated the Sports Premium on various equipment purchases and staff training to ensure we can provide our students with the best sports experiences. Over recent years we have allocated the funding across both PE and Outdoor Education to ensure provide our students with the best equipment and experiences whilst on the school roll. Allocation of the funding has included: Many pupils when they join us have not had the ability due to their sensory needs or due to their personal resilience to even enter a swimming pool building never mind entering the public baths. Our students sensitivities can include an aversion to water and the use of public facilities that may have a different level of cleanliness to their own home and bathrooms. We have worked towards breaking down these barriers, either by offering swimming for pure enjoyment or in lessons. If the barriers prohibit this engagement in a public baths an alternative is offered in water based physical activities at the seaside i.e body boarding, surfing, canoeing etc. We have been able to train our staff to be qualified to deliver these activities as we know that we can increase the likelihood of student engagement if they have the ability to work with our staff team rather than external providers. This training cost £865
Gymnastic equipment with the purchase of 3 pieces of new equipment totalling £1224. Our program of gymnastics improves both physical and mental stamina along with balance, flexibility and resilience, all of which or students struggle with. The new equipment allows us to widen the activities we can offer our students.
The wide variety of gymnastic equipment, which has proved very popular with the students has also enhanced the occupational therapy offered, which promotes self regulation and motor control.
Gymnastics promotes good posture and body awareness which is essential for most teenagers but even more important for someone with ASD. The ability to enhance core strength will increase a young persons’ posture and general wellbeing. Gymnastics can be performed as an individual but also as a group and can assist in developing social skills and helping others. The sports premium has enabled us to enhance the equipment in school which has led to a wider choice of curriculum options for PE as well as being encompassed into the out of school day options.
The funding has also been used to further develop the skills of our teachers and instructors, to be able to deliver different options such as surfing, canoeing and kayaking.
We have replaced a large quantity of our aging sports equipment as well as buying a new range of equipment to enable us to offer a greater range of field activities including discus and javelin, etc. something we have not been able to do in previous years. The students have a really positive engagement in sport over the whole school day, either as lunchtime or evening activities both on and off site and as part of the national curriculum in PE lessons.
The installation of a new multi sports pitch over the very old tennis court area back in 2013/2014 has allowed for this to be a multi functional sports area both in lesson time and at unstructured times of the day. The engagement in lunchtime football has increased since the pitch was installed over the summer break and this offers not only physical activity but and an atmosphere to encourage and nurture social integration between pupil peers and adults.
