Effective Ways To Spend Your Sports Premium

Sports Premium 2018/19

Sports Premium Funding for schools is a fantastic way to increase activity levels and improve wellbeing of children in schools.  Primary Schools in England are now entitled to receive £16,000 plus £10 per pupil in schools where there are 17 pupils or more or schools with 16 or fewer pupils receive £1,000 per pupil, in order to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality and effectiveness of PE and sports in schools.

This funding has been available to schools since 2013, but Ofsted are now much more interested in the impact of this funding and, therefore, schools must ensure, and provide evidence, that they are using the Sports Premium in the most effective ways.

Previously, too many schools were using the funding to provide the minimum PE sessions required (including swimming) or to provide PE teaching during PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) sessions.  The DfE has cracked down on this practice and has made it clear that this is not an appropriate use of the Sports Premium.

St. Breock Treetops

Effective Ways To Use Sports Premium

There are clear guidelines on how schools may use their Sports Premium, and two areas that schools can effectively use their funding to ensure the greatest impact are through:

(DfE PE and Sports Premium for Schools, 2018/19)

Children spend over an hour each day on the playground and this has previously been one of the more neglected times of the school day. However, schools are now becoming much more aware of the need to use their playgrounds to increase children’s activity levels, to introduce incidental learning, enhance playtimes and to also decrease incidents of poor behaviour during this unstructured time.

Playgrounds have traditionally been areas which have the least development in schools and are often merely large open spaces with little to enhance children’s play or activity levels.  This is now an area that Ofsted are looking carefully at and on visits they will spend more of their time outside at playtimes to make a judgement on how schools are improving children’s play, activity levels and social skills.  They are not only considering the health, safety and behaviour of pupils, but also at how the school uses play times effectively to extend learning and how play times are helping to increase children’s activity levels through incidental play.

Wooden Gym Equipment

Developing An Active Playground

The Sports Premium Funding is a great opportunity to overhaul the playground and outdoor environment. With an effective and thoughtful design, you can not only increase children’s physical activity, but give them opportunities for talk, incidental learning and encourage teachers to spend more time outdoors.

The introduction of Playground Markings will encourage co-operative play and learning opportunities, a range of high and low rise Trim Trails can test and increase children’s gross and fine motor skills. The introduction of Outdoor Gym Equipment will not only enhance play times, but will enable teachers to teach PE lessons effectively on the playground without the lesson having to be a team sport.

Increase The Impact And Amount Of Outdoor Activity

In general, outdoor PE sessions are one area of the curriculum that have been judged to have been taught ineffectively.  Teachers have received less training in teaching PE and this is an area that Ofsted are keen to see increase.  By adding a MUGA (Multi Use Games Area) or Sprint Tracks to the outdoor environment, teachers can quickly and easily teach running and active games, thereby increasing the amount of time they allocate to physical activity.

All teachers are aware that children work and learn better once they have had some exercise. In taking the class out for daily exercise throughout the school day, teachers will see that their classes are much more focused, low level disruption will decrease and the children’s learning will increase; this will naturally support raising standards in a school.

A common complaint amongst teachers is that, with the UK weather, it can be very hit and miss as to whether they feel it is safe to take children outside in poor conditions.  Playgrounds become slippery very quickly, and grass is often too boggy and muddy to be used during the winter months, therefore outdoor activity sessions can suffer.  However, with the Sports Premium Funding, schools can consider installing a slip resistance playground and sports surfacing.

Running Track

Sustainability For The Future

Sustainability for the future is now one of the most important considerations.  Ofsted are looking to ensure that the money is spent in such a way that the fitness and activity levels of all children, both present and in the future, will continue to increase.  There is absolutely no guarantee that the Sports Premium Funding will be forthcoming over the next academic year, and the DfE have made it clear that the funding must be used for future generations as well as current pupils.

In the past, PE co-ordinators have felt that they have had to spend the whole funding during the current academic year in order to demonstrate impact for the children in the school at the time. This led to schools choosing to increase after school club opportunities, introduce short term PE coaches or buying equipment which would only be appropriate for a year or two.

With the high expectation of demonstrating sustainability for the future, it continues to be important that schools and PE subject leaders consider long term benefits when planning the use of their funding.  The DfE have made it clear that spending the funding on longer term projects, such as improving the outdoor area, is a much more appropriate use of it than on more short-term projects.

The Sports Premium Funding gives schools an opportunity to really develop and enhance children’s PE and sports experiences, to increase children’s activity levels and to help combat childhood obesity.  It is so important that Primary Schools take this responsibility seriously and do all they can to ensure that the children leave in Year 6 fit, healthy and with a positive outlook on sports!

MUGA

Demonstrating Impact Through Use Of Sports Premium

No matter how you decide to spend your Sports Premium Funding, be it with new and updated adventure trails, an increase in playground markings or the introduction of a more appropriate outdoor surface, the key is to ensure that you demonstrate the impact across your school.  Ofsted require schools to publish their use of the funding on their websites and make random checks on schools.

Schools will receive their funding in November 2018 and May 2019, so in order to demonstrate impact for this year, you need to plan now what you will be spending the funding on! Schools have until the end of the Summer Term or July 2019 to have their use of this year’s funding on their websites, a later date to previous years.

Schools MUST detail how much premium they received, a full breakdown of how it has been (or how it will be) spent, the impact on pupils PE and sports participation, and ultimately how these improvements will be sustainable for the future.

 

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