Damian Hinds has welcomed the news that between 2014 and 2020 primary schools in East Hampshire will receive just over £2m to fund primary school sports.
The Prime Minister has committed to keeping the £150m a year Primary PE and Sports Premium until 2020, which aims to secure the Olympic and Paralympic legacy and help to deliver a well-rounded education for young people.
Damian Hinds said:
“I am really pleased to see that East Hampshire will receive such significant funding for school sport over the next five years. The Prime Minister mentions the character-building benefits of sport; research has suggested that this might then translate into academic success. The all party parliamentary group on social mobility, of which I am chairman, has just launched a report on the importance of building character and resilience in young people and the role that this plays in determining individuals’ life success. One of the things we highlighted was the need for enhanced emphasis on sport and other extra-curricular activities. Our primary schools do a great job on sport and I this funding should help support them in that.”
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
“Sport is so important because it encourages children to be active, lead a healthy lifestyle, make friends and, of course, have fun. But quality school sport has benefits that spread right across the curriculum and beyond – it develops confidence and a sense of achievement, it teaches young people how to rise to a challenge, and nurtures the character and skills that will help them get on and succeed in life.
“It’s an important part of our long-term plan to deliver the best schools and skills for young people. That is why I am committing to guarantee the primary school sports funding until 2020.”
Notes for Editors
Last year, the Government announced a £150 million-a-year premium for two years to improve the quality of provision in every state primary school in England. The premium means £150 million a year going straight into the hands of headteachers to spend on sporting activities to best suit their children’s needs. A typical primary school with 250 primary aged pupils this year received £9,250, the equivalent of around two days a week of a primary teacher or a coach’s time – enough to make sure every pupil in the school can do sport with a specialist.
The funding began in September 2013 and is already making a difference.
Primary schools around England are already using the premium to:
· up-skill teachers to improve the quality of sport lessons
· invest in quality coaching
· recruit and train PE specialist teachers
· provide more opportunities for pupils to take part in inter-school competitions
· offer more after-school clubs
· purchase better equipment
· introduce new and unusual sports as diverse as fencing, climbing, ultimate Frisbee and Danish long-ball to encourage more children to enjoy sport.
· improve sport teaching for children with special educational needs
· deliver holiday and weekend activities
· boost Change 4 life clubs, helping children help build a healthier lifestyle
The Government has now confirmed that funding will continue until 2020 and will be based on pupil numbers, so could be over £150 million in future years.
£18 million boost for primary school sport facilities
In addition to extending the premium, the Prime Minister also confirmed that from this month primary schools across England will be able to apply for a share of an £18 million fund to improve outdoor spaces for PE and sporting activities.
The Lottery-funded scheme will be run by Sport England and will prioritise schools with limited outside space and a strong commitment to PE and sport. The schools are expected to receive an average of £30,000 each to help them vastly improve their sports provision. The funding will ensure they have better equipment and facilities - for example, turning a concrete playground into a quality space for PE and sporting activities, using innovative design to make good use of small space.
Training specialist primary schools sports teachers
The Prime Minister also confirmed today that a new pilot programme to produce a cadre of primary teachers with a particular specialism in PE has seen sixty-one trainees complete the course and fifty-nine more begin it this January. The total 120 specialist teachers, who will support other teachers to develop their skills and drive up the quality of PE teaching, are expected to take up their first posts in primary schools from September.
The special course forms a part of the initial teacher training and has been developed by three Teaching Schools: Belleville (London), Thomas Telford (Telford), and Ashton-on-Mersey (Sale, Cheshire) in conjunction with sporting bodies and partner universities. The training schools are currently recruiting for a further cohort of 120 trainees to start training in September 2014, which will mean over 200 specialist primary PE/sport teachers in post by September 2015.
School Games
The Prime Minister also announced an additional £11 million investment for the School Games to help continue to inspire more young people to take up competitive sport.
Organised by the Youth Sport Trust and supported by National Lottery and exchequer funding from Sport England, the School Games aims to enable every school and child to participate in competitive sport, including meaningful opportunities for young people with disabilities. Designed across four levels, for both primary and secondary pupils, it offers opportunities for young people to compete in intra-school, inter-school and regional competitions.
Under Labour, there were thousands of schools where no pupils at all take part in competitive sport. In 2010 there were 1,280 secondary schools where no pupils took part in intra-school sport competition – nearly 1 in 3 secondary schools in England (Hansard, 30 November 2010, C713).