The government is providing funding of £150 million per annum to provide new and substantial primary school sport funding. The funding is being jointly provided by the Departments for Education, Health and Culture, Media and Sport, and will see money going directly to primary school Head Teachers to spend on improving the quality of sport and PE for all their children. At Wheatlands this will mean £19,320 for the 2024/2025 year. Please see the action plans below for how this funding will be spent.
Using the Sports Premium, we are able to be a member of the Redcar and Eston School Sports Partnership which means that all of our children, from Reception upwards, have regular opportunities to attend both festivals, where they learn key skills in a fun environment, and competitions, where children are able to compete against other schools both at a skilled and developmental level. The teachers are also provided with the resources and plans to deliver these events in school. Additionally, some of older children are provided with sports leader training which gives them the skills and confidence to deliver activities to younger children at break times. This also sets them on a ‘leadership pathway’ which can be followed into KS3 and KS4.
Through the partnership, our KS2 children are provided with pedestrian (road safety) training as well as Bikeability. Our staff also have access to important CPD in the form of courses, face to face staff meetings and teaching support in lessons. Reception children have also received balance bike training.
To support the teaching of PE, we have bought into a teaching scheme which provides all the resources necessary to ensure that PE is inclusive for all children while also giving all teachers the confidence to deliver high quality PE lessons.
The Sports Premium has also allowed us to introduce our children to yoga; provided by Mighty Warriors. Yoga is not only helping to develop the children’s strength and flexibility but also their core strength, listening skills and concentration all of which have been impacted by the global pandemic. We also aim to use funding to introduce children to new sporting activities that they may not otherwise have tried.
In terms of keeping our children active during the day, we have used the Sports Premium to pay for a Teach Active subscription which provides plans and resources to deliver maths lessons in an active way. We have also paid for the Walk to School Week promotion and will be holding additional ‘active travel’ weeks throughout the year. Additionally, we have implemented a skipping initiative across the school, providing each year group with skipping ropes so that they can hopefully develop an enjoyment of skipping which will in turn lead to improved fitness and perseverance as they try to improve.
It is also the aim to ensure that more of our girls are willing to take part in sport, particularly through the promotion of football.
Our School Sports Premium fund has also been used to buy into the ‘My Personal Best’ scheme which provides the training and resources which will help children to develop vital life skills such as teamwork, fairness, empathy and resilience through the teaching of PE.