On International Women’s Day the Government is setting out new standards for equal access to sports, making it clear that girls and boys should be offered the same sports during PE and extracurricular time in schools.
The package, outlined below, will help to boost equal opportunities in PE and school sport both inside and outside the classroom:
- Over £600 million across the next two academic years (2023-24 and 2024-25) for the continuation of the Primary PE and Sport Premium – a funding commitment to improve the quality of PE and sports in primary schools to help children benefit from regular activity
- Schools to deliver a minimum 2 hours of curriculum PE – with more support being offered through a refreshed School Sport Action Plan
£22 million for two years of further funding for the School Games Organiser network (SGO) – Annually the 450 strong SGO workforce supports 2.2m participation opportunities for children including 28,000 competitive school sport events- Equal access to sports in school – setting out that offering girls and boys the same sports, where it is wanted is the new standard
- Up to £57 million funding for the ‘Opening School Facilities‘ programme – to open up more school sport facilities outside of school hours especially targeted at girls, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs
- A new digital reporting tool for Primary PE and Sport Premium – to support schools in using the funding to the best advantage of their pupils
- Expansion of the Schools Games Mark – to reward parity of provision for girls
This is all part of the Government’s commitment to improve access to sport for everyone. £300 million is being used to build or improve thousands of grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025.
“Being active in childhood is vital to long-term wellbeing and physical and mental health. This major investment will help more children to keep fit, have a healthy start to life and will help save the NHS money in the years ahead”.
Liz Davidson, Active Kent & Medway Partnership Director commented “Active Kent and Medway is delighted to see continued support for both the Primary PE and Sport Premium and the SGO network and look forward to continuing our own work with schools and teachers across the county to provide positive and inclusive experiences that encourage all children to be more active. With this in mind, we encourage all primary schools across Kent & Medway to join us at our annual Primary PE Conference on 16 May 2023”.
