Kent School Games 2023-24 Review
Introduction
The School Games is a government led programme funded by Sport England National Lottery and delivered by Youth Sport Trust. It aims to inspire young people to be physically active for life through positive experiences of daily activity and competition. Active Kent & Medway work alongside a network of 13 School Games Organisers (SGOs) to deliver the programme in Kent and Medway. We’re engaging those most affected by inequalities, focusing on targeted provision and reducing sedentary behaviour by working towards the Active 60 Minute Agenda.
Over the year, we’ve listened to the children and young people and found out what they enjoy. We’ve worked with local deliverers and organisations who understand their requirements and they have helped us deliver what we want to achieve. Activities have included Panathlon, Golf, Kinball, Inclusive Cricket, Dodgeball, Boccia and Inclusive Tennis. The events are assigned a ‘ME’ which signifies the skills and attributes the event will focus on developing. This enables schools to identify the students that they feel would benefit most from attending the event.
Follow this link for a full description of each of the ‘ME’ themes.
Headlines
17 Events
1057 Students
143 Young Leaders
We asked students before and after events how they felt about being active.
Students agreed 'a lot' with the following statements:
I think I'm good at sport & physical activity
73%A 14% increase from before event
I feel confident in sharing my ideas
69%A 21% increase from before event
I feel positive about taking part in the activity
86%A 13% increase from before event
When asked what the students enjoyed about being active they said:
Playing together
Meeting new people
Working as a team
Making friends
Trying out new things
It makes me feel good
“One child who attended is often quite withdrawn and anxious but in this environment she was extremely vocal and didn’t need any reassurances or take herself off to sit out. She would usually come in in the morning and kind of hide at the door and not tell us what is wrong but on the day of the event she was chatty, relaxed and happy.” Teacher
Teacher Feedback
At each event, we asked teachers and staff to tell us what differences they observed in their students during the event.
‘’Confidence and teamwork, helping regulate one another when disappointed or frustrated.’’
‘’An engagement and joy for sport which they have not consistently shown in school.’’
“They were able to show compassion and empathy towards others, they used teamwork skills I hadn't seen before.”
"They worked well with individuals who they have never met before and they were confident with what they were doing."
‘’A willingness to get involved with other schools.’’
“They were visibly more confident and happy to put ideas forward and speak to new people than they would normally be in new environments.”
School Stories
Our Learnings
From the events we delivered in the 2023-24 academic year, here are the key learnings:
1. The importance of feedback. After each event we ask for feedback from teachers which has helped us think about and shape the way we run our events moving forward. It is important that we are always seeking ways we can improve participant experience at our events.
2. The value of Insight for Children and Young People. Monitoring each event not only gives us information to help measure the impact and success of our events but it also gives the participants time to reflect on their experience.
3. Targeting the right audience. With greater focus on our events targeting those students with the greatest inequalities, we need to communicate better with schools to make it clearer which students they should be targeting and inviting to the events.
4. Share the Learning. We must continually share what we’re learning from our events with schools, deliverers and School Games Organisers in order to increase their understanding of the events and the impact they have, whilst ensuring a positive experience is had by all students.
Looking ahead to 2024-25
Thank you for reading our review of Kent School Games 2023-24, highlighting the great work that is going on around the county to inspire young people to be physically active for life through positive experiences of daily activity and competition. We are currently preparing for the next academic year of 2024-25 and planning events.
