Wescott Infant School

All young people should have the opportunity to live healthy and active lives. A positive experience of sport and physical activity at a young age can build a lifetime habit of participation and is central to meeting the government’s ambitions for a world-class education system.

Physical activity has numerous benefits for children and young people’s physical health, as well as their mental wellbeing (increasing self-esteem and emotional wellbeing and lowering anxiety and depression), and children who are physically active are happier, more resilient and more trusting of their peers. Ensuring that pupils have access to sufficient daily activity can also have wider benefits for pupils and schools, improving behaviour as well as enhancing academic achievement.

The PE and sport premium can help primary schools to achieve this aim, providing primary schools with £320m of government funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, physical activity and sport offered through their core budgets. It is allocated directly to schools so they have the flexibility to use it in the way that works best for their pupils. 

Schools must use the funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the physical education (PE), physical activity and sport they provide. This includes any carried forward funding from the 2019 to 2020 academic year.

You should use the PE and sport premium to secure improvements in the following 5 key indicators.

Engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity, for example by:

• providing targeted activities or support to involve and encourage the least active children
• encouraging active play during break times and lunchtimes
• establishing, extending or funding attendance of school sport clubs and activities and holiday clubs, or broadening the variety offered

Profile of PE and sport is raised across the school as a tool for whole-school improvement, for example by:

• actively encourage pupils to take on leadership or volunteer roles that support the delivery of sport and physical activity within the school (such as ‘sport leader’ or peer-mentoring schemes)
• embedding physical activity into the school day through encouraging active travel to and from school, active break times and holding active lessons and teaching

Increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport, for example by:

• providing staff with professional development, mentoring, appropriate training and resources to help them teach PE and sport more effectively to all pupils, and embed physical activity across your school
• hiring qualified sports coaches and PE specialists to work alongside teachers to enhance or extend current opportunities offered to pupils

Broader experience of a range of sports and activities offered to all pupils, for example by:

• introducing a new range of sports and physical activities (such as dance, yoga or fitness sessions) to encourage more pupils to take up sport and physical activities
• partnering with other schools to run sports and physical activities and clubs
• providing more and broadening the variety of extra-curricular activities after school in the 3 to 6pm window, delivered by the school or other local sports organisations

Increased participation in competitive sport, for example by:

• increasing and actively encouraging pupils’ participation in the School Games
• organising, coordinating or entering more sport competitions or tournaments within the school or across the local area, including those run by sporting organisations