Primary School Sport Funding : 2014-2015

In April 2013 the Department for Education announced that it was providing an additional grant to Primary Schools to improve and develop the provision for PE and Sport and to help children to develop healthy lifestyles.

Individual schools are able to decide on the best way to use their funding and we would like to inform parents of how some of our grant has been spent already and also our plans for the future.

PE and Sport have always been an important part of the curriculum at Beetham CE Primary School, with a particular focus on swimming. Our DFE grant of £8145 this year has funded the following activities:

Autumn Term 2014

· Primary Liaison programme at Dallam school which provides weekly use of 2 sports halls and transport for both KS1 and KS2 classes. This enables children to experience a much wider range of sports than could be offered in our own school grounds, whatever the weather

· KS2 Canoe Day on Windermere: All the children in KS2 took part in a day of water sports provided by ‘High Points’, outdoor education. This involved the children learning paddling and water safety skills, paddling a canoe raft to visit Ladyholme Island, taking part in water games and swimming in the lake. The feedback from children and parents was very positive and it is planned to repeat this activity next year.

· Street Dance After School Club : Jenny Mayor. This is a very popular club for children across all ages which also provided an opportunity for children to have the experience of performing for an audience

· After School Sports Club : This has run all term provided by Rory Addison. Children from Yr 1 to Yr 6 have accessed this club free of charge and attendance has been excellent with many children enjoying the wide range of activities and opportunity to enjoy sport with children from both key stages.

· Weekly swimming lessons for whole school : 42 children. 13 weeks. Funding has been used to help pay for the weekly cost of swimming pool hire, lifeguard, swimming teacher and swimming certificates and badges. All children are now confident in the water and the majority have achieved a distance badge relative to their age and ability

· Purchase of Unihoc materials and resources KS2. These new resources enabled staff to coach hockey in the school playground

Spring Term 2015

· Weekly swimming lessons for whole school : 42 children. 12 weeks. Funding has been used to help pay for the weekly cost of swimming pool hire, lifeguard, swimming teacher and swimming certificates and badges. This term swimming lessons have included water polo and synchronised swimming which give the children the opportunity to use their excellent swimming skills in a competitive and creative way. The governor responsible for PE attended a swimming session to monitor this important part of the PE curriculum.

· 8 children and a member of staff took part in a weekend swimming Gala at Lakes Leisure

· Primary School Cross Country Running Event : 21 children took part in this event organised by Dallam School. Funding was used to provide teaching cover for Wendy Nicholas who accompanied the children. For some children this was their first competitive running event and for others it was a chance to show their stamina and ability to perform well in a sporting event of this type.

· Brewery Dance Platform : 12 children performed an English Stick Dance in this local dance event, coached by Mr Slater during an after school traditional dance club

Summer Term 2015

Weekly swimming lessons for whole school : 42 children. 12 weeks. Funding has been used to help pay for the weekly cost of swimming pool hire, lifeguard, swimming teacher and swimming certificates and badges.

· KS2 spent an afternoon at the ‘Crazy Climb’, at Kendal Climbing Wall. This is a great activity as all children are busy climbing throughout the session as they are able to climb independently.

· KS1 tennis coaching with Max Shaw. Max led three session with KS1 teaching basic tennis skills. This was high quality coaching which all the children enjoyed and benefitted from in terms of developing their bat/ball skills and hand /eye coordination. This is to be continued next term.

· KS2 received coaching in archery from ‘Northern Archery’ instructors. This took place in the sports hall at Dallam School. It was interesting to see how some pupils who do not excel in others sports really enjoyed the challenge of archery and working individually to improve their skills.

· Following the success of KS2’s visit to the Crazy Climb, KS1 were really keen to have a go at climbing themselves. This was a fantastic opportunity for even our youngest children to really challenge themselves and achieve in an activity which was new to many of them.

Plans for 15-16

· Continue to offer Sports/Dance after school clubs

· Arrange further climbing/canoeing/adventurous sports activities for all pupils

· Employ coaches to work with staff to develop teaching skills in a range of sports, including sports not usually offered as part of our PE curriculum

· Maintain weekly swimming for whole school including Reception class of 14 pupils

Summary

The additional funding for PE & Sport has enabled our school to provide a wide range of activities for all our pupils throughout the year. Activities such as climbing and canoeing are very costly and these would not have been possible without additional funding. As a school we are very committed to teaching all our pupils to swim but again this is very costly for the numbers involved. The PE/sports grant has enabled us to maintain our commitment to producing confident swimmers who have life saving skills by the time they leave our school.