Highlights from our Newcastle School Games - Spring Term 2013

Our new logo for 2013-15

It does what it says on the tin......... We link PE to competition, healthy physical activity and leadership.....

Primary School Sport Premium Funding

The Government is providing funding of £150 million per annum for academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to provide new, substantial primary school sport funding’. This 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 headteachers to spend on improving the quality of sport and PE for all their children.

The sport funding can only be spent on sport and PE provision in schools.

Eligible schools

Funding for schools will be calculated by the number of primary-aged pupils (between the ages of 5 and 11) as at the annual schools census in January 2013.

All schools with 17 or more primary-aged pupils will receive a lump sum of £8000 plus a premium of £5 per pupil. Smaller schools will receive £500 per pupil.

Purpose of funding

Schools will have to spend the sport funding on improving their provision of PE and sport, but they will have the freedom to choose they do this.

Possible uses for the funding include:

• hiring specialist PE teachers or qualified sports coaches to work alongside primary teachers when teaching PE
• new or additional Change4Life sport clubs
• paying for professional development opportunities in PE/sport
• providing cover to release primary teachers for professional development in PE/sport
• running sport competitions, or increasing participation in the school games
• buying quality assured professional development modules or materials for PE/sport
• providing places for pupils on after school sport clubs and holiday clubs.

Accountability

Schools will be held to account for how they spend the sport funding.  Ofsted will strengthen its coverage of sport and PE within the Inspectors’ Handbook and supporting guidance, so that schools and inspectors know how sport and PE will be assessed in future as part of the school’s overall provision offered.

Schools will be required to include details about their sporting provision on their school website, alongside their curriculum details, so parents can compare sports provision between schools, both within and beyond the school day.

Best practice

Schools will be able to draw on information on effective practice taken from case studies provided by the very best schools. One year on, Ofsted will carry out a survey reporting on the first year’s expenditure and its impact.

Funding period

The sport premium will be paid for the two academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15.

All state-maintained secondary schools, academies, middle schools, special schools (including non-maintained special schools) and pupil referral units which have primary aged pupils (as reported in the 2013 school census) will receive funding.

Amount of funding per school - a breakdown

• All schools with 17 or more primary-aged pupils will receive a lump sum of £8000 plus a premium of £5 per pupil.
• Smaller schools will receive £500 per pupil. 

For example, a school with 16 eligible pupils would receive £8000. One with 12 would receive £6000 and one with five eligible pupils – the smallest that we know of – would receive £2500.

How the funding will be paid

For 2013/14 and 2014/15 the sport funding will be included in the additional grant for schools (AGS) 2013-14 and 2014-15. AGS is distributed to local authorities in late September or early October each year.

The payments will cover the total funding for the academic years 1 September 2013 to 31 August 2014 and 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2015.  The allocations for each eligible school in the authority will be set out in a spreadsheet that will accompany the note on the conditions of grant for the initiatives being supported by the AGS.

Academies will receive their AGS directly from the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

Eligible special schools will receive their funding directly from the Department’s special education needs and disability division.

Accounting for the spending

Schools will be held to account for how they spend the sport funding. Ofsted will strengthen its coverage of sport and PE within the inspection handbook and supporting guidance, so that schools and inspectors know how sport and PE will be assessed in future as part of the overall provision offered by the school.

Newcastle Schools Archery Competition

Watch out Robin Hood?

Benfield, Heaton Manor St Mary's RC Schools today took part in our first ever Archery competition hosted by the Bowmen of Walker Archery Club in conjunction with GB Archery.

Each school has received coaching leading up to a 9 arrow competition form 15 yards. A number of the pupils taking part have never took part in any archery and the standard overall standard was really good.

As ever the competition was built around the school games values of honesty, self belief, determination, respect, passion and teamwork.

Gold and silver positions went to St Mary's with Heaton Manor in a bronze position with a highly competitive field in the 9 arrow competition.

Jill Stacey from Benfield School commented:-

" this has given our pupils the chance to take part in a sport which we do not offer through our PE curriculum. I have been really impressed with the standard of the competition and our pupils, thanks "

Dave Harrison said:-

" the behaviour of all the pupils has been exemplary and we are always happy to support the schools in Newcastle"

We have organised another 2 opportunities for schools on February 28th which is fully subscribed but there is still an opportunity for schools to sign up to the other competition on 28th March. contact the School Games office for more details on 265 6091 ext 317.

Steve Beharall, Lead School Games Organiser commented:-

"We first me Dave Harrison as part of the support they provide for our Newcastle Schools 500 Games event and after the positive feedback from our 2012 event from pupils and teachers we were keen to get some more organised archery into the curriculum. Today has been brilliant and the pupils have really enjoyed the experience and we look froward to the next couple of competitions in February and March"

A big thank you to Dave Harrison, Chairman of both Bowmen of Walker and GB Archery for providing the competition and coaching.

For more information on Archery Clubs in Northumberland go to www.dnaa.co.uk or for Bowmen of Walker visit www.bowmenofwalker.org

Newcastle School Games & Streetgames Sports Leadership

Newcastle School Games team and StreetGames have linked up to provide sports leadership opportunities for some of our older pupils across the city. The StreetGames programme is managed and coordinated by Active Newcastle across the city providing opportunities for young people in disadvantaged areas to participate in a variety of sports as well as access coaching and leadership training.

We have now completed 2 training days, the first involved St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School working with St Cuthbert’s (Kenton) Primary School and yesterday (11^th March) was the 2nd with the cohort of BTEC students from Walker Technology College delivering to some year 5 pupils from Central Newcastle C of E in the afternoon.

The format was for the sports leaders to receive training from StreetGames in the morning and then organise and deliver some activities to younger pupils from a feeder school. Each sports leader received a certificate from StreetGames and has also been signposted to some of the StreetGames programmes running at ‘Centre for Sport’ and Walker Activity Dome.

StreetGames is a sports charity that changes lives and communities, they do it by supporting a network of projects which give sports and volunteering opportunities to young people in disadvantaged communities across the UK. Doorstep sport is StreetGames’ delivery method, whereby bringing sport close to the home in disadvantaged communities at the right time, for the right price, to the right place and in the right style.

Ian Kendall from our School Games team commented “The partnership with StreetGames is one which allows us to provide structured and coordinated training with opportunities to further develop sports leadership skills in a community programme outside of the curriculum. I have been really impressed with the standard of delivery from both St Cuthbert’s and Walker Tech pupils”.

Duncan O’Farrell from Active Newcastle said “This partnership has provided us with a route into schools to further extend our programme and help us to develop a workforce of young people to lead and assists at our clubs. I look forward to seeing some of the leaders at any of our venues and will continue to offer support to further develop they leadership roles as either coaches or officials”.

Jane Kemp, PE Teacher from Walker Technology College said “ Our BTEC students have demonstrated that they are more than capable of delivering this type of activity and seem to have really enjoyed the whole day”.

 

Level 2 Newcastle School Games Yr5/6 In2Hockey

On Thursday 28th February Newcastle schools came together at Walker Activity Dome for the Level 2 School Games In2Hockey competition for students in Yrs 5/6. 

In2Hockey follows on from Hockey's introductory 4-a-side game Quicksticks, and can be played with goalkeepers or without.  There are 6 players in a mixed gender team and the game is played across half a full size hockey pitch.  The small-sided teams mean that players get more touches on the ball, increased levels of physical activity, more opportunity for skill development and a greater feeling of contributing to the team.

Our schools turned up with little experience of this new format of the game, but this did not dampen their enthusiasm or motivation to master the new rules that were thrown at them in an impromptu 'master class' before the competition began properly. 

In2Hockey Master Class in Full Flow!

Once the fixtures were underway they all acquitted themselves brilliantly without exception and applied their new knowledge of the game really well.  This format of Hockey naturally promotes more goals per game and makes for more exciting fixtures as a consequence, not least through the introduction of the 4 v 2 power plays which are awarded to the attacking team when a defender commits an offence in the shooting area.

After an incredibly competitive round-robin set of fixtures those teams achieving podium finishes were identified and rewarded with Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates in recognition of their efforts.  Steve Beharall, Lead School Games Organiser in Newcastle (and new convert to the game of hockey) said "I'm really impressed with all our participants, they've adapted so well to this new format of Hockey for young people.  The game is faster and as a result the games are exciting and involve more goal scoring opportunities.  In2Hockey and Quicksticks for the younger students are both great resources to develop interest in the game of Hockey."

The Tension in the Moment Before the Results are Shared!

Our results on the evening were as follows:

GOLD - Cragside Primary

SILVER - Wingrove Primary

BRONZE - St Oswalds Primary

Our congratulations and thanks go to every single participant attending the competition as they were all a credit to their schools.  They dealt with the new rules, which even had those parents on the sideline scratching their heads at times, brilliantly.  Our thanks MUST also go to the teachers who supported their children in getting to the event along with carrying out coaching duties from the sideline.



Always Great to see SMILES Once the Results are Shared.



A special mention goes to Cragside Primary who will go on to represent Newcastle at the Tyne & Wear Level 3 School Games event on the 15th March, where they will play teams from across 5 Local Authority areas.