July 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference will be a timely opportunity for stakeholders and policymakers to examine key issues for PE and sports provision within education.
Areas for discussion in the agenda include:
- enhancing access to sport and participation in schools and communities
- the school sport and activity action plan - looking at its implementation and issues around curriculum time, facilities and supporting teachers
- growing the engagement of disadvantaged pupils in sports and activities
- widening inclusion and participation - looking at community engagement, diversity, and opportunities beyond the classroom
- PE and sport education policy and inclusion - next steps
Of course we expect discussion to reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools, teachers and pupils and their households, particularly relating to school sport and PE including:
- priorities for ensuring children can maintain and improve their fitness levels and wellbeing at home during the COVID crisis
- calls to keep school sports facilities open throughout the summer break
- the role of sport in improving mental wellbeing during lockdown
- ensuring sufficient support for youth sport organisations at this time
- economic inequalities in the access to sport and PE during the COVID crisis
- the practicalities of providing PE and sports provision when schools reopen
- how to ensure that children and staff members remain safe, particularly during breaks in the school day
The discussion in detail:
- Next steps for the Government’s updated School sport and activity action plan, which sets out:
- measures to allow children to access 60 minutes of sport and physical activity throughout the day, by making it a greater part of children’s daily routine
- development of a collaborative approach between government, schools, parents, sports clubs, and activity providers
- Engagement in sport at primary level:
- improving the use of PE and Sport Premium at primary level, with regional trials due to start on innovative approaches to encouraging young people to become active
- opportunities for supporting the role of primary schools in setting positive habits from an early age for young people
- increasing inclusiveness and developing partnerships with communities
- The Government’s Healthy Schools Rating Scheme - implementation and early indications from current regional trials on initiatives to support young people’s health and wellbeing
- Sports facilities in schools and adapting facilities for social distancing measures - improvement and refurbishment, funding upgrades to facilities, the role of professional sporting bodies, and options for opening facilities after school hours
- Overcoming barriers to participation, including more prominent inclusion of physical activity in the wider curriculum, and the timetabling of sport and PE in the school day
- Training of PE teachers, the continued development of PE teachers and the impact on Teacher Training stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic
- Inspection - the impact on the sports offering from schools of Ofsted inspecting school sport provision, and an emphasis on schools developing their curriculum
- Supporting greater inclusion into sport for all young people - and developing programmes to foster participation in a wider variety of sports, including:
- offering activities that are alternatives to mainstream sports
- developing targeted approaches to engaging wider groups of boys and girls in sport - including pupils with SEND, from disadvantaged backgrounds, and within BAME communities - as well as understanding the needs and ensuring the inclusion of LGBT pupils
Developments that are relevant to the discussion:
- Government commitments to invest £17m in primary school PE teaching, and £15m every year to support schools in widening the use of their sports facilities
- Support from Sport England, including:
- The School Sport Action Plan aims to make sport part of young people’s daily lives, involve parents and teachers, and take a coordinated approach to physical and mental wellbeing
- The Department for Education committing to developing a toolkit to support effective use of the PE and Sport Premium
- The latest Active Lives Survey by Sport England, highlighting out-of-school activity - such as walking, active play, and team sports - being a driver of an increase in the number of children meeting recommended activity levels
Policy officials attending:
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders.
This conference is no different. Places have been reserved by parliamentary pass-holders from the House of Commons, and officials from DCMS; Ofsted and HMPPS.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
