Encouraging School Sports

The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, has announced more detail on the Coalition Government's new approach on school sports that will embed competitive sport in schools across the country and increase participation.
The Secretary of State said: "I want competitive sport to be at the centre of a truly rounded education that all schools offer but this must be led by schools and parents, not by top-down policies from Whitehall. It's time to ensure what was best in School Sport Partnerships around the country is fully embedded and move forward to a system where schools and partnerships are delivering on sports with competition at the heart."
The Coalition Government has confirmed that School Sports Partnerships will be paid for the full school year to the end of the summer term 2011, at a cost of £47 million. In addition, a further £65 million will be paid to enable every secondary school to release one PE teacher for a day a week in the school year 2011/12 and 2012/13 to work out of the classroom, encouraging greater take-up of sport and securing a fixture network for schools to increase the amount of intra- and inter-school competition.
Lottery funding will also be deployed to build a framework of competitions as part of the new School Games. All schools will be invited to compete against one another in district competitions, leading to county festivals and even the chance to appear in the first national finals in Spring 2012, with events at the Olympic Stadium.
I met recently with Alan Watkinson and Helen Ives, Partnership Development Managers from each of the two School Sports Partnerships in the Hounslow Borough, together with Rory Mawn, School Sport Coordinator and several of the pupils who are Young Ambassadors for sport across the Borough. Alan explained that the Hounslow Schoool Sports Partnerships rank in the top 10 in partnerships nationwide, both in terms of the number of hours of physical activity being undertaken and for quality of the leadership and volunteering skills for the Young Ambassadors.
I was very impressed with their enthusiasm for the programme. It's great to see the commitment of the Young Ambassadors involved in this programme. I am a strong believer in the value of all kinds of sport and the benefits it can bring not only to general health and wellbeing but also to academic achievement and teamworking skills.
I hope that the recent announcement by the Secretary of State for Education will ensure the continuation of the good work being undertaken in Hounslow to involve young people in sport. I look forward to hearing more about how our schools will get involved in the upcoming Schools Event to ensure a lasting sporting legacy from the Olympics in 2012.