savage cuts to P.E.
Whilst its great that the government want to eradicate the number of spongers and its necessary to make inroads into reducing the national debt cutting funding of P.E. is very bad news.I think its good that they want to encourage participaton in competitive sport and there is an element of waste there are other choices that could have been made. read on for the announcements
Hi everyone, I want to update you on recent developments with regards the Comprehensive Spending Review . As you may have heard already there has been a decision made by the coalition government that ring fenced money to schools will be phased out. The official word came from the Department of Education and at this present moment there will be no ring fenced money to support the School Sport Partnership network as of August 2011.
As you will no doubt appreciate this has been a shock to all at every level from the YST, SSP staff, head teachers and PE depts. across the country and as yet it too early to say exactly what will happen in the long term.
Refocusing sport in schools to build a lasting legacy of the 2012 Games
The Coalition Government is committed to reforming sport in schools to create a lasting Olympic legacy. Ministers want to encourage more competitive sport so it is a vibrant part of the ethos of all schools, and to give schools the freedom to organise sport themselves rather than imposing a bureaucratic system for them to follow.
The Department for Education is ending the £162 million PE and Sports Strategy of the previous administration, to give schools the time and freedom to focus on providing competitive sport. In recent years there has been a decline in young people taking part in traditionally competitive sports such as rugby union, netball and hockey because teachers and school sports coordinators have been too focused on top-down targets. In fact the most recent School Sport Survey showed that only around two in every five pupils play competitive sport regularly within their own school, and only one in five plays regularly against other schools.
After seven years and £2.4 billion investment from the Government and Lottery, the Department expects all schools to have embedded the good practice and collaboration developed over this time and to continue providing two hours a week of PE and sport.
Read Michael Gove's letter to Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust, below, or download a copy from this page.
Letter from the Secretary of State to Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust
Since my appointment as Secretary of State for Education, I have been reviewing the Department's existing programmes in the context of the Coalition Government's schools policies. This includes the various programmes relating to physical education (PE) and sport.
I know that the Youth Sport Trust has advised successive Governments and that, funded by the Department for Education, the Trust has built up a network of school sport partnerships and has supported schools in meeting previous Governments' priorities on PE and sport. I am grateful to you, to Steve Grainger, and to the staff of the Youth Sport Trust for the hard work you have done for school pupils.
The Coalition Government will encourage more competitive sport, which should be a vibrant part of the life and ethos of all schools. We are committed to doing this through the creation of an annual Olympic-style school sport competition. The best way to create a lasting Olympic legacy in schools is to give them the freedom and incentives to organise it themselves, for themselves, rather than imposing a centralised government blueprint.
Over the next year, my Department will work closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to develop a model to assist an Olympic-style approach to school sport. I firmly believe that the ideals of the Olympic and Paralympic Games can be an inspiration to all young people, not only to our most promising young athletes. Indeed, they embody the ethos of achievement and self-improvement which the best schools manifest in their sports provision for all pupils.
Our approach differs fundamentally from that of the last Government. As part of this change of approach, I have concluded that the existing network of school sport partnerships is neither affordable nor likely to be the best way to help schools achieve their potential in improving competitive sport. While the network helped schools to increase participation rates in the areas targeted by the previous Government, the fact remains that the proportion of pupils playing competitive sport regularly has remained disappointingly low. Only around two in every five pupils play competitive sport regularly within their own school, and only one in five plays regularly against other schools.
I can confirm therefore that the Department will not continue to provide ring-fenced funding for school sport partnerships. I am also announcing that the Department is lifting, immediately, the many requirements of the previous Government's PE and Sport Strategy, so giving schools the clarity and freedom to concentrate on competitive school sport. I am removing the need for schools to: plan and implement their part of a 'five hour offer';
- collect information about every pupil for an annual survey;
- deliver a range of new Government sport initiatives each year;
- report termly to the Youth Sport Trust on various performance indicators;
- conform to a national blueprint for how to deliver PE and sport, and how to use their staff and resources; and
- get permission from the Youth Sport Trust and the Department to use their funding flexibly or to vary how they do things.
In giving schools this freedom, we are trusting school leaders to take decisions in the best interests of the pupils and parents they serve. I would expect every school to want to maintain, as a minimum, the current levels of provision for PE and sport each week for every pupil. Primary, secondary and special schools have enjoyed between them some £2.4 billion of Exchequer and Lottery investment since 2003, and parents and the public will expect them to have embedded the good practice and collaboration developed over the last seven years. I should also clarify that the Department is not closing down school sport partnerships. Rather, they are being entrusted to schools, who can decide whether and how to use them in the future.
Earlier this month, the Department paid £71 million grant to school sport partnerships, part of the funding for the final year of the previous spending period, 2008-2011. The Department's officials will ensure that the relevant final payments are made to partnerships, and will write shortly about the exact transitional arrangements and revised terms and conditions.
I have also considered the future of the specialist schools programme. The Youth Sport Trust has been instrumental in creating a national network of specialist sports colleges, and I know that many school leaders attest to the value of the sport specialism as a catalyst for school improvement and as a means of developing a distinct character and ethos for their schools.
Now that specialism is so firmly established, I believe that the time has come to remove the prescription that has built up around the programme and to give school leaders greater freedom to make use of the opportunities offered by specialism and the associated funding. This is part of my wider commitment to trust school leaders to take decisions in the best interests of the pupils and parents they serve. Of course, Academies are already freed from centralised control and are not constrained in their choice of specialism or required to undergo designation or re-designation. I look forward to the number of schools enjoying these and other Academy freedoms increasing.
In particular, I have decided that, from April 2011, funding for specialism should no longer take the form of a dedicated grant, so that all schools can decide how to develop their specialisms in the light of the total resources available to them. Schools will not be required to re-designate. I should stress that funding is not being removed from schools: money currently paid as specialist schools' grant will continue to be routed to schools through the DSG. This is in line with the approach set out in the Department's consultation on the Pupil Premium, which envisaged the mainstreaming of dedicated grants wherever possible.
I have also decided not to fund the current range of HPSS options after March 2011. Again, the funding will remain with the frontline. Our best schools will continue to be able to take on system leadership roles and support others to improve, and I am looking to expand the opportunities available to them. Academy status already offers a route for outstanding schools to support others as does becoming a National or Local Leader of Education. I intend to set out further plans in the White Paper which is due to be published later in the autumn. Of course, I would expect locally driven collaborations to continue to develop and flourish.
The Department's grant funding agreement with the Youth Sport Trust, which covers its role as a Government delivery partner for PE and sport and funding for a range of national programmes and support to schools - including support for specialist schools - expires at the end of this financial year. I can also confirm that, at this point, I have no plans to commission further work from the Youth Sport Trust in these areas beyond March 2011. Officials will discuss shortly with the Trust how best to manage the grant-funded activities over the remainder of the current financial year in the light of the changes outlined above.
Again, I am grateful to the Youth Sport Trust and its staff for the work that has been done over the last decade and more. I am making this letter public and copying it to school sport partnerships. I have also written to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust about the specialist schools programme
CONTACT DETAILS
At the Department for Education
If you wish to contact Michael at the Department for Education, please email him at ministers@education.gsi.gov.uk
For all other enquries
Write:
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
tel: 020 7219 3000
email: govem@parliament.uk
or at the Constituency office
tel: 01276 472468
email: office@shca.org.uk
Hi everyone, I want to update you on recent developments with regards the Comprehensive Spending Review . As you may have heard already there has been a decision made by the coalition government that ring fenced money to schools will be phased out. The official word came from the Department of Education and at this present moment there will be no ring fenced money to support the School Sport Partnership network as of August 2011.
As you will no doubt appreciate this has been a shock to all at every level from the YST, SSP staff, head teachers and PE depts. across the country and as yet it too early to say exactly what will happen in the long term.
Refocusing sport in schools to build a lasting legacy of the 2012 Games
The Coalition Government is committed to reforming sport in schools to create a lasting Olympic legacy. Ministers want to encourage more competitive sport so it is a vibrant part of the ethos of all schools, and to give schools the freedom to organise sport themselves rather than imposing a bureaucratic system for them to follow.
The Department for Education is ending the £162 million PE and Sports Strategy of the previous administration, to give schools the time and freedom to focus on providing competitive sport. In recent years there has been a decline in young people taking part in traditionally competitive sports such as rugby union, netball and hockey because teachers and school sports coordinators have been too focused on top-down targets. In fact the most recent School Sport Survey showed that only around two in every five pupils play competitive sport regularly within their own school, and only one in five plays regularly against other schools.
After seven years and £2.4 billion investment from the Government and Lottery, the Department expects all schools to have embedded the good practice and collaboration developed over this time and to continue providing two hours a week of PE and sport.
Read Michael Gove's letter to Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust, below, or download a copy from this page.
Letter from the Secretary of State to Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust
Since my appointment as Secretary of State for Education, I have been reviewing the Department's existing programmes in the context of the Coalition Government's schools policies. This includes the various programmes relating to physical education (PE) and sport.
I know that the Youth Sport Trust has advised successive Governments and that, funded by the Department for Education, the Trust has built up a network of school sport partnerships and has supported schools in meeting previous Governments' priorities on PE and sport. I am grateful to you, to Steve Grainger, and to the staff of the Youth Sport Trust for the hard work you have done for school pupils.
The Coalition Government will encourage more competitive sport, which should be a vibrant part of the life and ethos of all schools. We are committed to doing this through the creation of an annual Olympic-style school sport competition. The best way to create a lasting Olympic legacy in schools is to give them the freedom and incentives to organise it themselves, for themselves, rather than imposing a centralised government blueprint.
Over the next year, my Department will work closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to develop a model to assist an Olympic-style approach to school sport. I firmly believe that the ideals of the Olympic and Paralympic Games can be an inspiration to all young people, not only to our most promising young athletes. Indeed, they embody the ethos of achievement and self-improvement which the best schools manifest in their sports provision for all pupils.
Our approach differs fundamentally from that of the last Government. As part of this change of approach, I have concluded that the existing network of school sport partnerships is neither affordable nor likely to be the best way to help schools achieve their potential in improving competitive sport. While the network helped schools to increase participation rates in the areas targeted by the previous Government, the fact remains that the proportion of pupils playing competitive sport regularly has remained disappointingly low. Only around two in every five pupils play competitive sport regularly within their own school, and only one in five plays regularly against other schools.
I can confirm therefore that the Department will not continue to provide ring-fenced funding for school sport partnerships. I am also announcing that the Department is lifting, immediately, the many requirements of the previous Government's PE and Sport Strategy, so giving schools the clarity and freedom to concentrate on competitive school sport. I am removing the need for schools to: plan and implement their part of a 'five hour offer';
- collect information about every pupil for an annual survey;
- deliver a range of new Government sport initiatives each year;
- report termly to the Youth Sport Trust on various performance indicators;
- conform to a national blueprint for how to deliver PE and sport, and how to use their staff and resources; and
- get permission from the Youth Sport Trust and the Department to use their funding flexibly or to vary how they do things.
In giving schools this freedom, we are trusting school leaders to take decisions in the best interests of the pupils and parents they serve. I would expect every school to want to maintain, as a minimum, the current levels of provision for PE and sport each week for every pupil. Primary, secondary and special schools have enjoyed between them some £2.4 billion of Exchequer and Lottery investment since 2003, and parents and the public will expect them to have embedded the good practice and collaboration developed over the last seven years. I should also clarify that the Department is not closing down school sport partnerships. Rather, they are being entrusted to schools, who can decide whether and how to use them in the future.
Earlier this month, the Department paid £71 million grant to school sport partnerships, part of the funding for the final year of the previous spending period, 2008-2011. The Department's officials will ensure that the relevant final payments are made to partnerships, and will write shortly about the exact transitional arrangements and revised terms and conditions.
I have also considered the future of the specialist schools programme. The Youth Sport Trust has been instrumental in creating a national network of specialist sports colleges, and I know that many school leaders attest to the value of the sport specialism as a catalyst for school improvement and as a means of developing a distinct character and ethos for their schools.
Now that specialism is so firmly established, I believe that the time has come to remove the prescription that has built up around the programme and to give school leaders greater freedom to make use of the opportunities offered by specialism and the associated funding. This is part of my wider commitment to trust school leaders to take decisions in the best interests of the pupils and parents they serve. Of course, Academies are already freed from centralised control and are not constrained in their choice of specialism or required to undergo designation or re-designation. I look forward to the number of schools enjoying these and other Academy freedoms increasing.
In particular, I have decided that, from April 2011, funding for specialism should no longer take the form of a dedicated grant, so that all schools can decide how to develop their specialisms in the light of the total resources available to them. Schools will not be required to re-designate. I should stress that funding is not being removed from schools: money currently paid as specialist schools' grant will continue to be routed to schools through the DSG. This is in line with the approach set out in the Department's consultation on the Pupil Premium, which envisaged the mainstreaming of dedicated grants wherever possible.
I have also decided not to fund the current range of HPSS options after March 2011. Again, the funding will remain with the frontline. Our best schools will continue to be able to take on system leadership roles and support others to improve, and I am looking to expand the opportunities available to them. Academy status already offers a route for outstanding schools to support others as does becoming a National or Local Leader of Education. I intend to set out further plans in the White Paper which is due to be published later in the autumn. Of course, I would expect locally driven collaborations to continue to develop and flourish.
The Department's grant funding agreement with the Youth Sport Trust, which covers its role as a Government delivery partner for PE and sport and funding for a range of national programmes and support to schools - including support for specialist schools - expires at the end of this financial year. I can also confirm that, at this point, I have no plans to commission further work from the Youth Sport Trust in these areas beyond March 2011. Officials will discuss shortly with the Trust how best to manage the grant-funded activities over the remainder of the current financial year in the light of the changes outlined above.
Again, I am grateful to the Youth Sport Trust and its staff for the work that has been done over the last decade and more. I am making this letter public and copying it to school sport partnerships. I have also written to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust about the specialist schools programme
CONTACT DETAILS
At the Department for Education
If you wish to contact Michael at the Department for Education, please email him at ministers@education.gsi.gov.uk
For all other enquries
Write:
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
tel: 020 7219 3000
email: govem@parliament.uk
or at the Constituency office
tel: 01276 472468
email: office@shca.org.uk
Comments
By Anonymous: competitive team sports are fabulous and should be encouraged. However not all people are competitive team sports players. It is still in the theirs and the nations interest that they be engaged in individual sports such as running, swimming and the racket sports. Suitable handicapping or team balancing can be performed to enable the majority of people to enjoyably engage in sport. Cut backs in funding for sport will result in more computer addicted kids and greater health and social problems in the the mid to long term. Sport is a bit like music, the benefits to other subjects are not obvious but study after study has shown cross curricular benefits.