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£2.5m scheme to help schools open-up facilities to get more kids active

File image of girls and boys playing football at school

Hundreds of after-school clubs will be created and school facilities will be opened up at weekends and holidays as part of new government measures to get more children active.

Extra training will also be given to PE teachers and sports volunteering programmes will be expanded to give more young people the chance to become sports leaders and coaches, the Department for Education announced today.

The DfE has committed £2.5 million in 2019-20 to deliver the extra training, the new weekend and holiday openings and the expansion of sports volunteering programmes.

Sport England will invest £2 million to create the 400 after-school satellite clubs to get more young people in disadvantaged areas active.

The School Sport and Activity Action Plan, outlined by education minister Damian Hinds, sport minister Mims Davies and public health minister Seema Kennedy, will set out a range of new measures designed to improve young people’s access to physical activity.

It comes after the latest data from Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People survey showed that a third of children are doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman told the Observer newspaper earlier this month that pupils’ wellbeing was at risk as sports was squeezed out the curriculum. She called on the government to do more to increase sport in schools.

The government and Sport England will work with bodies such as the Football Association, Premier League, England and Wales Cricket Board and the Rugby Football Union to ensure that their clubs and programmes can reach even more children.

In a bid to encourage more girls to be active, Sport England will provide £1 million to develop a digital resources which include a new Netflix-style library of workout videos that can be used in schools and PE lessons.

Hinds said: “My ambition is for every pupil to have the chance to find a sport they love, setting them up to lead healthy, active lives and equipping them with the skills to reach their full potential, both inside and outside the classroom.”

 

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