School Sports Premium Funding
Playing sport helps to keep people healthy and is good for communities. Playing sport at school or in a local club is also the first step to competition at the highest level, which helps improve our reputation as a sporting nation, and contributes to economic growth.
But when people leave school they often stop playing sports, which can lead to a less healthy lifestyle. The government wants to get more people playing sport safely from a young age, and to help them keep playing sport throughout their life, no matter what their economic or social background.
To make sure as many people as possible are playing sport, the government is funding a £450 million expenditure on improving physical education (PE) and sport in primary schools over the 3 academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. They have allocated this extra funding directly to primary headteachers. Schools can choose how they use the funding, however some examples are:
- Hire specialist PE teachers or qualified sports coaches to work with primary teachers during PE lessons
- Support and involve the least active children by running after-school sports clubs and holiday clubs, e.g. the Change4Life clubs
- Provide resources and training courses in PE and sport for teachers
- Run sport competitions or increase pupil's participation in the School Games
- Run sports activities with other schools