Education Sector
In 2003, the Government published a green paper called 'Every Child Matters' which called for improvements in the co-ordination and effectiveness of Children's Service delivery. 'Sport Playing its Part' a document published by Sport England in 2005 provides an evidence based case for how sport can contribute to meeting the needs of children and young people.
With this guidance in mind Lancashire Sport has a responsibility to engage with existing networks and agencies involved in developing children and young people to ensure that sport and physical activity is embraced and contributes to every young person from 0-19, whatever their background or their circumstances, having the support they need to:
- be healthy
- stay safe
- enjoy and achieve
- make a positive contribution
- achieve economic well-being.
Within our general remit of promoting the benefits of sport for children and young people there are three key areas of work in which Lancashire Sport can be help build capacity and influence decision making to benefit sports provision and delivery:
- School Sport Partnerships
- Extended Schools
- Building Schools for the Future.
PE and Sport Strategic Framework- "The 5 hour Sport Offer"
In July 2007 the Prime Minister announced a £108m campaign to give every child the opportunity to participate in five hours of sport every weekThe overarching aim is to offer 5 hours of sport per week to all pupils aged 5-16 and 3 hours for young people aged 16-19, the offer will ideally be made up of 2 hours of High Quality Physical Education and 3 hours of sport beyond the curriculum delivered through a range of school, community and club providers.
It is anticipated that the new national investment streams highlighted within the recent ‘PE and Sport Strategy for Young People’ http://www.youthsporttrust.org/subpage/pesscl/index.html will enable an additional circa 1.25m children and young people aged 5 – 19 years to take up the 5 hour sport offer.
It is essential that the ‘5 hour sports offer’ is planned in an inclusive, coordinated manner. Lancashire Sport are in the process of producing a countywide PE and Sport Strategy (see link) in consultation with key stakeholders who will make the ‘5 hour sports offer’ happen at a local level
Extended Schools
The Extended Schools Programme has the aim of providing a range of services and activities, often beyond the school day, to help meet the needs of children, their families and the wider community including the provision of wider community access to ICT, sports and arts facilities and adult learning. For further information visit the Extended Schools website.
Lancashire Sport is working with Extended Schools Officers across the county to capitalise on the opportunities this programme can have on enhancing delivery of community sport for children, young people and the adult population.
Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
BSF is the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild and renew the secondary school stock in England over a 10-15 year period. For further information on the BSF programme go to www.bsf.gov.uk.
Lancashire Sport has the responsibility to play a lead role within each local authority engaged in the BSF programme. From BSF wave 5 onwards this role will be embodied through chairing the Sport and Culture Strategic Group within each authority. It is through this involvement that Lancashire Sport will fulfil its aim of maximising the investment in Sport and physical activity provision throughout the county.
BSF presents a major opportunity for local authorities to take stock of their entire asset portfolio and strategically plan for the future resulting in high quality and accessible community sport facilities.