The Department for Education has released the first tranche (7/12ths) of funding to local authorities for the Primary PE and Sport Premium.  How much is it, what can it be spent on and how to spend it effectively?

The objective for the funding is to “achieve self-sustaining improvement in the quality of PE and sport in primary schools.  The focus of spending must lead to long lasting impact against the vision that will live on well beyond the Primary PE and Sport Premium funding.”

How much will my school get?

Allocations for the academic year 2016 to 2017 are calculated using the number of pupils in years 1 to 6, as recorded in the January 2016 census, as follows:

• schools with 17 or more pupils receive £8,000 plus £5 per pupil
• schools with 16 or fewer pupils receive £500 per pupil

So, a school with 250 pupils will receive £8,000 + £1,250, to make a total of £9,250 for the academic year.

What can schools spend it on? 

The DoE is looking to see improvement against the following 5 key indicators:

1. the engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity – kick-starting healthy active lifestyles
2. the profile of PE and sport being raised across the school as a tool for whole school improvement
3. increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport
4. broader experience of a range of sports and activities offered to all pupils
5. increased participation in competitive sport

They say it is not to spend on providing coaches simply for PPA cover, or to cover basic aspects of the PE curriculum, such as basic swimming provision.

Ofsted inspectors have been tasked with assessing how effectively leaders use the Primary PE and Sport Premium and measure its impact on outcomes for pupils.  Schools are required to publish details of how they spend this funding and the effect it has had on pupils’ PE and sport participation and attainment.

If you’re looking for a great tool to capture evidence, Youth Sport Trust and the Association for PE have developed a fantastic guidance and template tool for schools to capture evidence.  Click here to download.

How to spend it effectively?

We speak to 100’s of teachers who have had limited training in teaching activity, on average they received just a few hours of PE in teacher training!!!   This has left many teachers not feeling confident or capable of delivering great PE or other activity sessions the children will love.  To achieve the objective of “self-sustaining improvement” how can a head teacher support their staff when they’ve had so little training in the past?

This is the challenge we have tackled head on at imovesdance.com.  We have 100’s of lessons covering the PE curriculum from dance to gymnastics to games that will upskill every teacher, building their confidence and enjoyment with our sustainable, easy-to-use approach.

We provide teachers with every tool they could need; from interactive demonstration movies, lesson plans, music, flash cards and assessment tool.   Our resources are a foundation for PE, but are also cross-curricular and can be used with English, History, Geography and Science; making it easier to get your children active every day!  Saving hours of planning time and with an approach which makes it easy to deliver.

If you would like to learn more about imovesdance.com then click here to view our head teacher pack, or if you’d like to try out some lessons click here for a free trial.

And if you have any questions or queries about imovesdance.com call me on 0114 2661061 or email  imogen@imovesdance.com.

Imogen Buxton-Pickles