At St Osmund's, we recognise the contribution of PE to the health and well-being of our pupils. We believe that an innovative, varied PE curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities have a positive influence on the concentration, attitude and academic achievement of all our pupils. Physical Education and sport clearly contribute to the holistic development of young people and through participation in sport and physical education, the pupils learn more about key values such as teamwork, fair play and respect for themselves and others.
There is significant evidence to show the positive effects of sport and exercise on pupil's physical health, growth and development. Furthermore, sport also provides a healthy environment for young people to learn how to deal with competition and how to cope with both winning and losing.
Our aim is to use the Sports' Premium Grant to ensure that out staff are equipped with sustainable skills and the necessary school-based resources to lead high quality PE. We work in close partnership with Premier Sport who provide us with highly skilled coaches, they work alongside our staff with the expectation that over time, the teachers will lead these activities themselves. Sport Premium funding is secure in the short-term, but we cannot rely on this and as such, the school is ensuring that its teachers are up-skilled.
The government announced that it was providing funding of £150 million per annum from 2013/14, to provide new and substantial primary school sport funding. The funding has been jointly provided by the Departments for Education, Health and Culture, Media and Sport. The objective of the grant is to improve the quality of sport and PE for all their pupils. The funding has recently doubled.
At St Osmund's, our overall aim will be to improve the quality and breadth of PE provision for all pupils, raising achievement and ensuring a lasting impact. Our small grounds offer limited capacity for sports facilities and after school clubs. Only one group can use the playground at a time and if it rains then the hall is used.
Prior to the funding there was a scheme of work which met the requirements of NC2000. However, quality of teaching was inconsistent depending on the level of skills and subject knowledge of the teacher concerned. Gymnastics was identified as a particular development need along with provision and staffing of after school sports clubs.
Each year, since the grant was introduced we have completed an annual self evaluation of our PE and Sports provision.
We have completed an audit of the use to which the sports grant has been made and its impact on our pupils' achievement - see below for the evaluation of 2017/18.
We are committed to ensuring that the Sports' Premium Funding has lasting impact at St Osmund's. To this end, we have recently evaluated the effectiveness of the additional coaching we employ and have changed provider. We are providing teachers with additional release time (not funded by the Sport Premium grant) to enable teachers to work more closely with coaches, observing and team teaching so their own PE teaching practice further improves. We have allied with a Sports Coaching organisation who have a vision for PE which aligns closely with ours - to focus on fundamental and transferable skills in the earlier years of Primary School, and apply those skills in more specific contexts in Years 4, 5 and 6.