At Newminster Middle School, we recognise the contribution of Physical Education and Sport to the health and well-being of our students. We believe that a personalised and varied Physical Education curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities have a positive impact on other areas in school such as attitude, concentration, behaviour, attendance and academic achievement.

Our Primary School Sports Funding enables us to continue to extend our provision through employing additional sports professionals, entering into more sports competitions and allowing staff to access new resources and training to aid in the delivery of high quality Physical Education. It allows us to fund the transport and staffing costs to enable our students to attend these competitions and events.

What is the Sports Premium?

The Government have provided additional funding for Primary School Sport since September 2013 to improve the provision of physical education and sport in this phase. This funding is jointly provided by the Departments for Education, Health and Culture, Media and Sport, and the money goes directly to primary headteachers to spend on improving the quality of sport and PE for their students.

The Government vision for the Premium is:

A measurable and sustained improvement in school Physical Education and sport, underpinned by high quality teaching that increases participation levels in physical activity, and leads to healthier students who are more engaged across the whole curriculum. This will be the legacy to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The vision is to be achieved through the completion of the following objectives:

  1. To improve the quality of existing PE teaching through continuing professional development in PE for generalists, so that all primary age students improve their health, skills and physical literacy, and have broader exposure to a range of sports.
  2. To increase participation levels in competitive sport and healthy activity of students, and maintain these into adolescence
  3. To increase the quality of Initial Teacher Training in PE and sport, and to promote PE specialisation in the primary level workforce
  4. Schools understand and value the benefits of high quality PE and sport, including its use as a tool for whole school improvement

For 2021/22 our school allocation through this fund is £18,590

What should the money be spent on?

The money is ring fenced and can only be spent on Physical Education and sport provision in school. Schools must spend the funding to improve the quality of the PE and sports activities they offer their students, but they are free to choose the best way of using the money.

Possible uses for the funding include:

  • hiring specialist PE teachers
  • hire qualified sports coaches to work alongside primary teachers when teaching PE
  • provide existing staff with teaching resources to help them teach PE and sport
  • support and engage the least active students by running or extending school sports clubs, holiday clubs and Change 4 Life clubs
  • run sports competitions or increase students’ participations in the School Games
  • run sports activities with other schools.

How will we be spending the PE & Sports Funding in 2021/22?

The budget of £18,590 will be spent in the following ways;

  • £2,900 is being used to buy in the services of the Morpeth and Ponteland School Sports Partnership through a Service Level Agreement. This allows us to access training for our PE specialists, support with student leadership and access to a range of inter and intra school events.
  • Buying in the services of the Morpeth and Ponteland School Sports Partnership through the SLA also allows us to access:
      • A Partnership Manager who will lead and co-ordinate the running of the Partnership
      • Professional development opportunities in PE and sport throughout the academic year
      • Links with the Change 4 Life programme
      • Improved and developed links with local community sports clubs and National Governing Bodies
      • Entry into a number of  festivals throughout the academic year at central venues, at least one for Y5 and Y6
      • An appropriate framework of competitions
      • Age appropriate leadership training and volunteering opportunities
      • A network & communication system within a cluster area and the whole county.
      • A high quality and professional service, tailor made to your school
      • Appropriate and relevant information to meet Ofsted criteria
  • £7,000 towards the employment of a specialist PE member of staff for an additional day each week. All KS2 PE provision is delivered by specialist PE staff employed by the school ensuring high quality delivery for all.
  • £5,000 to subsidise our transport budget in order that we can ensure that students can access and attend the events, activities and competitions which are on offer in our local area at no cost to the students. The rural nature of our locality means that without this our ability to attend would be compromised.
  • £2,000 to support delivery from external providers such as those involved in KS2 curriculum delivery, Personal Development and H&WB days. This ensures that a breadth of opportunity is experienced by all students in KS2 and supports and encourages an engagement with physical activity and outdoor learning in it’s broadest sense.
  • £1,690 to support the purchase of sports equipment, resources, repairs and to develop the role of Sports Leaders as required.

What has been the impact so far of the Sports Premium?

  • High quality teaching and learning in PE, delivered by a specialist teaching team
  • Across all subjects students show high levels of enjoyment and engagement
  • Excellent behaviour and attitudes towards school sport, physical activity and more widely across school
  • Training and support provided for PE Subject Leaders and non-specialists involved in the delivery of enrichment activities through CPD opportunities.
  • Our Morpeth & Ponteland School Games Organiser attends Regional & National Conferences for PE and shares good practice on her return at PE Subject Leader meetings.
  • Extra- curricular clubs on offer with increased uptake by students and increased number of school teams competing against other schools in the Morpeth Partnership, locally and regionally, with great success, including rowing, rugby union, football, netball, dance, athletics, cross country, cricket, hockey, sportshall athletics, badminton, volleyball, basketball, orienteering, handball, lacrosse, rounders, swimming, tennis, cheerleading and skipping. All of our students take part in at least one additional extra-curricular or enrichment activity each year.
  • Increased number of community sports clubs delivering in schools including skipping, dance, athletics and archery.
  • Increase of community groups using school facilities after school, including athletics, netball, football and karate.
  • Year 5 students have a second opportunity to improve their swimming with the aim being that all students can swim at least 25 metres. In 2021/22 this offer is being extended to those children in Y6 and Y7 who have not had this opportunity due to the impact of COVID.
  • At the end of 2020/21, 85% of Y6 students (our current Y7 cohort) are able to competently swim 25 meters or more and 74% are able to swim using more than 1  stroke and 62% are able to demonstrate safe self rescue techniques. Information was collected via a google response form.
  • KS2 students have the opportunity to take part in Bikeability training to develop their cycling proficiency and road safety.
  • All of our feeder schools Year 4 students take part in a transition Sports Day in the Summer Term, prior to starting at Newminster in Year 5, supported by Student Sport Leaders.
  • All Year 5 students take part in Hoops for Health and skipping workshops.
  • All Year 5 students take part in a team building day in September to develop group skills through various sporting activities, as part of their transition programme; this also includes team building and problem solving activities.
  • All Y6 students take part in a Post SATs team building and activity day.
  • Increase in Sports Leadership opportunities for all our students, to have the ability to continue to lead first school competitions within Morpeth School Sports Partnership and at the Northumberland Games, including tri-golf and tennis.
  • Greater awareness from students about the dangers of obesity, smoking and other activities that undermine students’ health through the Personal Development programme and associated activities.
  • KS2 and KS3 Health and Well being days form part of the planned enrichment programme for all students.
  • Awareness of how PE contributes to their understanding of social, spiritual, moral and cultural skills.
  • Opportunity for students to represent Newminster in Morpeth & Ponteland area finals and at the Northumberland Games.
  • Greater student enjoyment and achievement in PE, as competitors and leaders, in their performances.
  • Students have high self-esteem and sense of pride for their teams. All students take part in termly house matches, earning points for their teams and feel valued.

Next steps

We aspire to further increase the opportunities for all our students in sport, regardless of ability, and try to achieve this by creating a unique personalised curriculum for them all . This is even more important to us given the impact that COVID has had for our young people in respect of their physical, social, emotional and mental health and well-being. To help to achieve this we aim to:

  • provide more opportunities for pupils to develop leadership skills, learning to support each other, to plan, organise, manage and evaluate their own and others’ work
  • continue to use student voice to listen to learners and to provide some extra curricular clubs based on their suggestions, and add to our diverse range of clubs on offer
  • continue to develop strong links with local sports clubs and encourage children to take part in sport outside of school e.g Morpeth Harriers, Morpeth Rugby Club, Morpeth Tennis Club
  • continue to promote the importance of taking part in physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle
  • continue to develop learning opportunities for students to develop a broader understanding of the impact of a healthy lifestyle for them, both now and in the future
  • continue to provide a healthy environment for pupils to learn, to deal with competition and how to cope with winning and losing, to abide by rules, to experience working as a team and to develop communication and cooperation skills
  • celebrate learners’ successes regularly and make sure they feel good about themselves as a result of their participation in PE and School Sport.

Updated: September 2021