My Personal Best for Alternative Provision
Activities
The My PB approach connects the curriculum and daily life through physical activities, exploring the insights they can offer each other. School staff receive training on the approach, enabling them to access resources and create an action plan to enhance their implementation.
Following feedback from APs and PRUs that have completed the programme, the approach of improving pupils life skills through sport and physical activity has benefitted pupils that:
- Are disengaged from learning
- Have poor attendance
- Experience behaviour issues
- Have social and emotional difficulties
- Are looking to follow vocational learning routes.
Effects
The effects settings have seen on pupils from using this approach include increased:
- Engagement with the setting and learning (beyond PE lessons)
- Physical activity
- Confidence
- Self-esteem
- Trust in others
- Resilience and determination
- Behaviour
- Concentration
- Attendance
And most importantly – pupils have fun doing the activities while learning and developing.
Places on the My PB training are currently full for this year but if you’d like to be added to the waiting list, please email [email protected].
Case studies:
Supporting girls with eating disorders
An LIS in the Midlands is running in a hospital school whose attendees are mainly young women and girls who have eating disorders. They tend to have poor school attendance and are unlikely to engage in learning during their hospital stay. However, the LIS has used the My PB approach to offering physical activity in his sessions. The approach has been incredibly successful with the girls, as it offers them different types of physical activity than they are used to, is tailored and reflects on wider aspects of their life and their personal development. Attendance at the activity sessions has been high and the confidence and self-esteem of the girls taking part has noticeably improved. The challenge identified by the LIS is sustaining this engagement and motivation when they transfer back to school after hospital (as they are likely to return to the sports and systems that had turned them off before).
Providing structure and fun
One PRU attached to a mainstream setting in the South East used the approach with six pupils most at risk of permanent exclusion from school, with negative conduct, attendance and behaviour points. They were looking to see how PE could be used as a different way to engage these young people. The pupils were taken out for separate sessions in which the My PB approach was explained and used with them. This resulted in more structured, individualised learning, smaller class sizes and a better routine for them. Following a term of the approach, 3 of the young people (50%) increased their attendance, reduced their negative behaviour and increased their positive behaviours. Additionally, as these pupils were working in alternative ways, leaving their classrooms, the mainstream classes they had left were working without student disruption.
The PRU has now moved the PE lead onto this project full-time to work with pupils and decide who the approach would be suited to and continue to deliver it to more pupils in future years.
Using football as a way to learn
Louis, 16, was struggling with focus in a mainstream school and got in trouble for being unable to stay quiet, to the point of potential exclusion. The school linked with a local AP who were using the My PB programme, based on Louis’s love of football.
“I anticipated that the programme would equip me with essential life skills, making daily life more manageable.”
He found the programme instrumental in this regard, particularly enjoying learning to cook various dishes such as pizza, chicken, and even baking bread. Throughout his involvement in the My Personal Best, Louis experienced significant personal growth. He developed improved social skills, made a positive shift in his attitude towards learning, and forged meaningful friendships with his peers. Furthermore, he gained proficiency in budgeting and financial management, as well as interpersonal communication skills.
Louis says he now enjoys talking about his daily experiences with his mother. His confidence and his optimistic approach towards learning has boosted him. Following the completion of his exams, Louie intends to pursue further education at college, with aspirations of building a career in plumbing, and an apprenticeship lined up.
Overall, Louis describes his journey through the programme as transformative, instilling in him the skills, confidence, and determination needed to pursue his goals with conviction.
Networking Opportunities
In response to the research conducted by Leeds Beckett and Loughborough universities we share a half termly newsletter focusing on Alternative Provision. We also launched our termly virtual networking sessions in December to share opportunities and best practice. We hope this will be an exciting and informative venture for you to connect with other practitioners from across the alternative provision space. Details of the next sessions are:
Session 2
02/04/2025: What is the school games mark? How does this look in an alternative provision setting.
Session 3
02/07/2025: Planning for the next academic year. How are you going to put PE, Sport and Play at the heart of your school?
If you would like to join the calls or receive the newsletter please contact Katie Phillips at [email protected]
