School Sport and Activity Sector Partnership Winter Forum
Discussions focused on reviewing current programs, implementing new strategies, and promoting physical literacy among children and young people. The meeting also featured presentations on specific sports initiatives and tools to support the sector's goals.
Gavin James, the United Action manager at the Youth Sport Trust, welcomed everyone to the first forum of 2025 and outlined the agenda, including policy updates, the sector pledges, the physical literacy toolkit, and sharing and learning sessions. Gavin spoke about the updates made to the SSASP web pages and the process of cleansing the network mailing list.
Ali Oliver, CEO of the Youth Sport Trust then provided a state-of-the-nation update, acknowledging the current period of review and reflection in the sector, and mentioned the upcoming comprehensive spending review. She also touched on the next implementation phase of the Trust's strategy and expressed gratitude for the support in policy influencing.
Ali discussed the progress of the Curriculum Assessment Review, highlighting the consistency of responses from various organisations, and mentioned the response from the Prime Minister and the School Standards Minister, Catherine McKinnell, to a letter from athletes calling for more opportunities for children to be active. Ali also touched on the ongoing Culture Media Select Committee enquiry and the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which proposes amendments to include enrichment in breakfast clubs. Ali closed by highlighting the upcoming Inclusion Week Live, the relaunch of the Young Ambassador movement, and announced the theme for National School Sport Week, which will be the role of active uniforms in schools.
Charlie Crane from the Children and Young People policy team at Sport England provided an update on the School Games Organiser Network Review. The review, which is on track to be completed by the end of April, aims to examine the impact and value for money of the current network and appraise options for a reimagined school sport network. The review has gathered insights from over 1,600 schools, 450 School Games Organisers, and 84 host sites. The findings show that the current network has a positive impact on providing equal opportunities and on the least active students. The review also found that the average number of schools each School Games Organiser covers is 56 and that 80% of their time is having the greatest impact across primary schools. The next steps include finalising the reports for objective A; holding two more consultation events in February and preparing key messages to share with the network. The government has committed to funding the School Games Organisers until the end of the 2024 to 2025 academic year, with funding beyond that subject to the ongoing spending review and the ongoing School Games Organisers Review.
Charlie discussed the Positive Experiences Collective, a program aimed at promoting physical literacy and positive experiences among children and young
people. The program consists of three parts: the Patchwork Program, which involves 36 organisations working together to learn and test the principles of physical literacy; the Listening Circles, which provide a space for partners to share and learn from each other; and an annual conference. Charlie also mentioned the development of resources to support partners in understanding and advocating for physical literacy.
Matthew Hopkinson then provided an update on behalf of the Department for Education, eluded to Ali’s comments on the Curriculum Assessment Review and the Spending Review, emphasizing the need for careful thinking about changes in the sector. He also mentioned the ongoing work on the Bill, which includes an amendment related to the national wellbeing measure. Matthew expressed optimism about the future of the sector, despite the challenges and changes.
Following the policy updates, Emily Reynolds, the Youth Sport Trust’s Director of Children and Young People, led a discussion about the partnership's pledges, which were initially introduced in 2019. She emphasized that these pledges are for the sector, not just the Youth Sport Trust. The pledges are based on the terms of reference for the partnership, and Emily thanked the partnership for the feedback received, which led to some changes in the pledges. Emily concluded by explaining the process for the next steps, which involved the breakout rooms for further discussion and feedback on the pledges.
Feedback received from the breakout rooms will be collated to see how the pledges can be refined.
The second half of the forum focussed on insight sharing from the sector. James Mooney, PE lead at the Cabot Learning Federation and physical literacy action group lead, updated on the progress of the Physical Literacy Toolkit since its launch at the end of 2024. James reinforced the toolkit’s purpose, which aims to support the sector in understanding physical literacy, creating advocates, and promoting collaboration. The toolkit has been shared with various partners, including School Games Organisers, Multi Academy Trusts, and Active Partnerships. James encouraged attendees to use the toolkit with their teams, signpost others in their networks, and provide feedback. He also outlined plans to align the sector development, evolve the toolkit, and incorporate youth voice. Ian Gregory from Chance to Shine was introduced to share how they have been using the toolkit in their operations.
Ian discussed their journey towards physical literacy. They aim to inspire young people through cricket and have been part of various groups and initiatives, including the physical literacy action group and the patchwork program. They have also been working closely with the Youth Sport Trust and Lords Taverners to influence their network. Ian highlighted the importance of embedding physical literacy principles in their coaching workforce and resources, such as their Super Striker lesson plan. They have also created an animation to promote cricket as a game for everyone.
Chris Lock closed the forum by presenting on behalf of England Hockey. He spoke about the development of a youth strategy for hockey, focusing on making the sport more visible, relevant, and accessible to young people from diverse backgrounds. He spoke about the importance of schools in introducing hockey to young players and the challenges faced in delivering the sport in schools, such as lack of workforce, potential danger, lack of confidence, outdated resources, and inconsistency. Chris presented the Skill Station Carousel as a solution to these challenges, which incorporates inclusive, safe, and fun activities. He also mentioned plans to review the 5- to 11-year-old offer across clubs, communities, and schools, and to gather more data to understand the landscape of hockey in schools.
Below, you will find a recording of the forum alongside the individual presentations. The presentations are in PDF format, but the videos can be viewed in the recording.
Presentations: