The government have launched an action plan to ‘begin to provide pupils with a greater opportunity to access 60 minutes of physical activity daily’. The plan is summarised below but can be downloaded in full https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-sport-and-activity-action-plan

The cross government school sports and activity action plan:

  • outlines a range of new measures to strengthen the role of sport within a young person’s daily routine
  • explains how teachers and parents can play their part
  • promotes a joined-up approach to physical activity and mental wellbeing

The plan states that:

 In September 2020, the Government will launch a series of regional pilots to trial innovative approaches to increasing activity levels within and outside school.

·     The Department for Education (DfE) will provide £500,000 to “test new approaches to improve the strategic direction and delivery of PE and school sport through the use of teaching schools.”

·     Sport England will provide £1 million of National Lottery funding to develop a new digital resource for use in schools, to be launched in 2020, with the aim of empowering girls and building their confidence.

·     The DfE will look at how to provide schools with a toolkit to support effective use of the PE and Sport Premium.

·     The DfE will look at how Initial Teacher Training equips PE teachers to deliver high quality lessons.

There is again a huge emphasis on the roles of schools in enthusing pupils through high quality teaching around physical activity and active lives. The plan states around teachers themselves that “we must ensure that teachers have the knowledge and skills they need to teach PE effectively [and] support primary schools to make use of PE specialists” and also mentions making the most of opportunities to be active throughout the school day. 

We know there are many fabulous schools working hard to support pupils holistically and Ofsted’s new Inspection Framework, 2019, gives greater recognition of schools’ work to support the personal development of pupils. The plan states that all work around this ‘such as the opportunities they have to learn about eating healthily and maintaining an active lifestyle’ will be positively values during inspections. “Inspectors will expect to see schools offering children a broad, balanced education, including opportunities to be active during the school day and through extra-curricular activities.”