What is the PE and Sport Premium Grant?
The PE and Sport Premium Grant is a Government led fund which is allocated to schools with the intention of helping them to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of PE, sport, and physical activity provided within schools. Funding for schools is calculated by reference to the number of primary-aged pupils on roll in Years 1-6.
The Government provide this funding in support of their ambition for all children and young people to live healthy and active lives.
How is the grant used?
Subject to a number of guidelines, schools have the flexibility to use the grant efficiently to build capacity and capability in the school and make sure that improvements made to the quality of PE, sport, and physical activity provision now are sustainable and will benefit pupils joining the school in the future. Furthermore, the grant should be used to develop or add to the PE, sport, and physical activity that the school provides.
At St. Bernadette’s, we are committed to ensuring that our pupils are given the opportunity to develop a healthy, active lifestyle. We aim to provide a positive experience of sport and physical activity and recognise that such an experience at a young age can build a lifetime habit of participation. The funding enables us to offer a wider range of sporting opportunities during the school day, through extracurricular provision, and also through participation in sport at an inter-school level.
Our approach to PE acknowledges that physical activity has numerous benefits for our children’s physical health, as well as their mental wellbeing. Children who are physically active are happier, more resilient, and more trusting of their peers. Ensuring that our pupils have access to sufficient daily activity has wider benefits for our pupils and the school, supporting positive behaviour as well as enhancing academic achievement.
We organise our PE and Sport Premium development priorities and spending under 5 Key indicators:
Primary PE and Sport Premium – Key Indicators
At St. Bernadette’s the PE and Sport Premium Grant is used to fund a range of activities and forms of support that will benefit all of our pupils, for example:
• Continuing professional development for staff to support quality first teaching
• Provision of a qualified sports coach to facilitate additional daily sporting opportunities for our children
• Provision of a wide range of extracurricular sport and competitive opportunities
• Ensuring equal access for all pupils to the range of sports and physical activities the school offers
• To raise attainment in primary school swimming and water safety outcomes through the provision of top-up swimming sessions for those pupils who do not meet national curriculum requirements after they have completed core swimming lessons.