The PE and Sport Strategy for Young People
The government's 'Every Child Matters: Change for Children' strategy aims to ensure that every child, whatever their background or circumstances, has the support they need to:
- be healthy
- stay safe
- enjoy and achieve
- make a positive contribution
- achieve economic well-being
Participation in sport and 'sporting activities' has been identified as having a unique role in supporting improved outcomes for children and young people. Sport plays a very positive role in the lives of children and young people, supporting them to stay healthy and develop important social and life skills. PE provides the foundation for the development of concepts and skills necessary for participation in physical activity. PE and school sport is therefore high on the Governments agenda across the UK.
The Government’s commitment to improve the quantity and quality of PE and Sport undertaken by Young People in England, aged 5-19 was set out in the Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People (PESSYP) which was launched in January 2008. PESSYP builds on the success of the PE, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) Strategy for 5-16 year olds, which went live in April 2003. It will see an investment of £755 million over three years to deliver the work announced by the Prime Minister in July 2007, and is now set out in Public Service Agreement target 22.
The strategy is the joint overall responsibility of, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), working in particular with the Department for Universities, Innovation and Skills (DIUS) in relation to 16-19 year olds and with strong links to Department of Health.
There are key roles for the infrastructure of specialist sports colleges, school sport partnerships http://www.youthsporttrust.org/subpage/specialist-sport/index.html, national governing bodies http://www.sportengland.org/index/get_resources/resource_ul.htm#governing, county sports partnerships http://www.cspnetwork.org and other community providers to ensure that all 5-16 years olds have access to two hours PE and three hours beyond the curriculum and 16-19 year olds have three hours of sport outside of the curriculum. Collectively, this is referred to as the “Five Hour Offer”
Leading into the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games, the Government has invested an additional £100m. The extra investment was put in to offer all 5-16 year olds five hours of government funded sport a week, two in school and three out. All 16-19 year olds will be offered three hours of out of school sport a week
The new PE and Sport Strategy for Young People has ten Work Strands as follows:
- Club Links
- Coaching
- Competition
- Continuing Professional Development
- Disability
- Sport Unlimited (previously known as Extending Activities)
- Gifted and Talented
- Infrastructure
- Leadership and Volunteering
- Swimming
The Greater Manchester Children and Young Peoples Plan was developed by a range of partners (including Education, Youth Service, LEA, Sports Development, County Sports Partnership) and outlines the Counties aims and responsibilities for the realisation of the 5 hour offer in Greater Manchester.
There are a range of programmes which support the delivery of the 5 hour offer and details of these can be found list on the left of this page.
