Rochdale on the Move: Powering Partnerships for Active Futures

By GM Moving | 27 May 2025 | TAGS: Children and young people, GM School Games, Rochdale

Stakeholder Engagement Progress

Recent connections with newly elected Labour MPs Paul Waugh and Elsie Blundell have added valuable political backing. MP Paul Waugh expressed a keen interest in supporting minority ethnic communities. He would also like to explore partnership opportunities with Rochdale FC, helping to amplify the programme’s reach and relevance.

A growing relationship with the borough’s public health team has unlocked exciting new avenues of working in partnership. The school games partnership was invited to the table after working with the Fire Service, the canals and rivers trust who are supporting water safety initiatives and linking health promotion with physical activity and specifically swimming in this case. Additionally, renewed collaboration with the Healthy Schools officer has created momentum around aligning School Games and Healthy Schools criteria—streamlining efforts to deliver physical, social, and emotional wellbeing outcomes.

Further connections with the Local Authority’s School Improvement Team are ensuring that physical activity remains a valued component of the borough’s educational improvement agenda.

At the heart of this progress is Julie Roberts, School Games Manager, who describes the work as “a story about a journey” — one grounded in intentional, strategic relationship-building to help co-ordinate some of the previously stand-alone working.

Expanding Community Connections

The School Games network in Rochdale continues to expand its community reach. From supporting alternative settings like Great Haworth to re-engaging mainstream schools, the programme is growing its footprint across a diverse range of education and community contexts, enabling more vulnerable young people to benefit from tailored outreach.

Active travel is also being embedded more deeply into school culture, with the borough’s lead supporting projects across Rochdale’s primary schools. Meanwhile, innovative initiatives like the cycle track project in the park next to Beech House School have demonstrated the power of engaging private education settings in the movement for active lifestyles of all children.

A key advocate in this work is the host site headteacher who also chairs the Pioneer Trust. Their leadership is helping to embed physical activity and wellbeing into the ethos of secondary schools across Rochdale.

“I’ve been quite lucky that our head is the chair of the Pioneer Trust, which is a collaborative of all the secondaries,” said Julie. “That’s been really powerful — it engaged a couple of schools that hadn’t been engaged before.”

Impact on School Games and Local Priorities

Rochdale’s evolving stakeholder network is delivering tangible results across both School Games targets and wider local priorities. The borough has seen a significant rise in awareness and support for the “60 active minutes” agenda, with schools integrating more movement throughout the day.

Programmes have directly addressed issues of inequality and underrepresentation. Through targeted activities, such as archery sessions for Asian girls, and Opening Schools Facilities funded swim sessions for BAME girls the programme is creating more inclusive opportunities that reflect Rochdale’s diverse population. Strong public health connections are also bolstering the programme’s mental health and wellbeing offer.

Demographic data highlights the programme’s reach:

• 49% white and 51% from other ethnic backgrounds
• 48% boys and 52% girls
• 28% of participants are SEND students

These figures, as at May 2025, reflect a concerted effort to ensure the School Games Programme is representative, inclusive, and impactful.

These stakeholder efforts are driving measurable results in both programme impact and alignment with local priorities. “We do a lot, but we want to do more and differently,” said Julie, “We want to work with the partners that we’re already doing and grow our stakeholder base so that we can enhance the offer across Rochdale and collaborate for the benefit of the children in the borough”.

Challenges and Future Focus

Looking ahead, there is strong potential to deepen the role of youth voice in shaping future delivery, capitalising on new partnerships and energy within the system. Engaging with more of the new school trusts and collaboratives is also seen as a strategic move to scale the programme’s reach efficiently and consistently.

By continuing to build on its strong foundation of partnership, Rochdale’s School Games Programme is well-positioned to influence policy, support whole-child development, and deliver long-term positive change through PE, sport, and physical activity.

Julie is clear-eyed about what success looks like under the changing national landscape: “This whole active education aspect of what happens with the School Games is going to be so important. When we’re looking at a different network in 6, 12, 18 months’ time, this kind of work is absolutely golden.”