Sport England releases summary of its School Games Review

The Sporting Future strategy committed Government and Sport England, along with the Youth Sport Trust, to reviewing the School Games and the Government was also tasked with reviewing the role of School Games Organisers.

The School Games, set up in 2011, is a national programme that aims to motivate and inspire millions of young people across the country to take part in more competitive sport.

Sport England established a task and finish group comprised of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Department of Health, Department for Education, Sport England, British Paralympic Association and the Youth Sport Trust (the current delivery partner).  The review comprised of a desk-top review; stakeholder consultation and the formation of recommendations.

Overall the review concluded that ‘the School Games is well placed to make a strong contribution to delivering the five strategic outcomes set by Sporting Future and the ambitions of Sport England’s new strategy, Towards an active Nation’. The summary sets out 17 recommendations covering a range of strategic and delivery issues. These ‘seek to maximise the value and impact of the School Games’ and include:

• Formats, guidance and training support across all levels of the School Games will be refreshed to ensure they fully support the ambitions of ‘Towards an active nation’. This will be led by Sport England and the other National Partners and implemented from September 2016
• Volunteering opportunities across all levels of the School Games should be further strengthened to ensure better pathways to enable children to continue volunteering after they leave school and to maximise synergies with Sport England’s new volunteering strategy. This will be led by Sport England and the Delivery Agent (currently the Youth Sport Trust) with a timeline being agreed when Sport England has launched its new volunteering strategy
• Increase the number and diversity of children participating in the School Games and call for more effort and resource to be devoted to those not currently participating in sport or physical activity through the better use of digital technology and social media, as well as expanding opportunities for personal best challenges. This will be led by the Delivery Agent (currently the Youth Sport Trust) and School Games Organisers (SGOs) from September 2016
• High-level KPIs should be established for SGOs, reported on, published and used as part of their performance management. This should be embedded as an award condition. This will be led by Sport England and the Delivery Agent with implementation starting in September 2016 and completed/embedded by September 2017
• The four Home Nations Sports Councils should contribute an appropriate level of funding to the finals event subject to their number of athletes and size of support teams. This will be led by DCMS and Sport England with support from Youth Sport Trust and to be completed by September 2017

Sport England commits to working with partners to implement the review recommendations.

Read the summary report here.

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