School Sports Partnerships – where are they now?

Now government funding has been withdrawn, School Sports Partnerships are doing their best to salvage 10 years of good work.

Now government funding has been withdrawn, School Sports Partnerships are doing their best to salvage 10 years of good work. But what has been lost, and is the new School Games initiative an adequate substitute? John Oates investigates…

It has been, by any measure, a remarkable year for British sport. Yet the dust had barely settled after the Olympics before the media were asking questions about the legacy of the games within schools.

Most of all, commentators wanted to know why Michael Gove had put an end to funding for the School Sports Partnerships (SSPs). These had been part of a broader Labour government strategy – PE, School Sport and Club Links – and consisted of a network of 450 partnerships across England. Each was a ‘family’ of schools, typically a specialist sports college linked to several secondary schools, each of which had a cluster of primary and special schools.

Among other things, funding covered two days a week for secondary PE teachers to work with primary schools. The partnerships were, on the whole, popular and successful – which is why it caused such a backlash when, in October 2010, the Department for Education announced that funding for SSPs would be cut completely.

In the wake of the outcry, the DfE decided that government funding for SSPs would continue until August 2011. They also agreed to pay for one day a week of secondary teachers’ release time, but this would last only until August 2013 and would not be ringfenced.

The partnership funding has now been replaced by the School Games programme, which has less money in the pot and is intended to reduce bureaucracy and increase the emphasis on competitive sports. But what do the SSPs think about all this? As you might expect, their experiences – both before and after the shift to School Games – have varied.

HAMBLE SSP

Some SSPs have struggled to continue, or simply collapsed, in the wake of the reduction in funding and removal of ringfencing on release time. Based in a fairly isolated sports college at the southern end of Eastleigh, opposite the Isle of Wight, Mandy Quill worked as the Partnership Development Manager (PDM) of the former Hamble SSP. “The partnership was brilliant in every way,” she says, “and it wasn’t only about sport and PE. We created better links with the other schools and I took on responsibility for community work and also for the Extended Schools programme.”

An Ofsted survey of good practice, published in June 2011, praised Hamble SSP for its use of dance to target groups of pupils at risk of adopting unhealthy lifestyles or disengaging from learning. Things changed dramatically when funding was withdrawn, and secondary schools in the area did not agree to contribute to the SSP. “Two of them were very successful schools that stepped into academy status,” explains Mandy, “and a third is in a different borough.”

“I was made redundant as assistant headteacher, where part of the role was as PDM for the partnership,” she continues. “Then I had to apply for the job as School Games Organiser (SGO), which is only three days a week.” Mandy now works for South Eastleigh and South Winchester School Sports, which replaced Hamble SSP. She lost the dance coordinator who went into primary schools, and has found that traditional sports have also suffered. “Hockey isn’t very easy for primary teachers to teach, and they can’t afford equipment,” she says. “But I had a school sport coaching scheme and got equipment for every school through a lottery bid.”

Today the schools still have the kit but there’s no coach and no CPD programme. “Last year two schools entered the competition,” says Mandy. “It’s so disheartening, but I’m being positive. I’ve been working with the very rewarding Change 4 Life programme, linking with clubs to deliver to children who don’t take part in any sport.”

WYRE FOREST SSP

This partnership in Worcestershire has been able to maintain most of its provision, largely because all but two of its schools have agreed to increase their financial contribution to £3 per pupil per year. The PDM and SGO, Alexandra Mays, says that this was partly down to the support of representatives from each cluster who attended regular steering group meetings. The offer in Wyre Forest has been notably broad: in addition to competitions and work with targeted groups of pupils, the partnership offers CPD not only to teachers, but also to teaching assistants and lunchtime supervisors. It also works to promote the impact of PE and sport on achievement, behavior and other aspects of school life.

Although funding from schools raises around £40,000 a year, it has to be supplemented by other means. “I do quite a lot of consultancy work for the Youth Sport Trust,” says Alexandra. “They lost a lot of their workforce due to cuts, now they’re getting funding back and need to have additional people to deliver.”

Alexandra also sits on the national evaluation panel for the School Games, and voices concerns about the uptake for the optional kitemark which accompanies the programme. “One of my primary schools, which I think is outstanding in terms of PE provision, has come out with a bronze,” she says. “The headteacher said they’re not putting that on a letterhead because they’re a gold school not a bronze school.”

She argues that the problem is that the kitemark is a one-sizefits- all solution, with a single application process for all schools: “It’s come from the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and I don’t think the people who design these things are in touch with the reality of what it’s like in schools.”

CREWE & NANTWICH (RUSKIN) SSP

Niall McGregor, now the SGO for Crewe and Nantwich, takes a pragmatic view of the changes: “You’ve got to take into consideration the economic situation, and I think it’s understandable that cuts needed to be made.

That isn’t to say, though, that he agrees with the rhetoric surrounding the changes or the way in which they’ve been handled. “The argument was that the old way was a topdown approach where we were told what to do,” says Niall. “In fact we were given a robust strategy which was developed over 10 years or longer across the networks. And now we’re not asked to do any in-depth monitoring, how are they going to demonstrate that the new initiative is having an impact?”

In Crewe and Nantwich they are still calling themselves an SSP, and are trying to maintain their provision with the help of community partners. “I think the School Games programme is great. There are formats for about 30 sports, which schools can access and then run a competition,” says Niall. “My role is to pick up those formats and, after consultation within the local area, decide what we want to have as level two competition – where schools compete against each other.”

Like many people involved with SSPs, Niall regards CPD as one of his main concerns under the new system. Primary schools used to have 12 days of release time for training and competitions, but these have been removed. “If we have a calendar of school games competitions such as tag rugby or girls’ football,” he adds, “then some staff might lack confidence that they can deliver those sports. We want to put on courses for those teachers, but we’re struggling because we haven’t got the funding.”

PRESTON SSP

The SSP in Preston had developed a structured programme of inclusive activities, including taster sessions as well as competitions. It led to pathways through Playground 2 Podium and Lancashire Sport, and there were events for children across the SEN register including cricket, boccia and wheelchair basketball.

“The main impact on primary school pupils has been the withdrawal of coaches working within the schools,” says Sarah Cooper, one of the former school sport coordinators. “It worries me that primary school teachers are now delivering PE to youngsters without the specialist skills required to ensure that the fundamental movement skills are developed correctly.”

Many of the remaining SSPs are concerned about the emphasis on competition in the new School Games, which risks being at the expense of broad participation. Sarah points to several successful projects which are no longer running, including work carried out by school sport coordinators in primary schools where targets in PE and physical activity were not being met. They also ran a dance festival which was attended by more than 15 primary schools.

Other opportunities have also been lost, according to Sarah: “I worked closely with a special needs group delivering team building sessions to develop confidence and selfesteem. We also delivered play leaders’ training to encourage the Y6 pupils to lead activities with younger pupils at lunchtime.” These sorts of projects are no longer within her remit, as her role as Release PE Teacher covers only two days a week.

NORTH OXFORDSHIRE SSP

One of five partnerships across Oxfordshire, this SSP lost its competition manager and FE coordinator but most schools have bought into the partnership at £4 per pupil. The secondary schools have agreed to use their DfE funding to release school sport coordinators one day a week; in return, their financial contributions are waived.

It’s a different story for the partnership’s special schools, which have decided to spend the money elsewhere. “They were fully engaged in everything we did before,” says Carl Hamilton, Partnership Development Manager, “but their budgets are being cut even more than in mainstream schools.”

Carl worries about what will happen when the funding for secondary PE teacher release stops at the end of this academic year. “The School Games strategy in its widest sense allows you to deliver a lot of things: leadership, volunteering, extracurricular clubs,” Carl argues. “As long as you don’t see it as just traditional competitive sport then it isn’t a bad thing, but you need a manageable structure.”

“If the release funding ends there will be far less competition,” warns Carl, “schools won’t have links with community clubs, far fewer clubs will go on in primary schools, and there will be fewer leadership programmes. It’s a dire picture. There was an uproar during the Olympics about funding being cut, but the fear is that in a month or two it may not be such a priority.”