Sports College Partnership
The School Sport Co-ordinator programme was first launched in September 2000 with an initial 600 School Sport Co-ordinators ( SSCo 's) being funded through Sport England's Lottery Fund. These were targeted at areas of greatest deprivation. Through the PE, School Sport and Club Links ( PESSCL ) strategy, the government has ensured that SSCo 's are now an integral part of every LEA and school's PE and school sport strategy. The structure of these partnerships builds on the good practice demonstrated by the first few phases.
There will be 400 SSCo partnerships with 3,200 SSCo 's in secondary schools and 18,000 primary or special school link teachers. SSCo partnerships are families of schools that come together to enhance sports opportunities for all. Sports Colleges will generally be at the hub of the SSCo partnerships and be given funding to employ a full time Partnership Development Manager ( PDM ), who is responsible for the strategic development of the partnership and liaison with other agencies.
Within the Chester School Sports Partnership we have BlaconSportsCollege*, and an additional 6 High Schools;
- Bishops Blue Coat
- ChesterCatholic High
- Christleton High
- Bishop Heber High
- Queens Park High
- Tarporley High
Each of these secondary schools has a School Sport Co-ordinator ( SSCo ), a teacher that is released from the teaching timetable for 2 days per week, they are responsible for the co-ordination and development of school sport in their own school and family of primary / special schools.
Each secondary school (and the Sports College) is linked to, on average, 5 primary or special schools. Each of these will have a Primary Link Teacher ( PLT ), an existing teacher that is released from teaching for 12 days per year, who is responsible for the development and delivery of high quality PE and sport in their own school. Within the Chester partnership we have 56 partner primary, Infants and special schools The Chester Sports Partnership receives funding to employ a PDM and to enable the schools to release these teachers to undertake the SSCo and PLT roles.
The PDM is responsible for writing a three-year development plan to achieve the following national objectives.
- Increased participation in high quality physical education
- Increased participation in high quality out of school hours learning
- Increased participation in high quality informal physical activity
- Increased participation in high quality competition and performance
- Improved attitude, behaviour and attendance in pe, sport and whole school
- Increased attainment and achievement in and through pe, oshl and sport
- Increased participation in community based sport and improved quality of community life
Progress
The partnership has appointed 7 School Sports Coordinators to work in each school they are as follows;
Bishops Blue Coat - Lindsay Huddart
Chester Catholic High - Dennis Dorman
Christleton High - Judith Gillmour
Bishop Heber High - Jayne Haggis
Queens Park High - Dennis Dorman
Tarporley High - Joe Morphet
Each of the 56 Primary Schools have appointed a Primary Link Teacher.
Funding
In addition to funding that the partnership receives from Momenta the agency acting on behalf of the School Sports Partnership Programme the partnership has already started to bring in further funds.
The PDM will be invoicing each High school partner for an agreed £1000 to establish an operational budget for the programme. Each Primary school has also agreed to contribute two days of their allocated supply days to the operational budget of the partnership.
The PDM had secured £3200 from The Football Association for School Club Links Programme in 4 family clusters.
The partnership has also benefited from a £5000 PESSCL funding bid to deliver out of school hours learning in one pilot cluster. This will be delivered through a partnership with Chester City Council and the Chester Jets Basketball Club.
Training
A full CPD training programme is now underway for all staff involved in the partnership.
The partnership has also organised a Community Sports Leadership Award to run at the Sports College in October half term. Each high school will identify key volunteers to attend the course with a view to assisting their family primary schools in the delivery of their curricular and extra curricular sports activities. The number of volunteers on the first course is 20.
Activity
Each school has just completed an audit for their school. This information will form the basis of the three-year development plan. The plan will concentrate on addressing the weaknesses whilst enhancing and developing the strengths in PE and school sport in the Chester Partnership.
Prior to the submission of the plan, the partnership hopes to undertake some sports activities after October half term; the following projects have been discussed.
Blacon Family Cluster -Tennis Coaching in the Primary Schools, leading to an after school club based at the sports college.
Bishops Family Cluster Taster / Sports Hall Athletics Competition
Christleton Family Cluster Basketball / health related workshops with Chester Jets
ChesterCatholicFamily Cluster FA Out of School Hours Programme 6 weeks of coaching in each school.
HeberFamily Cluster FA Out of School Hours Programme 6 weeks of coaching in each school.
QueensParkFamily Cluster FA Out of School Hours Programme 6 weeks of coaching in each school.
Tarporley Family Cluster FA Out of School Hours Programme 6 weeks of coaching in each school.
In conjunction to this activity the partnership will fully support the delivery of Chester City Sports Development Initiatives.
It is hoped that the continued support of all partners will ensure that the Chester School Sports programme achieves the expectation of the young people within the borough. Ensuring the sustainability of High Quality PE and School Sport beyond the initial three-year period.
Helpful links
The following links will give opportunities for primary and secondary schools to access information and download information to apply for events, grants and other relevant information.
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