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Celebrating Inclusive PE during National School Sport Week

Activity Alliance is pleased to support Youth Sport Trust’s National School Sport Week campaign (19-25 June). This year’s theme is Together Again. It celebrates the return of youth sport and its power to bring people back together with a week of school sports days across the country. To celebrate this, we look back on the positive impact the Inclusive PE programme is having on both teachers and their pupils. It recognises the important role PE and school sport plays in the next generation’s lives, especially as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Two school children taking part in inclusive PE lesson

Activity Alliance believes a positive and meaningful experience in PE and school sport is critical for everyone. It shapes our life-long behaviours and attitudes in sport and activity. Yet, too many young disabled people miss out on the benefits of being active from an early age.

The Sainsbury’s Inclusive PE Training was developed for this very reason. It is a programme managed by Activity Alliance and delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust, British Paralympic Association and home nation disability sport organisations.

Established in 2012, the Sainsbury's Inclusive PE Training programme is a London 2012 Paralympic Legacy initiative. For almost ten years, it has led the way in building teachers and school staff’s confidence and competence. It means more young disabled people are reaping the benefits of an active school experience and beyond.

The programme ensures the inclusion of all young people, including young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND), in PE and school sport. It provides free training workshops and e-learning support for teachers, trainee teachers and school staff to provide a high-quality PE curriculum for all young people.

To date, the programme has trained over 19,200 PE teachers, school staff and trainee teachers throughout the UK which has benefited approximately 450,000 students.

“Now, I take more account of the children’s specific needs. Previously, I had stumbled into it, trying to see what works, but [now] I’m taking a more proactive approach, thinking what activities would be beneficial. In my planning, it provides structure and a step-by-step process to walk through.” Teacher

The success shows in:

  • The confidence of teachers and school staff in providing inclusive PE experiences increased from 50% to 92% after taking part in the programme.
  • After attending a workshop, 90% of teachers felt they had the skills and knowledge to include all young people effectively.
  • Through evaluation, it revealed that before attending a workshop, only 53% of teachers felt their students had access to high-quality inclusive PE. This increased to 92% following the training.

Students engaged in the programme said that the top benefits of inclusive PE lessons were taking part in new activities more often, improving their skills, and greater enjoyment:

“Last year in PE I kept score a lot, as Sir gave me a clipboard to use. I don’t like it when I can’t do the same things as other people. This year Miss gets me to try everything and if it is hard, she changes it a bit for me. She tells me things in a different way, or I learn one part before going on. She makes sure that I know each part before going onto the next.” Pupil 

For over a year, the coronavirus pandemic has had an enormous impact on young disabled people’s lives, including their ability to be active. Research from the Disabled Children’s Partnership shows nearly half (45%) of parents say their disabled children’s physical health has declined during lockdown (Left in Lockdown, June 2020).

Kat Southwell, Head of Programmes for Activity Alliance, said:

“The coronavirus pandemic challenged us in delivering programmes in their usual way. Like many others, we stopped all face-face workshop delivery. We transferred the Inclusive PE training’s learning experience into an online classroom and continue to provide training and resources to support teachers, trainee teachers and school staff.
“As we recover from the pandemic, inclusive PE and activity needs to be at the heart of planning for the next generation. We cannot let any more children feel left out or forgotten.”

Activity Alliance is currently shaping future programmes for young disabled people and needs new funders to join our movement for change. Kat continues:

“After seeing the success of this and other programmes we deliver involving young disabled people, we are excited by our ideas for new programmes. Sainsbury’s support for many years has been instrumental in helping us to change attitudes within education and school sport. We look forward to working with new brands and funders in coming years.”

More information

Find out more about the Inclusive PE programme here.

The STEP tool is one of the most effective ways to adapt activities and games to be more accessible for all children and adults. It’s commonly used in the PE and school sport setting, but the principles work in all settings, especially in the home. Find out more about using the STEP tool here.

Get in touch 

If you are a company or grant-giving body, please get in touch if you are interested in our programme funding opportunities at Activity Alliance email our Head of Programmes Kat Southwell via kat@activityalliance.org.uk. Or, you can call our Head Office on 01509 227750.