SCHOOL GAMES An Olympic legacy?


PE teacher Ben Solly says that despite having less money,


less time and less staff, his school is determined to continue the success of the axed School Sports Partnerships programme


sport into the forefront of the nation’s hearts and minds. at the core of this will clearly be elite performance,


with the best athletes and coaches in the world gracing our sports stadia and television screens. But the buzz word surrounding 2012 is “legacy”.


T


he ImPOrTaNCe of physical education, sport and physical activity will never be more high profile in the UK than it will be this year. The unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that the London 2012 Olympic Games will bring will undoubtedly catapult


Indeed, legacy proved to be a crucial factor in


London’s successful bid, way back in 2005. The legacy of the 2012 games will, hopefully, bring benefits to the entire country, be it employment, raised aspirations, or world class sports facilities for our athletes. however, at grassroots level, how are the structures for sport that schools are operating within being affected


Moral support: Teacher Support Network Managing change


How can you ensure that you manage change


in a positive way? Julian Stanley offers some advice


There has been a lot of talk over the last few weeks, months and even years about change.as you well know, teachers have been dealing with huge amounts of change in every aspect of the profession; everything from curriculum to pensions and even the way school buildings are built or rebuilt has been under scrutiny. Teacher support Network too has long been


part of this discussion. Indeed many of the calls we receive to our support lines, as well as the emails we read come from teachers struggling to deal with the transformations to their job, school or community. We may counsel or coach these teachers on how to respond positively to change. We may give them further information or we may even signpost them to other organisations that can help. Yet, how much do we really understand about


change and how can you manage change in an effective, yet positive manner? If we, as a charity, were not clear of the impact of


change on individuals before, we certainly are now. For while education has been changing, Teacher support Network has been undergoing its own transformation. although we have been evolving, growing and


developing over our 135-year history, the last year and last few months, in particular, have seen an extensive review of the charity. The result is a far greater understanding and empathy for the kind of change that teachers face. There are some obvious parallels. We know, for


example, from the recent research and guidance we have launched with charity Family Lives, that while relationships between parents and teachers are good, teachers feel they need much more support in talking to parents, while parents want their schools and teachers to be more accessible through websites, texts, emails and the like. This kind of change can lead be particularly concerning for teachers as they worry about additional hours, online security and training needs. similarly, while we know relationships between


Teacher support Network and our users and donors are very good, we need to ensure that we are accessible to all teachers in need of support whenever or wherever they need it. Practically speaking, this means that, despite winning an award for our existing website, we are overhauling it to make it far easier to use, more relevant and mobile and tablet friendly. as school and local authority budgets face


significant cuts, so working roles and the way services in school are delivered can change or develop, which can often lead to worries for some teachers over how they will manage with additional responsibilities, commitments or procedures. Likewise at Teacher support Network, there has


been a far-reaching review of the services we offer and the way they are delivered. so, for example, while the 2,000 factsheets in our InfoCentre are popular and receive positive feedback from those teachers that have used them, we are changing the way we write, present, group and expertly review them to allow teachers to find the right help, support and information in a more efficient way. I could go on. Ofsted is currently looking at the


way it reports on schools, for example. We have changed the way we report on our services and how teachers use them. This means that in the future, we can look at what is of particular concern to the teachers who contact us, which will help inform our preventative and policy work to tackle the issues actually affecting the profession. Now, it is fair to say that the changes facing a


modest-sized charity are not on the same scale as those challenges the education sector is currently dealing with, but relatively speaking we have had to manage the same fears, concerns, worries and resistance. so what have we learned?how do you manage –


and continue to manage as our review goes on – this kind of change in a positive way? For us, the key seems to have been


communication. We have always been a close-knit team, but the review has seen a change in the way in which we communicate. Yes, we have new procedures. Yes, we have


reformed many of the services we have worked on for so long. Yes, the team has different responsibilities. Yes, we need more (or less!) meetings, but everyone has a voice, even if it is not always the party line, without feeling that it doesn’t count, or that alternative opinions are not allowed. embracing change has to include everyone.


• Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or call 08000 562 561 (England), 08000 855088 (Wales).


by budget cuts, and will there be a legacy from London 2012 that will benefit young people in our schools? In 2010, the coalition government scrapped the


widely acclaimed school sports Partnerships (ssP) programme causing uproar around the country. such was the public support for ssPs that half a million signatures were added to a petition started by a 17-year- old sports leader, Debbie Foote from Lincolnshire, in just six weeks. This campaign was also supported by Olympians


Gail emms and Darren Campbell who wrote to the prime minister voicing their concerns. This resulted in an embarrassing u-turn for the government who then agreed to continue to fund the programme for the remainder of the academic year and allow secondary schools to release a Pe teacher one day a week to visit local primary schools until 2013. however, the deconstruction of ssPs saw partnership development managers and school sports co-ordinators sadly lose their jobs. The school Games Organiser (sGO) role (a part-


time, three-days-a-week position) emerged from the ssP ashes with the focus of increasing the number of young people involved in competitive sport. There is a concern though, that the government is placing too great an emphasis on competition as a vehicle to increase participation and help address the nation’s health issues. Competitive school sport is an essential component


of any effective Pe department, but it is not for everyone. Competition and traditional games are serious “turn-offs for a significant number of school students, particularly key stage 4 girls. encouraging them to become involved in physical activities that they will enjoy and sustain throughout their lives is pivotal to the role of Pe teachers, and for some young people competitive sport does not always provide this. But it is not all doom and gloom.a few years ago I


attended the sports College Conference where former marine, marine biologist, presenter and all-round tough guy monty halls was delivering the keynote speech. he spoke of his experiences on expeditions in hostile environments, where inevitably things would go pear- shaped at some point. at these pivotal moments, he said, you could


wallow in your own misery at how terrible things were, or you could “choose your attitude”. Choosing to be positive, determined and focused on your goal was how he and his teams got themselves out of these situations. at my school, Long Field school, this is exactly


what the Pe department has done. They have chosen their attitude. Despite having less money, less time and less staff, not only have they been incredibly positive and determined to ensure they continue the successes of the ssP programme into the sGO model, they have also been very creative. They have developed an innovative and original sGO structure that is proving to be very successful. michael Gove wants schools to have more freedom


and choice on how they spend their budgets, and in schools which have headteachers who recognise the value and impact of Pe and school sport, this is great. however, there are clearly many schools out there where Pe and school sport is at the bottom of the pecking order and this is a great concern. Luckily, we have a principal who is a Pe specialist


and who is fully behind the drive to create high quality sporting opportunities not only for our students, but also for those in our partner and feeder schools. Leicestershire County Council has additionally given each partnership an extra £28,000 to include data collection, leadership, inclusion and volunteering


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within their sGO model. This additional funding brings with it a greater degree of accountability, and along with the teacher release money has turned the sGO role into a four or five day a week post at Long Field. The director of sport at Long Field, Chrishoult, has


been very creative in how he has used the sGO funding and structured the programme. The biggest success of the ssP programme was the work completed in primary schools, providing high quality Pe lessons and developing the skills of the primary teachers, and this has been the continued focus in the sGO model. Instead of employing someone in the new sGO


position who is responsible for the organisation of the school games competitions, Long Field has used the funding to employ a well qualified Pe instructor who has worked at the school for several years often on a voluntary basis. he is employed to allow each of the four full-time members Pe staff one day per week to service their “family” of primary schools. These families consist of all the local primary


schools in the melton and Belvoir area, whether they are feeder schools to Long Field or not. Our Pe staff deliver a structured programme of Pe, leadership, festivals, competitions and data collection. This huge commitment to providing high quality Pe has also enabled the sports leaders of Long Field to develop their leadership skills by assisting and delivering parts of this programme, which has subsequently inspired a new whole-school student leadership structure. as the director of sport, Chris also organises


competitive inter-school fixtures and tournaments acrossmelton, Belvoir and rutland. These competitive sport fixtures (for both girls and boys) contribute to a “Varsity Competition” which is awarded to the school finishing top at the end of the academic year. This creates an all-year-round competitive environment between the schools and allows a large number of students to contribute to their school’s progress in the competition. This approach to structuring the sGO programme


is proving to be very successful with all involved. It has many strengths, notably its creative use of the sGO funding and staffing structure, but ultimately the key to its success is the focus on prioritising what is best for the students in the partnership. It strikes the balance between providing high quality Pe in primaries, leadership opportunities, and structured competitive sport. so will there be a legacy provided by the sGO


programme? Nationally it appears that many schools and partnerships are unable to sustain the levels of participation in sport that the ssP programme brought, and it is the primary schools that are feeling this hit the hardest. I am certainly not advocating that the sGO structure


at Long Field is the perfect model to follow, every school is unique and needs to establish what works best for their students. What Chris and his team at Long Field have done however, is demonstrate that with the right personnel, a positive attitude and a little creative thinking, schools can provide high quality opportunities in Pe and school sport throughout the community and ensure the momentum and excitement that the Olympics will bring does in fact leave a sporting legacy for young people.


SecEd


• Ben Solly is a teacher of PE and assistant principal at Long Field School in Melton Mowbray.


Further information


Find out more about the Youth sports Trust school Games at www.yourschoolgames.com


SecEd • March 1 2012


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