PULSE St Eanswythe’s School A Case Study


You buy into your local School Sports Partnership; can you explain the benefits of doing this and what you get?


Our Sports Partnership has always been excellent. For the last ten years Shepway has always had a Partnership, the form of this has changed with the funding available. However, the provision has always been outstanding and allowed maximum participation from all the schools that were part of the scheme. The partnership has not just been a benefit to the school but has been integral to everything we have done over the last ten years.


Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves and the school?


St Eanswythe’s School is a one form entry Church of England Academy. The School has multiple deprivations index of 37.1. This means it is the 20th most deprived school out of 451 in Kent. The children come from a mixture of backgrounds. As a school we strive to educate the whole child through a range of both curricular and extracurricular activities. We achieve outstanding academic results and believe that this is due to effective teaching but also the opportunities that are given to the children in Art, Music, Sport and trips. This helps to develop a rich and exciting environment for learning where children love coming to school. We are lucky to have a very committed team where all staff strive for excellence and have a wide selection of skills to bring to the table.


Have you always had a love of PE and Sport?


Personally both members of staff who organise the PE aspects enjoy watching, playing and coaching a variety of sports. They also have a firm belief that sport has a positive effect on all walks of life. We believe that sport improves children’s confidence, their commitment and ability to learn. We strive to ensure that all children have the opportunity to play sport both in clubs and competitions and that they should have a variety of experiences to ensure that they find their strengths.


12 The Kent & Medway School Sports Magazine


The partnership allows children to compete in a wide variety of sports at both local and county level. It also allows all children the opportunity to compete, as events are organised across all age ranges. The organisation and flexibility of those involved in running the schemes has allowed for maximum participation and enjoyment for all. Schools regularly take whole classes to events which allow all children the opportunity to compete. High quality CPD training is organised in a wide range of ever growing sports delivered by qualified coaches. This also gives schools natural links with clubs. Coaching within school is also offered in certain sports again widening participation and allowing for further CPD from observing teachers. Where possible transport is also offered which enables schools who could not otherwise participate to access events. The partnership also offers support


and guidance with curriculum progression and planning for schools that need it. Leadership skills for children who have an interest in sport are provided by the partnership giving opportunities for pupils to not only develop their sporting skills but coaching and delivery skills too. Schools can access support and help with ideas for clubs, increasing participation, holding intra school competitions and running their own events.


As a school we feel that the partnership is the backbone of our sporting provision allowing us to widen and develop other skills. We wouldn’t be able to offer the children anywhere near the amount of experiences they have without them.


Your school is doing an incredible amount of different sports, can you briefly explain why you do so many and the benefits you believe this has for the children?


Our children come from a wide range of backgrounds with many who are unable to attend clubs outside of school due to financial reasons. Our aim is to provide our children with as many opportunities and experiences as possible. This will enable them to develop a lifelong love of sport as they find the area that motivates them. We also believe that those children who are gifted in sport may find a minority sport where they can excel to a further level than they would in the more traditional sports. We also believe


that at this young age it is important to widen the children’s skill base and enable them to find their strengths and improve their weaknesses.


There are also many different rules, behaviours, tactics and logistics which are learnt from these wider sports. These skills will be able to be cross applied in the world of academia. Widening the range of sports that we offer as extra-curricular clubs has also increased participation massively; children who were not interested in the more traditional sports are keen to try out minority sports such as Horse Riding or Kayaking. Once children have enjoyed sporting activities they are more likely to try other sports and participation in traditional sports also increases. Success breeds success and develops confidence to try new things.


Have you managed to increase competition in your school since the funding has come in?


The competition element of our school has not really increased due to the premiuim. We already entered every competition that was on offer from the Sports Partnership, local council and local clubs. We also regularly organise our own sporting competitions against local schools.


What effect do you believe this has on the pupils (empowering, leadership etc.)?


The sport premium however, has enabled us to ensure participation for all in a much wider range of sports and activities. It has also encouraged us to track this participation in terms of the number of extra-curricular activities that a child has participated in and the number of hours that they have committed to sport. We have also developed a tracking system for intra school competitions that enables us to identify strengths of individual children. We have used our premium money to ensure that all children have ‘wow’ moments within physical activities. This may be from doing an activity they have never one before e.g climbing or being selected to represent the school in a competition. The children thrive on the range of activities on offer, they love coming to school and are keen to do well and behave well in all areas of school life. This is in part due to the sporting opportunities that they have been offered. The children love sharing


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