Member Article

City sport provider steps up to improve school sports

A leading charity in Coventry has stepped up to ensure thousands of schoolchildren across the city have access to high-quality sport and leisure activities.

Coventry Sports Foundation is the largest sport and leisure provider in the city and has successfully teamed up with over 50 schools in the area to deliver a wide range of sport and leisure programmes to improve the quality of physical education in schools.

Around 5,000 primary school children benefit from the initiative which assists with improving the skills of primary school PE teachers as well as providing breakfast and after-school activity clubs, lunchtime playground management, gifted and talented workshops and ‘Change 4 Life’ clubs and inter school competitions.

A 30-strong team of experienced coaches and qualified primary school teachers help to deliver activities at primary schools across the city including Pearl Hyde Primary School on Dorchester Way, Holbrooks Primary School on Gateside Road, Walsgrave Church of England Primary School on School House Lane and St John Vianney Primary School on Mount Nod Way.

Sports provision within primary schools has recently received a major boost from Government funding provided through the Primary School Premium which is looking to tackle child obesity levels by allowing schools to further enhance opportunities available to young people.

Any primary school with 17 or more pupils will receive around £8,000 plus an additional £5 per pupil to assist with the delivery of sport every year until 2016.

Coach Paul Riddington has over 30 years experience as a secondary school PE teacher and joined Coventry Sports Foundation’s Schools Programme last year.

He works with staff and pupils at St John Vianney Primary School to lead a variety of sports sessions and is currently assisting the school’s PE teacher Eamonn Carroll to enhance his training.

“My main role at St John Vianney is to work alongside Eamonn to deliver high-quality games sessions. It is a two-way process whereby I will start by leading the sports lessons and then Eamonn will gradually start to take over that role,” he said.

“As Eamonn already has a wealth of experience delivering PE at the school I will focus on helping to boost the variety of sports included within the lessons.”

“This includes coaching athletics, rounders, tennis, football, hurdles and even tag rugby with small-sided games introduced to get pupils more active.”

He added: “I work with a wide range of teachers across the city and some may have little sports knowledge but have been expected to deliver a PE programme.

“Here the up-skilling will focus more on helping them to increase their understanding of warm-ups, sporting techniques and the rules of different sports. It’s about giving them the confidence to be able to manage and organise a games session.”

Eamonn has been teaching PE at St Vianney Primary School since 2007 and said that the games sessions have been a huge success.

“My main specialism is football so it is great to be able to have expert coaches such as Paul come into the school and help teach other sports sessions and enhance my skills right across the spectrum,” he said.

“Paul helps to break down the mechanics of a lesson to make sure I am teaching the right things at the right time. The whole idea is to ensure the children are exposed to proper coaching and that we are teaching the sessions to best of our ability.

“The programme is of a huge benefit to everyone involved not only from a health point of view but also for spotting and helping to encourage children into talent programmes.

“Since starting the programme, we have already seen an increase in the number of children getting involved in our after-school clubs and pre-school clubs and we continue to identify more pathways for children to participate in activities both in and out of school.”

Levels of inactivity and obesity among young people are currently of a national concern and figures released by the National Child Measurement Programme have revealed that around 10 per cent of reception children in Coventry are classed as obese.

Adrian Riley is a former teacher and PE co-ordinator and works with children of all ages and abilities in schools across the city as well as providing sports sessions and swimming lessons at the Coventry Sports Foundation-managed sites including Centre AT7 on Bell Green Road, the Alan Higgs Centre on Allard Way and Xcel Leisure Centre on Mitchell Avenue.

He said: “Most children will first experience sport in a primary school environment and it is great that PE is starting to play an even greater role in the school curriculum.

“Participation at an early age is key, so we don’t just teach kids in key stage two – a lot of thought also goes into developing sports activities for children in reception and even children of a nursery age.

“The focus is certainly moving away from just teaching the game. During sports lessons years ago you would just go out and play a game of football or rounders but now it’s also about teaching children how to move.

“When you think about the number of skills that can transfer from one sport to another it is about giving children that foundation.

“Participation in sports not only helps children with their physical development out on the field but it can also improve results within the classroom.

“It is therefore vital to help equip teachers with the ability to deliver a sports programme that will encourage children to continue to have a passion and get involved in sport throughout and after their time at school.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .