We recommend your PE department personalises this advocacy document to hit agendas on your
whole school priority list and delivers it via presentation to your Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Governors.
Research evidence is available throughout via hyperlinks to support your case.
Provoking subtitle: Are we an exam factory or the co-creators of well-balanced, healthy, confident and happy
individuals who have a love of learning, flourish and thrive in our school?
We know that positive performance data- including Progress and Attainment 8 measures- coupled with Ofsted
inspection judgements are all paramount to our school’s success. That said, the importance of supporting our
students’ wellbeing to achieve individual success, regardless of starting points, is essential if we are to truly develop
well-balanced young people who can confidently face life’s inevitable challenges.
This paper examines how significant time and resource devoted to Physical Education, School Sport and Physical
Activity can result in greater achievement for us as a school and also help to develop young people who are healthy
lifelong learners and positive contributors to society.
It is time to think differently!
Beyond establishing healthy active lifestyle habits, body-confident behaviours and sporting prowess, PE develops
many essential skills, competences and qualities which contribute to character traits, employability skills and wider
life skills. These maximise the opportunities for personal wellbeing, leadership potential and achievement both
within and beyond school.
What follows are some of the biggest issues faced by young people today and evidence of how our core PE provision
and wider sport and physical activity offer can provide the catalyst for better outcomes for our students.
Are we currently maximising the benefits of Physical Education in our school?
Academic achievement: Over a third of girls and nearly half of boys failed to achieve at least 5 A*- C GCSEs (or
equivalent) grades including English and mathematics in 2014 (Department for Education, 2014). However, there is a
growing body of UK and international research which has found a positive association between participation in
physical activity and academic performance (Norris, 2015; PHE, 2014). Active children’s brains work better, giving
them improved capacity to learn. At the same time, better attitudes to school and improvements in their
psychosocial health create a more conducive mind-set for learning. The net result is improved academic
performance (Designed to Move, 2015).
Results from the Youth Sport Trust National PE, School Sport and Physical Activity Survey (2014) found that 91%
of schools considered that sport makes a positive contribution to achievement. In fact, there isn’t a single piece
of research out there that suggests reduced PE time results in better attainment. Physical, emotional and social
wellbeing are the gatekeepers to achievement.
Recommendation 1: We ask that senior leaders and governors protect (and where necessary re-instate) the
regular time for core high quality physical education, of at least 2 hours, that is the entitlement for all students in
all year groups. We ask that all staff and governors actively endorse and value the place of regular high quality
physical education and physical activity to support our students’ achievement and attainment.
Wellbeing: With just 21% of boys and 16% of girls meeting the minimum recommended guidelines for physical
activity, children born today are on course to be 35% less active by 2030, compared to 1961 levels (YST
Manifesto, 2014). Increasing evidence suggests that one in ten children have a diagnosable mental health
disorder and one in five young people show signs of an eating disorder (Mental Health Foundation, 2015). In
2015, children in England ranked 30th out of 39 countries in Europe and North America for subjective wellbeing.
Children’s wellbeing tends to vary with their age, with young people aged 14 and 15 tending to have the lowest
wellbeing and this being lower for girls than for boys. In 2015, around 13% of 10 to 13 year olds were unhappy
with the way they look, with girls faring much worse (18%) than boys (9%). This gender gap in happiness with
appearance has been widening in recent years. (The Good Child Report, 2015).
Positive PE experiences help minimise health problems and more importantly create active habits for life. Physical
activity has been associated with psychological benefits in young people by improving their control over symptoms
of anxiety and depression, also it assists in social development by providing opportunities for self expression,
building self confidence, social interaction and integration (World Health Organisation, 2011). PE promotes physical
literacy, and all students acquire the motivation, confidence and physical competence to engage regularly in physical
activity (Designed to Move, 2015). Hence it is important that we increase curriculum PE time in order to give
students the confidence and competence to build active habits for life. Children who are regularly active (play sports
or active games) have higher wellbeing compared to children who are not. Children who were not regularly active
were around twice as likely to have low wellbeing as those who did so at least once a week (The Children’s Society,
2014). Girls who were happy with the way their body looked more than doubled from 25% to 56% as a consequence
of being involved in the YST Girls Active Pilot programme (2013/14).
Recommendation 2: In Ofsted’s common inspection framework, schools will be judged under the new remit of
‘Personal Development, Behaviour & Welfare’ on how well pupils “make informed choices about healthy eating,
fitness and their emotional and mental wellbeing”. It is clear that our wider PE offer needs to make the biggest
contribution to this aspect and we want to explore how we recognise and celebrate this throughout the school and
within our school evaluation form. Our self review process will improve provision and practice and explicitly
contribute to whole school priorities.
Since 2011/12, participation rates for 11 – 15 year olds who play sport in their school in organised competitions
significantly decrease from 53% to 45% (Sport England, 2014). We need to buck this trend to build the culture and
ethos of the school towards mass participation of a wide range of sports and physical activity pursuits (like fitness
classes and recreational games as well as traditional team sports) to suit individual tastes.
Recommendation 3: Invest in CPD to extend our offer and workforce to include student leaders, a wide range of
teachers and other adults from the community to create innovative programmes to engage our least active in
healthy active lifestyle interventions and monitor the impact of this on wellbeing and achievement. These
enrichment opportunities before and after school as well as weekend and school holiday provision could include
engaging more with the community to make best use of school facilities and generate additional income for our
school if we hire out the facilities to local clubs more – see Sport England Use Our School resources . By keeping
registers of students who attend extracurricular activities we plan to use this data to prove that there is a positive
correlation between those who participate in healthy active lifestyles and improved exam results at our school.
Recommendation 4: Improve facilities for a wide range of physical activities, sports and structured play across our
school site for use in PE lessons, other curriculum areas and extracurricular time to include ‘playground’ provision for
break and lunch times and promote active travel like cycling and walking to school – ie create active environments .
Recommendation 5: Whilst our PE department is keen to increase our provision we really need the support of SLT
and the whole staff body to increase the offer and model the importance of healthy active lifestyle choices. We
would really welcome trialling some physical activity activation sessions followed by intervention work in other
subjects like English and Maths as research has shown that the brain is more receptive to learning after exercise. We
would also like to improve our culture of physical activity and ‘active learning’ amongst all (students, staff, parents
and community) and monitor the impact this has on progress and attainment- see Designed to Move active schools
Recommendation 6: Consider the appointment of a ‘Head of Health and Wellbeing’, ideally from the PE department,
to join the extended leadership team and be responsible for a co-ordinated approach to instil healthy active lifestyle
habits and good nutrition across the school (cross curricular links with food technology, canteen staff, pastoral teams
especially around emotional wellbeing, community links and OSHL provision). Ensure we model this well with staff as
well as students.
Attendance: Overall, increasing PE and school sport appears to improve attendance, especially where it was part of a
wider package aimed at whole school change (Institute of Youth Sport, 2010). Results from the Youth Sport Trust
National PE, School Sport and Physical Activity Survey (2014) found that 70% of schools considered that sport makes
a positive contribution to behaviour and reduced truancy. It is important to look for opportunities to make the most
of this insight when engaging our hard to reach groups. For example, by timetabling PE time with KS4 on a Friday
afternoon when their concentration dips and before key curriculum lessons or intervention sessions to assist impact.
Recommendation 7: Students need to receive better quality time in the classroom, not necessarily more time. Many
of our academically challenged students become disengaged by spending more time in an environment they feel
threatened by, historically associated with poor results and a lack of progress made, compared with their more able
peers. Young people not only deserve but need at least 2 hours of high quality PE throughout their schooling as well
as access to wider School Sport and Physical Activity opportunities. We ask for a commitment not to take students
out of PE for intervention.
Leadership and employability: 88% of firms believe school leavers are not prepared for work (British Chamber of
Commerce, 2014). Sports competition helps children be better prepared for the challenges they will face in the
future, whilst helping them to learn effective emotional and psychological skills and strategies to deal with winning
and losing, as well as success and failure (Choi et al, 2014)
The Department for Education is learning from 14 pilot projects – including the Youth Sport Trust’s My Personal Best
– as to the extent to which character traits can be taught and developed to positively impact upon young people’s
educational attainment, engagement, employability and wellbeing.
Recommendation 8: The PE department will explore ways they can explicitly promote and develop character traits
and life skills learned in PE and Sport. We will improve assessment in PE to incorporate the ‘whole person’ with all
aspects of performance, health and wellbeing and character/ employability skill development considered. Cross
curricular (including SMSC & PSHE) and pastoral links to learning in PE would be encouraged. We ask that more
opportunity is given to students to represent the school competitively or undertake a leadership role of coach,
official or other volunteer in intra and inter-school events to include engagement with our primary feeder schools.