School Sports given huge funding boost

On International Women’s Day (Wednesday 8 March) the Government is setting out new standards for equal access to sports, making it clear that girls and boys should be offered the same sports during PE and extracurricular time in schools.

Today’s package will help to boost equal opportunities in school sport both inside and outside the classroom, delivering on promises made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to the Women’s Euro 22 winners the Lionesses.

The full package being announced today includes:

• equal access to sports in school – setting out that offering girls and boys the same sports, where it is wanted is the new standard.

• delivering a minimum 2 hours of curriculum PE –with more support being offered through a refreshed School Sport Action Plan.

• expansion of the Schools Games Mark - to reward parity of provision for girls - this kitemark scheme, delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, recognises schools that create positive sporting experiences across all sports for young people, supporting them to be active for 60 minutes a day.

• over £600 million across the next two years for the PE and Sport Premium – a funding commitment to improve the quality of PE and sports in primary schools to help children benefit from regular activity.

• a new digital tool for PE and Sport Premium – to support schools in using the funding to the best advantage of their pupils.

• £22 million for two years of further funding for the School Games Organiser network (SGO) - Annually the 450 strong SGO workforce supports 2.2m participation opportunities for children including 28,000 competitive school sport events.

• up to £57 million funding for the opening school facilities programme - to open up more school sport facilities outside of school hours especially targeted at girls, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/school-sports-given-huge-boost-to-level-the-playing-field-for-next-generation-of-lionesses