Newsletters

In The Loop Secondary Edition

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ISSUE 051

FREE ECB Secondary Teacher Training CPD and Kit Bag 

Devon Cricket have been selected alongside nine other counties to pilot a new ECB Secondary Teacher Cricket CPD project.

The ECB are investing heavily in this pilot, with the aim of engaging and training Secondary School teachers to increase confidence so that more cricket is delivered in schools. The focus of this training will be to upskill teachers to offer more ‘soft ball’ opportunities in schools, therefore providing more non-engaged students the opportunity to play cricket, possibly for the first time.

Why get involved?

Any school that attends will be eligible to receive a new ‘cricket equipment bag’ for FREE. This bag will consist of:

  • High quality fiberglass cricket bats.
  • Multiple sets of stumps with weighted bases.
  • Lots of balls.
  • Big holdall to store all equipment.
  • Cones.
  • Batting tees.

This kit bag equates to around £400 worth of equipment that you can access for free on completion of the training session. 

What does the training involve?

The training will consist of a 2-3 hour face to face CPD session. We are looking at running these at multiple schools across the county, (most likely after school from 3:30-5:30pm however they could run during inset days or at any other time to fit in with the host). We will be running 10 of these during the spring term to give everyone the opportunity to access one close to them.

Along with the CPD offer, all schools that host the CPD and have a minimum of five members of staff attending can receive two days of community coach support to run an ‘intra style’ competition days for Years 7-9 during the summer term. The community coach would be able to come into your school for the two days completely free of charge.

 Eligibility

  • This is for state school teachers only.
  • Once all dates are confirmed schools and teachers will be required to sign up to the CPD online and complete some short online surveys for the ECB to support benchmarking and impact reporting. These will all be sent to schools.

 How do I get involved?

Please register your interest by following the link below.

Teacher CPD Expression of Interest Form

  Timeframe

  • Please can schools complete this expression of interest form by Friday 14th November?
  • We will aim to confirm all dates and venues by Friday 28th November.
  • As soon as everything is confirmed, we will send out the dates to all schools.

We are very excited to be involved in this pilot project. We hope you see this is as a great opportunity to increase the confidence for cricket within your PE department but also receive some free kit and equipment that no doubt will be well used at your school.

Upcoming YST, DHSC, DfE, DofE and more... Important Webinars/ Development Opportunities 

Enrichment in Action – Practical Approaches from Schools and Trusts (YST): Tue 11th November (15:45 – 16:45) Nov (Free, Online)

Registration Link: https://youthsporttrust.my.site.com/YST_EventRedirectUpdate?id=a4ON20000028Z7V

Confirmed Speakers: Vicci Wells – YST, Redhill MAT, DofE and DfE.

Objectives: This session will focus on real-world application; what’s working, what’s scalable, and how schools are preparing for the Department for Education’s forthcoming Enrichment Framework (expected to be published shortly). Every school that registers gets two practical digital resources to take away and use.

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'Inclusive Schools, Active Girls – Workshop for Schools’ (OHID): Wed 12th (14:00 – 15:00) OR Thur 13th November (16:00 to 17:00) Nov (Free, Online)

Registration Link: REGISTRATION - Inclusive schools, Active Girls - policy, leadership and practical tools

Confirmed Speakers: Tess Howard, MBE – Olympian and Founder of inclusive Sportswear, Wendy Taylor – Youth Sport Trust, Graham Hill – Headteacher, Pilton Community College, Neil Richardson – PE, Pilton Community College.

Objectives: - Understand the barriers that prevent girls from enjoying and participating in PE and wider physical activity.

  • Recognise the impact of school policy, culture and uniform on participation, confidence and inclusivity for girls.
  • Use national data (Youth Sport Trust) and lived experiences (Tess Howard, Pilton Community College, Devon) to inform local school strategies.
  • Explore practical approaches such as inclusive sportswear, active uniform days and flexible activity choice, and how they can be embedded in school settings. Understand the tools, resources and support to embed practical approaches in own schools.
  • Identify champions/advocates in leadership roles and responsibilities to drive policy change.

'Introduction to Well Schools’ (YST): Tue 18th November (15:45 – 16:45) Nov (Free, Online)
Registration Link: https://youthsporttrust.my.site.com/YST_EventRedirectUpdate?id=a4ON200000291VB

Confirmed Speakers: Ruth Mann – YST.

Objectives: This webinar will introduce the Well Schools movement, exploring the rationale for placing wellbeing at the heart of education. It will outline the Well School approach and showcase the tools and resources available to support schools and Multi-Academy Trusts in building a Well School culture – including the Well Check and Accreditation.

PSSP Boys Football Cup Fixtures 

Please can you send your results through to psspadmin@sjhcsc.co.uk

All home teams drawn should have access to an all-weather pitch, so matches should not be affected by the weather. 

If matches have not been played by the due date, we will ask schools for the reason why they have not been played.  If they are scheduled to be played, that is fine.  If you have been unable to schedule the match, but you can show that you have made every effort to do so and have had no or limited response from the opposition, the team that have attempted to arrange the match will be awarded a walk-over win.

We cannot be playing finals at the end of June again this year!

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Inclusive Activity Programme training workshop

📍 Workshop Details:

  • 🗓️ Date: Thursday, 4th December 2025
  • 📌 Venue: The Kenn Centre, Exeter Road, Kennford, Exeter, Devon, EX6 7UE
  • 🕒 Schedule:
    • Arrival: 8:45am
    • Start: 9:00am
    • Finish: 12:00pm
  • 💷 Cost: Free 

Please share this with colleagues and across your education networks. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, I’d be happy to help — or you can contact Kelly directly at Youth Sport Trust via kelly.fellows@youthsporttrust.org

Full details and booking link: Inclusive-Activity-Programme-Training-Workshop-4th-Dec-25.pdf

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https://www.mias.uk/mountain-bike-leaders-award

 Course content

 Click here to book https://www.plymouthssp.co.uk/event-bookings?eventid=265

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FREE Gymnastics Equipment from Marjons 

Marjons are looking to re-home some of their gymnastics equipment (see photos below).  This will need to be collected but the PSSP can help with this if needed.

If you are interested, please email a.clooke@sjhcsc.co.uk with the piece or pieces of equipment you would like.  This will be allocated between interested schools in order of interest received.

Celebrating 25 Years of Active Devon: A Letter to Movement 

To celebrate Active Devon’s 25th birthday, we’re inviting secondary pupils to write A Letter to Movement! This fun and reflective activity encourages children and young people to think about how being active shapes their confidence, friendships, wellbeing and enjoyment every day. 

We are also asking pupils to draw what they think movement and play will look like 25 years from now.

There are £100 prizes to be won which can be spent on an activity.

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Sense Virtual Sensory Sport Programme & Staff Training 

We are pleased to confirm that the Sense Virtual Sensory Sport programme is returning for the academic year 2025-2026. We will be commencing with our Sensory Football block of sessions following the October half term break.

 What is the Sense Virtual Sensory Sport Programme?

The programme is designed to enable learners with PMLD and complex needs to participate in meaningful and appropriate sport and physical activity in the comfort of their own school. At Sense, we have developed five Sensory Sports in partnership with each National Governing Body: Sensory Football; Sensory Snooker; Sensory Badminton; Sensory Rounders; and Sensory Tennis. Working with our delivery partner, Just Do Sport, we will deliver 5-6 week blocks of activities relating to each of these five sports, across the academic year (see full list of dates below). Schools/colleges are welcome to drop in and out of the sessions as you wish, although we do encourage you to attend as many sessions as possible to support the outcomes and skill development of participants.

 How are the sessions structured?

Each session will be delivered on screen by Jake from Just Do Sport who will demonstrate and explain each activity before providing time for learners to participate.

We encourage staff to provide active support, however, it is important to encourage participants to actively engage with the equipment and activities in a way that is meaningful and suitable for them (i.e. allow participants to experience the activities rather than have activities done to/for them). For some participants this may be a very small movement or engagement whilst for others it may be more noticeable.

 What equipment will we require?

The sessions will require a range of basic equipment such as balls, beanbags, cones and hoops. A full equipment list will be shared prior to each block of sessions, and we also encourage you to utilise adapted and sensory equipment where appropriate. You will also require access to a compatible device to access the Zoom sessions, and where possible, this should be displayed on a large screen. We also love to see learners (and staff) participating, so we encourage the use of cameras where possible and consents allow.

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When do the sessions take place?

Sessions take place via Zoom on Tuesdays

School sessions will run from 9.45am - 10.25am

College sessions will run from 10.30am – 11.15am

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What are the dates of the sessions?

Sensory Football: 11th November - 16th December (6 weeks)

Sensory Snooker: 6th January - 10th February (6 weeks)

Sensory Badminton: 24th February - 24th March (5 weeks)

Sensory Rounders: 14th April - 19th May (6 weeks)

Sensory Tennis: 2nd June - 7th July  (6 weeks)

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How do we express our interest in accessing this year's programme?

To participate in the Schools programme please click here

To participate in the College programme please click here

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Sensory Sport training for staff

To support teaching and classroom based staff, we are hosting a special Introduction to Sensory Sport training workshop for the education sector, which will take place via Zoom on Thursday 13th November, 6.00pm - 8.30pm. This training is endorsed by CIMSPA and upon completion, delegates can obtain proof of 2.5 CPD points by requesting a certificate. The workshop will cover the following:

  • An introduction to complex needs
  • Why we have developed the Sensory Sport model
  • Adapting activities to suit the needs of disabled people with complex needs
  • Planning and evaluating your activities

BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE

Contact Alice Turner Alice.Miller@sense.org.uk for more information.

23 Oct 2025
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Friday 17th October we held the NGB Award 1 - FA Step Into Sport Girls Coaching Award, aimed at KS4 or KS5 Females. The event was held at Eggbuckland Community College, the weather was good, so we were able to use their grass football pitches.  The students Learning Outcomes: Explo...
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