At Newminster Middle School, we recognise the contribution of Physical Education and Sport to the health and well-being of our students. We believe that a personalised and varied Physical Education curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities have a positive impact on other areas in school such as attitude, concentration, behaviour, attendance and academic achievement.

Our Primary School Sports Funding enables us to continue to extend our provision through employing additional sports professionals, entering into more sports competitions and allowing staff to access new resources and training to aid in the delivery of high quality Physical Education. It allows us to fund the transport and staffing costs to enable our students to attend these competitions and events.

About the PE and Sport Premium?

All children and young people should live healthy active lives. The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that all children and young people should take part in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes every day, with the recommendation for disabled children and young people being 20 minutes of physical activity per day.

It is important that schools are supporting children and young people to achieve this aim. This is particularly true of primary schools where the foundations of positive and enjoyable participation in regular physical activity are embedded.

The Department for Education (DfE) wants all children to have equal access to high-quality PE provision and opportunities to experience and participate in a wide range of sports and physical activities. Schools should aim to provide high-quality PE and sport for at least 2 hours a week, complemented by a wide range of extracurricular sport and competitive opportunities. By providing this it can help improve children’s health and wellbeing, personal development as well as academic attainment.

Schools should use the PE and sport premium funding to support children to meet 60 active minutes and achieve the above aims. This funding must not be used for core-type school activities. Schools should use it to:

  • make additional and sustainable improvements to the PE, sport and physical activity they provide
  • provide or improve equal access to sport for boys and girls
  • ensure teachers have the relevant skills and knowledge to confidently teach PE in a structured way, prioritising continued professional development (CPD) and training where needed

For 2023/24 our school allocation through this fund was £18,640

What should the money be spent on?

The money is ring fenced and can only be spent on Physical Education and sport provision in school. Schools must spend the funding to improve the quality of the PE and sports activities they offer their students, but they are free to choose the best way of using the money.

It is important that schools make the most effective use of the premium. To best achieve this, spending should focus on making improvements in 5 key areas, to assist in:

  • increasing confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sporting activities
  • increasing engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity and sporting activities
  • raising the profile of PE and sport across the school, to support whole school improvement
  • offer a broader and more equal experience of a range of sports and physical activities to all pupils
  • increasing participation in competitive sport

How was the PE & Sport Premium used in 2023/24?

The budget of £18,640 was spent in the following ways;

  • £2,900 is being used to buy in the services of the Sports Partnership through a Service Level Agreement. This allows us to access training for our PE specialists, support with student leadership and access to a range of inter and intra school events.
  • Buying in the services of the Sports Partnership through the SLA also allows us to access:
      • A Partnership Manager who will lead and co-ordinate the running of the Partnership
      • Student leadership events
      • Festivals and activities for our primary age children
      • Access to additional coaches
      • Team building events
  • £7,000 towards the employment of a specialist PE member of staff for an additional day each week. All KS2 PE provision is delivered by specialist PE staff employed by the school ensuring high quality delivery for all.
  • £4,000 to subsidise our transport budget in order that we can ensure that students can access and attend the events, activities and competitions which are on offer in our local area at no cost to the students.
  • £2,000 to support delivery from external providers such as those involved in KS2 curriculum delivery, Personal Development and H&WB days. This ensures that a breadth of opportunity is experienced by all students in KS2 and supports and encourages an engagement with physical activity and outdoor learning in it’s broadest sense.
  • £1,000 allocated to the CPD budget to support PE training / conference / networking opportunities
  • £1,740 to support the purchase of sports equipment, resources, repairs and to develop the role of Sports Leaders as required.

What has been the impact so far of the PE & Sport Premium?

  • High quality teaching and learning in PE, delivered by a specialist teaching team
  • Excellent behaviour and attitudes towards school sport, physical activity
  • Training and support provided for PE Subject Leaders and non-specialists involved in the delivery of enrichment activities through CPD opportunities as well as in new and emerging sporting activities.
  • Our School Games Organiser attends Regional & National Conferences for PE and shares good practice on her return at PE Subject Leader meetings.
  • Extra- curricular clubs on offer with increased uptake by students and increased number of school teams competing against other schools in the Morpeth Partnership, locally and regionally, with great success, and across a wide range of sports
  • All of our students take part in at least one additional extra-curricular or enrichment activity each year (most students are involved in significantly more than this)
  • Increased number of community sports clubs delivering in schools including skipping, dance, athletics and archery.
  • Year 5 students have a second opportunity to improve their swimming with the aim being that all students can swim at least 25 metres.
  • At the end of 2023/24, 85% of Y5 students (our current Y7 cohort) were able to competently swim 25 meters or more and 74% are able to swim using more than 1  stroke and 62% are able to demonstrate safe self rescue techniques.
  • KS2 students have the opportunity to take part in Bikeability training to develop their cycling proficiency and road safety.
  • All of our feeder schools Year 4 students take part in a transition Sports Day in the Summer Term, prior to starting at Newminster in Year 5, supported by Student Sport Leaders.
  • All Year 5 students took part in additional physical activity through our Health and Wellbeing programme.
  • All Year 5 students took part in a team building day in September to develop group skills through various sporting activities, as part of their transition programme; this also includes team building and problem solving activities.
  • All Y6 students take part in a Post SATs team building and activity day.
  • Increase in Sports Leadership opportunities for all our students, to have the ability to continue to lead first school competitions within Morpeth School Sports Partnership and at the Northumberland Games.
  • Greater awareness from students about the dangers of obesity, smoking and other activities that undermine students’ health through the Personal Development programme and associated activities.
  • KS2 and KS3 Health and Well being days form part of the planned enrichment programme for all students.
  • Awareness of how PE contributes to their understanding of social, spiritual, moral and cultural skills.
  • Opportunity for students to represent Newminster in area finals and at the Northumberland Games.
  • Greater student enjoyment and achievement in PE, as competitors and leaders, in their performances.
  • Students have high self-esteem and sense of pride for their teams. All students take part in termly house matches, earning points for their teams and feel valued.

Next steps

We aspire to further increase the opportunities for all our students in sport, regardless of ability, and try to achieve this by creating a unique personalised curriculum for all. To help to achieve this we aim to:

  • provide more opportunities for pupils to develop leadership skills, learning to support each other, to plan, organise, manage and evaluate their own and others’ work
  • continue to use student voice to listen to learners and to provide some extra curricular clubs based on their suggestions, and add to our diverse range of clubs on offer
  • continue to develop strong links with local sports clubs and encourage children to take part in sport outside of school e.g. Morpeth Harriers, Morpeth Rugby Club, Morpeth Tennis Club
  • continue to promote the importance of taking part in physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle
  • continue to develop learning opportunities for students to develop a broader understanding of the impact of a healthy lifestyle for them, both now and in the future
  • continue to provide a healthy environment for pupils to learn, to deal with competition and how to cope with winning and losing, to abide by rules, to experience working as a team and to develop communication and cooperation skills
  • celebrate learners’ successes regularly and make sure they feel good about themselves as a result of their participation in PE and School Sport.
  • continue to develop opportunities for competitive sport and the potential for progression to County teams.

Updated: September 2024