Sport premium funding

At St Mary's we aim to enable an ever increasing number of people – in particular the young – to achieve the holistic fulfilment of their potential by acquiring the life skills – call them virtues – taught and lived by St John Paul and which cannot be learned in front of a screen but can be learned through reflecting on sport and physical education.  We believe that by promoting a values-driven approach to sport and physical education; enhancing the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth of young people will be for the benefit of all and society en masse.

The Government is continuing to provide additional funding to improve the provision of physical education and sport in primary schools. This funding is being jointly provided by the Departments for Education, Health and Culture, Media and Sport, and will see money going directly to schools to be spent on improving the quality of sport and PE for all their children. All state-maintained schools, academies, middle schools, special schools will receive the funding.

As well as improving the quality of PE and sport in schools, the funding is also aimed at increasing participation in extra-curricular sport, increasing opportunities to participate in inter and intra school competitive sport, increasing professional development opportunities for teachers and developing and promoting healthy living and healthy lifestyles.

PE and sport play a very important part in the life of St Mary's and a lot of time and resources have been dedicated to physical activity in the curriculum over the last ten years. We believe that physical education and sport contribute to the holistic development of young people and through participation in sport and physical education, young people learn more about key values such as teamwork, fair play and respect for themselves and others.

There is significant evidence to show the positive effects of sport and exercise on children’s physical health, growth and development. Furthermore, sport also provides a healthy environment for young people to learn how to deal with competition and how to cope with both winning and losing.

How was the Sports Premium Funding spent?

Aims

• To increase confidence, knowledge and skills of children in leading PE & sport.
• To maintain the levels of participation in extra-curricular sport.
• To maintain the high profile of sport across the school and use as a tool for whole school improvement
• To increase confidence, knowledge and skills of staff in teaching PE & sport.
• To increase participation in intra and inter school competitive sport.