autumn 24/25
end of term report
7136 total participants (31% increase)
48% boy participants
748 send participants
208 teachers trained
1683 PP/Free school meals (108% increase)
52% girl participants
68 events held (15% increase)
173 leaders trained
The below graph shows a comparison of the number of participants attending DCCT school sport events participants attending. In addition to this, there has been a greater percentage of children on free school
PARTICIPANT ETHNICITY AUTUMN 2024
The below graph shows a comparison of the ethnicity of participants attending school competitions and census data, meaning that our representatives of the wider community.
in autumn 2023 compared to autumn 2024
in autumn 2023 compared to autumn 2024
events in Autumn Term 2023 against Autumn Term 2024. We have seen an increase in the number of meals attending competitions, which shows our work to support those from deprived backgrounds.
2024 COMPARED TO DERBY 2021 CENSUS
Welcome to the Derby County Community Trust school’s autumn end of year report, this report will share key statistics about our work this term, as well as shining the spotlight on some of the amazing work that has been done across the network. Last year, the school’s affiliation programme saw a record number of participants. We are looking to continue this momentum in 24-25.
During the autumn term, DCCT has delivered 68 events, including competitions and festivals for primary and secondary schools in Derby. 7,136 individual participants have participated in an intra or inter school event, this could include one of our cross-country events, football competitions or KS1 festivals.
This year we are continuing to tackle inequalities in the city and have asked schools to target those receiving free school meals, to give them the chance to represent their school and develop their life skills and improve social mobility. 1683 students on free school meals have taken part, an increase of 108% on last year.
Following the relaunch of the Mini Leaders Programme, we continue to support schools to develop young people’s interpersonal skills with our Mini Leaders Training Day at Derby Tennis Centre. 173 students have received training so far this year and are now delivering activities in their school.
We are also continuing to upskill teachers across our network, most notably through the DASN Primary PE conference which brought together teachers from across the county to learn from national organisations.
Our secondary school offer has been further improved. We have revamped our netball competitions to offer a central venue league format which will run across the year for years 7-11. This is alongside our successful girl’s football league, which is now running over two venues, most Wednesdays.
We hope you all enjoy your Christmas break and look forward to continuing to work with you in 2025.
Throughout December, we delivered our Christmas festivals. 27 of our affiliated schools took part in either our Christmas intraschool festivals or Christmas mega fest’s. We ran our Christmas intra-school festivals at Landau Moorhead, Castleward Spencer Academy, Portway Junior, Wyndham Primary Academy, Hardwick Primary School, Parkview Primary School, Cottons Farm Primary School, Springfield Primary School, St Peters and Ashcroft Primary School. The festivals focus on improving teamwork and fundamental skills whilst taking part in fun Christmas themed activities including; the Polar Express train, snowball fights, making igloos and igloo dodgeball games. In total, 955 participants took part in the festivals and took home a certificate as a reward for their participation.
Our Mega Fest’s took place at two central venues, Willows Sports Centre and Derbyshire Tennis Centre. 17 of our enhanced schools participated. The sessions link nicely with the intra school festivals, with them also focusing on improving teamwork and fundamental skills. Attendees took part in 2 hours of activities, working in a carousel format. They experience a range of games including; igloo dodgeball, ELF express, Santa hat tag and Christmas tree relay races. In total, 627 participants took part in the Christmas mega fest’s, which doubled last year’s attendance. 319 of the participants were boys and 308 of the participants were girls. Each school also got to take home a certificate to stick up on the wall as well as individual certificates for each participating child.
“It was great to see all the children getting into the Christmas spirit and taking part in a range of activities. All the activities focused on developing the children’s fundamental skills. Our in-school festivals allowed for more children to take part and allows schools to increase the number of children being active for 60 minutes each day. We look forward to coming into schools in spring to deliver the Olympic themed in-school festivals again for our enhanced schools.” - Danny Sadler (Christmas Festival lead)
“Yes, we are very much looking forward to it (that’s just me!!) I specifically book this for my class every year.” - Mrs Mclean (Brookfield Primary School)
“I just wanted to say that the children and teachers really enjoyed the Christmas Festival on Monday.” - Mrs Briggs (Portway Junior School)
For more information about the in-school fundamentals festivals and mega fest’s please contact danny.sadler@dcct.co.uk.
Throughout the autumn half term, we hosted 4 different target games events. We have been able to cater for all different age groups within primary schools as well as offering an inclusive experience for different levels of skill and ability. A total of 172 students took part in the events, including 46 SEND and 66 Pupil Premium participants. The aim of the event was to provide those students who don’t usually get to compete, the opportunity to take part in competitive sport. As 27% had additional learning needs, this shows that the competitions successfully allowed children with SEND to feel included in these events.
Below you can find a list of the events that were ran:
• Mega Fest PLUS Target Games
• KS1 Target Games competition
• Y3/4 Archery Competition
• Y5/6 Archery Competition
These events took place at various venues/schools where pupils from more than 15 schools across the city took part in a range of different target games activities, such as boccia, football target games, darts, axe throwing and archery.
The participants were asked how they felt before and after the events. Here there are some quotes:
BEFORE AFTER
“I feel really happy and excited to compete against other schools” - Y6 student (Silverhill Primary School)
“I am here to take part and have fun, as well as trying to hit the target” - Y5 student (Brookfield Primary School)
“I feel excited to do archery and nervous at the same time because I have never tried it before” - Y6 student (Firs Primary School)
“My favourite thing was axe throwing because it was fun, and I was good at it”Y5 student (The Bemrose Primary School)
“Best thing was when I got my first gold on axe throwing” - Student (Chellaston Junior School)
We also asked teachers and DCCT staff what their thoughts were about the events and here are some of the answers:
“This event is brilliant, it gives our children the opportunity to work and socialise with other schools, as well as having fun” - Staff member (Hardwick Primary School)
“Everyone’s highlight activity across all the events was the newly added Axe Throwing. Most of the children hadn’t tried that before and after that they were all buzzing about it” - Dani Gomez (Events Lead)
This autumn term we partnered with Cycle Derby to deliver a cyclo-cross event to 16 teams of year 5 and 6 students at Silverhill Primary School. Our partnership with Cycle Derby provides an opportunity for children to experience competitive cycling. Hopefully, increasing their passion for cycling and in turn raising activity levels.
“Cycle Derby have a fleet of cyclo-cross bikes that we take into schools, 80 riders can receive coaching and race practice throughout the day in a traffic free environment. We set up a course on the school playing field, each group of 20 children will be given one hour to get used to the cyclo-cross bikes which are like racing bikes. We teach the riders new skills and allow them to gain experience on bikes that they wouldn’t usually ride.” - Tracey Fletcher (Cycle Derby Projects Officer)
The cyclo-cross event allows pupils to work in a team as well as independently, whilst engaging them through a sport they may not have competed in before. This event provides children with an opportunity to ride a bike for the first time, as well as enabling more confident cyclists to take part in competition. There is a push from the Chief medical officer on children fulfilling “at least 60 minutes of vigorous-to-moderate physical activity”. Thus, by providing children the opportunity to engage in fun, competitive activity it may push more children to ride bikes outside of school and when they travel to and from school itself.
Furthermore, Tracey discussed the importance of creating an event through cycling and the impacts such events have on an individual:
“The Inter School event that DCCT organise allows a team of children to showcase a different skill set and learn how to work as a team, by racing and supporting each other whilst building confidence together. Cycle Derby believe the more children riding bikes in Primary school is beneficial to keeping them active and allowing them to become more independent as they get older.”
We look forward to hosting our next cycling event in summer term.
Schools feedback:
“It was a really nice experience, especially working as a team.” - Pupil
“It was awesome and the racing was fun”Pupil
“It was a fantastic, well organised event. The pupils had lots of time to get used to riding the bikes and the course and had lots of opportunities to race against each other. They loved it!” - Teacher
What did you enjoy about the cycle cross event? “Taking part and doing the races.”Pupil
During autumn term, we hosted 2 football tournaments for Y5&6 students at Derby High School. The events saw 18 schools bring teams and compete with the prospect of qualifying for the city finals.
The first event was a girls-only mini soccer tournament. This event further demonstrates our initiative in enhancing the profile of girls’ football within the city and providing opportunities to take part in organised competitions. 16 schools attended with 150 girls participating in a group-stage format across the morning and afternoon. Well done to Silverhill Primary School, Chellaston Junior School, Oakwood Junior School, and Mickleover Primary School for advancing to the city finals.
After half-term, we hosted our mixed mini soccer event, which saw 13 teams and 124 students participate. The tournament provided a chance for boys to compete whilst further promoting female participation. It consisted of a group-stage format with playoffs to decide which teams would advance. Congratulations to Ravensdale Junior School, Portway Junior School, Homefields Primary School, and Cavendish Close Junior Academy for qualifying for the finals.
Our finals event took place at Derby Racecourse where our 4 teams from each competition battled it out for the glory of advancing to the county finals. With the support of teachers and parents, the teams played a fascinating tournament with an excellent showcase of football talent. Congratulations to Mickleover Primary School and Homefields Primary School for winning their tournaments and qualifying for the county finals. Both teams were overjoyed with their achievement.
“I’m buzzing to have won because we have never won this competition before, and we beat really good teams” - Student (Mickleover Primary School)
“Everyone played very well, and we played out wide and used width to help win our games” - Student (Homefields Primary School)
Also, well done to Chellaston Junior School and Portway Junior School for finishing as runners-up and qualifying for the county finals. The county competition will take place in the new year, and we wish the two teams the best of luck!
On Tuesday 15th October, the Derbyshire Active Schools Network (DASN) Primary PE Conference came to Pride Park Stadium & Derby Arena, with 111 teachers from across Derbyshire in attendance. The focus of the conference was ‘Inspiring ALL young people to be active’. The day was opened by an inspirational keynote from Mel Clarke, Paralympian Archer, who has won multiple medals at Paralympics over the years. Mel shared her journey through sport and how it supported her through adversity.
Delegates were also able to speak to 15 national and local governing bodies about how they can support all students in different sports. In the afternoon delegates moved to Derby Arena to take part in a selection of practical workshops delivered by NGB’s including; England Golf, Boccia England, England Handball, British Gymnastics and Panathlon.
90% of delegates rated their experience of the conference as very good.
Teachers said they found the day “Inspirational”, with key take aways from the day including;
“Learning about creating opportunities for send children within school and how to adapt sessions”.
“I found it very motivational and inspiring. There were lots of ideas which I liked, and thought may be good to introduce into our school and through teaching/clubs/ coaching”
“Good links to different sports & info to include in provision. Inspired by Olympic Athlete. Reignited my love for my job & reminded me of some things that I need to introduce/reintroduce to my curriculum.”
WATCH OUR DASN Primary PE Conference Highlights video
On Friday 15th November, children from four local primary schools took part in a fun-filled fay of literacy with Sunday Times bestselling author, Dan Freedman. The day’s activities used the children’s passion for football to motivate them to read and write.
Throughout the day, 65 children took part in a workshop with Dan and discussed his books, including the popular Jamie Johnson football novels. They also took part in a Q and A with Dan, covering his career as a managing editor for the FA, the famous people he has worked with and how he got in to writing.
The club author day was ran by Derby County Community Trust, and the National Literacy Trust, supported by Priority Literacy to celebrate the efforts of children who have taken part in the Premier League Primary Stars programme, which uses the power of football to inspire primary school children to read and write. All attending children were able to take home a copy of an Ultimate Football Heroes by Matt and Tom Oldfield. Children also had the chance to take part in a special tour of the DCFC changing rooms and have their photo’s taken at the end of the tunnel at Pride Park.
Thank you for engaging with the programme this term, and all your hard work to increase activity levels in pupils across the city.
We would love your feedback on how to improve our offer.
Please complete the feedback form linked to share your thoughts on the programme.
complete feedback form
TUESday 14TH JANuary
Premier League Primary Stars Cup
Monday 24TH febuary
PE Co - ordinator Meeting
MONDAY 3RD MARCH
Summer Term bookings open
TUESday 4TH february
Y5/6 Sportshall Athletics
wednesday 26TH FEBRUARY
Year 5/6 Basketball
FRIDAY 7TH MARCH
Biggest ever football session!