Healthy Futures

A PE and School Sport Magazine

PE Deep Dive ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sports Premium Guidance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ofsted Framework ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Physically Active Learning

Issue 1

Contents Active Learning

6

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Sports Premium Guidance

14

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Ofsted

22

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Q&A with Ryan Ellis

27

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The Thoughts of...

29

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EYFS PE

31

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Edutech

40

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Wellbeing

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46

02.

Meet The Experts

Dan Wilson

Ryan Ellis

Bryn Llewellyn

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@thedanwilson

@thepeumbrella

@brynll

Teacher & Founder / Director

The PE Umbrella founder

Director of Tagtiv8 Ltd and Co-Director of Move & Learn

Suneta Bagri

Steve Busby

Brianne Turner

Nadia Mendoza

Jess Livock

Shaun Fox

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@CultivateETM

@stevebusbypec

@MissBTurner

@_selfesteemteam

@MOTION_Dance_

@MySportingAge

Mindset & Well-

PE consultant &

Head of Primary

Self-Esteem Team

Founder, MOTION

CEO Sporting Age

being Master

SLE

School Engagement

co-founder

Dance Initiative

Coach

at Burnley FC in the Community

Kiran Savage

Tom Feighan

Marnie Wills

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@MrKSavage

@PEUnitsofWork

@SportyMinis

Assistant Head-

PE Coordinator /

: Director @

teacher

Sports Lead

SportyMinis Limited

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03.

Letter From The Editor Has PE, Physical Activity and Wellbeing ever been more important than today?

Statistics show that physical activity in young people is decreasing and obesity is rising. The governments answer has been the PE and School Sport Premium, but the success of this is up for debate. Out of the ÂŁ1.2 billion that has been spent - how many schools have been left with a lasting legacy that will positively affect their pupils for years to come?

Everyone is in the dark about the future of the Premium, but whatever the outcome, change is needed. If the premium remains, then school leaders must make decisions that puts PE and Physical Activity at the forefront of their school. The research exists, and has been perfectly demonstrated by many schools, that shows regular Physical Activity can positively effect behaviour, academic scores and wellbeing.

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I understand PE is a difficult subject to manage but also, in my opinion, one of the most important. With so much information out there it can be quite daunting for even the most experienced PE Coordintor, let alone one fresh out of teacher training.

Combine that with the extreme pressures and workload that teachers face, it is easy for PE to be put to one side.

Healthy Futures exists to provide PE Professionals with actionable content that you can use to improve the PE, Sport and Physical Activity at your school, which, in the long term, will begin to create healthier futures for children across the UK. As this is our first ever edition I would love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to get in touch on any of the methods below.

Tom Leeming The Editor

@tomleeming92 @HealthyFutures1 Email: tom@healthy-futures.co.uk

04.

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05.

Physically Active Learning (PAL) Research suggests that children who get extra Physical Activity do better in subjects like Maths and Reading.

So why isn't PAL a feature of every school?

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06.

Moving and Learning – Bryn Llewyn

What are the issues?

As teachers - and parents - we know schools are incredibly busy places with relentless pressures to increase standards. In amongst all of this, the health and wellbeing of UK primary school children is on the decline.

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Physical activity levels amongst UK primary-aged children are falling from as early as 7-years of age

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Only 10% of children achieve the daily recommendations for physical activity

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Increasing numbers of children in the UK are leaving school classified as obese or overweight

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Traditional approaches towards improving health outcomes for children focus heavily upon Sport & PE during segmented periods of the school day. But does this engage all children in becoming more active? Or does it merely maintain the levels of those that are active already?

What are the Possible Solutions?

Could Physically Active Learning (PAL) be the solution? Research has found that PAL can: •

Improve classroom behaviour and activity engagement

•

Significantly reduce sedentary periods of time

•

Offer aggregated improvement in academic performance over time

Based on my experiences as a teacher and school leader, I decided to create something that would address these health issues, as well as tackling the data driven mentality of education ministers. Testing means that for many children, English and Maths are their staple diet.

Subjects are taught in boxes - with certain boxes larger than others. The narrowing of the curriculum means that physical education and the arts are often shunted to one side. With education focussed on exam/test performance, we have created a drill and practise culture where children are expected to sit and concentrate for extended periods of time.

Studying to the test may work for some, but it’s not the case for all.

07.

Thus Tagtiv8 was born. Think Tig, Tag or maybe Tag Rugby meets Scrabble and Countdown - Tagtiv8 activates learning in English and Mathematics!

I wanted to create something that is like Lego - something that involves play and creativity - and can be accessed by children from EYFS to KS1, KS2 and beyond - as witnessed during this intergenerational pilot with older adults.

Tagtiv8 are now operating in more than 220 schools across the UK, with some pioneering schools in France, Australia and Finland jumping on board. To find out more about Tagtiv8, check out these videos: How we work & play with schools

Following the initial research, Dr Andy Daly-Smith and I were invited to present at a TEDx event. Click here to see how we attempted to blend research with practice.

The research demonstrates that Tagtiv8 approaches work as well as play. The impact of ‘move and learn’ approaches on teachers and their children are also all too apparent in these quotes:

“Tagtiv8 is an amazing resource and should be in every school.”

“With Tagtiv8 Maths, you don’t get a chance to get bored or zone out.” Bella, age 8, Leeds “Tagtiv8 approaches engage even the most reluctant of learners.”

Headteacher, Norfolk

“I used to think I was rubbish at Maths, but now I know I’m not!”

Ethan, age 10, Leicester.

Chief Executive Officer, Amaya Trust, London

“Tagtiv8 takes away the fear of Mathematics.”

Year 3 teacher, Lancashire

The research with Leeds Beckett University

Are You Interested in Moving & Learning?

If you would like to contact me about how Tagtiv8 can work and play with your school, I would love to hear from you. bryn@tagtiv8.com Office: 020 3370 4272 Mobile: 07506 523354

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08.

Is Your School Active?

Do you incorporate Active Breaks into the school day?

Do lunchtimes have a focus on Outdoor Play and Learning?

Do children take part in 2 hours of PE per week?

Do you offer an extensive extracurricular programme?

Do any subjects incorporate Active Learning?

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09.

Harnessing The Power Of Physical Activity Throughout The School Day – Dan Wilson

Most teacher training courses discuss the importance of pedagogy which helps visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners. We are taught that children learn in different ways, however the vast majority of lessons in primary and secondary schools are conducted with pupils sat down at their desks, pencil in hand, writing.

All too often the default position for teachers is to plan and deliver a lesson focussing on the learning

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

objectives, not the learning styles.

While this will usually be because of habit and control, we now know that this method may not be producing the best possible outcomes for pupils.

that not only does physically active learning improve memory retention2 but it can also assist with concentration3, behaviour4 mental health5, and improved attainment6.

As well as the obvious benefits to health1, getting kids to move while they learn is proven to have significant positive benefits. There is a wealth of research suggesting

Erwin et al. (2009) Promoting Children’s Health Through Physically Active Math Classes: A Pilot Study Kvam (2012) The Effect of Active Learning Methods on Student Retention in Engineering Statistics Bartholomew et al. (2018) Active learning improves on-task behaviors in 4th grade children.

Daly-Smith et al. (2018) Systematic review of acute physically active learning and classroom movement breaks on children’s physical activity, cognition, academic performance and classroom behaviour: understanding critical design features Schuch et al. (2019) The Role of Exercise in Preventing and Treating Depression Norris et al. (2014) Physically active lessons as physical activity and educational interventions: A systematic review of methods and results

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10.

A commonly referenced barrier to physically active learning is that it requires more time to plan or produce resources. And often this may be the case, however it needn’t be. In visits to schools across Yorkshire I have been lucky enough to witness some incredibly innovative ideas to get pupils moving and learning in a simple way. For example, putting worksheets up on the walls for pupils to locate and jot their answers down in their books while stood up (organised in pairs to encourage peer conversation), or painting times tables on to stairs for pupils to recite as they move around the school.

The average child’s attention span is around the same number of minutes as their age and yet we expect them to concentrate for 20, 30 or even 40 minutes at a time in a non-engaging sedentary way. We can significantly

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increase the amount of time children are able to concentrate for by making it more active. We all dread that time in the school day when the kid’s attention levels start to dip.

In my experience it’s usually around 2.00 to 2.30 in the afternoon when schools used to have an afternoon break to address this very reason.

However, with increased pressure on learning time, many have removed an afternoon play and insist on pupils ploughing through until 3.15. Since leaving teaching several years ago and now working in an office, the thought of having to sit at my desk and work solidly for two hours after lunch horrifies me - I need my coffee break! And so do the kids.

putting a YouTube dance video on the board for pupils to follow (look up ‘Just Dance’) or get them to run on the spot, jump or squat in time to a Subway Surfer or Minion Rush gameplay compilation video. Or even just a quick game of ‘Simon Says’. I know of a school in Leeds that has trained all teachers in active breaks.

The head encourages staff to take their class outside for 10 minutes in the afternoon to play Tig or do The Daily Mile, when they deem it necessary to support their learning.

All guaranteed to wake the children up and reengage them in their learning for the rest of the afternoon.

Why not find a compromise? If there’s no formal play time in the afternoon, a short, sharp and focussed ‘activity break’ could be the solution. Try

11.

Creating A Physically Active School... One Step At A Time!

– Ian Holmes At Thorner Church of England Primary school our vision is to be an “inspirational place to learn and play” and we have used this to drive the intent of our curriculum. Our focus is on ensuring that we teach children how to take responsibility for their wellbeing (body, mind and spirit) so that they can make a positive contribution (people, places, planet) to the world around them.

Our focus on “wellbeing” has meant that PE, School Sport, Physical Activity and Play (PESSPAP) and all the benefits they bring (physical, emotional, social, cognitive) are fundamental to all we do. Our

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starting point with this was that this wasn’t just about making sure children received 30 minutes of physical activity per day (Chief Medical Examiners recommended amount for children to achieve in school), but helping ALL children find a passion for being active (in its wide ranging forms) so that it becomes an enjoyable habit that they want to do more of, not something they have to fit into their day!

As we begun to implement this strategy, it was clear that staff were in different places regarding their own motivation, confidence and experience – therefore small steps

and both the sharing and celebration of best practice have been key to our success. In the past few years we have implemented the following: Active breaks – we have changed the school timetable, with slightly shorter lessons and two 10 minutes active breaks (in addition to a play and lunchtime). These can be indoors or outdoors and are led by the class teacher but driven by the children’s interests, so they vary and change over time and include running, dancing, tag games, skipping etc.

12.

Outdoor play and learning (OPAL) – this scheme has transformed our lunchtimes as whilst our active breaks focus on moderate to vigorous physical activity, our lunchtimes are about the opportunities for unstructured play and physical activity. The best way of describing it is that we provide the EYFS outdoor provision for the whole school at lunchtime with children having access to the whole school grounds (each class has their own dedicated welly racks!) all year round and access to all forms of play. This has already ranged from rolling tyres, to climbing trees, to playing lego, to dressing up, to digging in the sand, to building dens in the woods, to pushing other children round our track in a suitcase!

P.E. Curriculum – this links to the body, mind, spirit aspect of our curriculum and all children reflect at least weekly in classes on the impact both their P.E. lessons and wider curriculum have had on their own body, mind and spirit. This ensures P.E. has as high a profile as other core subjects in our curriculum.

School Sport – again our focus in this area has been about offering variety and opportunity. Our regular house competitions in particular ensure children get the opportunity to take part in a range of individual and team sports with a real focus on our school values, their own personal bests, the “part” they play in the “whole” (even if that is cheering on from the sidelines) and the different lessons we learn from losing and winning.

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Physically Active Learning – this is not “children running around the classroom”, but more about reducing “sedentary” learning time. Research studies (particularly in Maths) have shown that including physical activity within curriculum learning can improve both attention span and attainment. At Thorner, we have always ensured that movement within lessons is a bi-product of the purpose of the lesson. An example within the classroom is that when focusing on the “retrieval” of prior knowledge at the start of the lesson, the children actively move around the classroom physically retrieving the words they know and then sharing their understanding. This not only demonstrates what they know, but provides opportunities to develop listening and collaboration skills. This area has been the slowest to develop in our school, but our teachers have been willing to conduct and evaluate trials of approaches in this area. To support teacher confidence, expertise and workload we have invested in high quality resources such as Tagtiv8 (for Maths and English-SPAG focus), TeachActive (Maths), and Now Press Play (an immersive audio roleplay experience linked to all curriculum subjects). This has ensured that teachers have been able to slowly implement these strategies in

purposeful ways whilst ensuring there is no negative impact on behaviour or attainment (two challenges raised by staff as barriers to implementation).

In terms of impact, our children are healthier, happier and their academic attainment is steadily improving.

We have measured this through stakeholder surveys (pupil, staff and parent), period use of activity trackers and observations from around school (e.g. reduction of behaviour incidents at lunchtimes).

Through our work we are delighted to be a Yorkshire Sport Foundation Centre of Excellence as well as working closely with Leeds Beckett University and the Youth Sports Trust. We have also recently been invited to be part of the new “CreatingActiveSchools” framework (https://www.yorkshiresport.org/ what-we-do/in-education/creatingactive-schools/), and look forward to collaborating with others to use the power of PE, School Sport, Physical Activity and Play to turn our vision into a reality for ALL of our children.

We hope by reading this article you feel inspired to take your own small steps to a more active school – as Nelson Mandela said “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears!”

13.

Sports Premium Guidance With schools receiving over ÂŁ16,000 each year to spend on PE and School Sport, we have provided some recommendations on how to best utlise this funding.

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14.

Understanding The Primary PE & Sport Premium – Dan Wilson What do the following all have in common?

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Newport’s M4 relief road

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Brits who charge mobile phones and tablets overnight

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The footballer Ousmane Dembele

Not the answer: They are all a waste of money.

The answer: They all cost approximately £320m. Which is the same as the government investment in the Primary PE and Sport Premium each year. Initiated in September 2013 “to make additional and sustainable improvements to the

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quality of physical education (PE), physical activity and sport”, proceeds from the sugar tax have recently seen it double to around £19,000 per year for every primary school in England.

This is a significant amount to most schools, especially in the current climate of shrinking school budgets. £19,000 specifically for PE, sport and physical activity is a luxury and a sign that the government are prioritising the physical development and health of children. Art, history, French; none of the other foundation subjects get anywhere near this level of investment. However, is the money making the impact needed to improve health and engagement outcomes for

the long term?

In my experience while visiting many of the 2,224 schools across West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, the funding has without doubt seen many schools improve their provision for pupils. Hundreds of teachers have been trained, a greater variety of sports are offered, and valuable resources have been bought. The grant has also helped to fund many jobs for coaches, apprentices and teaching assistants, all supporting the development of sport and physical activity in schools, which if used in the right way, can only be a good thing for the sector and the economy as a whole.

15.

However, while the schools that are good have got better, there are many that are still not using the grant in the most effective way. And, in my experience, this isn’t the fault or the intention of the school leaders. I’ve had countless conversations with head teachers and governors where they have been completely unaware of the grant’s performance indicators.

In many cases school leaders are having to make very tough decisions about staffing and have used the grant to supplement an existing staff member’s salary by designating them the ‘sports lead’.

Some academy trusts are pooling the funding from several schools in order to make more effective purchasing decisions, often making the money go further. While these ideas may make financial sense, do the decisions really cater to the needs of the individual schools and their pupils?

To improve the implementation of the grant (and its eventual impact on pupil’s attainment and participation), I suggest the following: 1. Consult pupils Who better to inform the purchasing decisions than the people it is meant to benefit? Suggestions made by pupil focus groups (not necessarily the sporty ones) should be considered when planning spending.

2. Allow decisions to be made by teachers, not business managers Research recently conducted by DfE showed that head teachers decide how to spend the grant in 78% of cases. Ofsted’s new inspection framework places increased scrutiny on middle leaders. By managing a project on the scale of the PE and Sports Premium, Curriculum Leaders of PE can plan the intent,

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implementation and impact of their subject far more accurately in line with the pupils they teach. It’s also a fantastic way to develop the leadership skills of teachers for the future.

3. Invest in sustainability Pupils should continue to benefit from the investment in years to come when the grant no longer exists.

School leaders should ask: Will this year’s coaching company still be around when there is no money to pay them? Will that scheme of work collect dust on the shelf? Would you pay for that online tracking system out of the core budget if you had to?

However, remember that investing the funding in capital is a big no-no under the new terms and conditions.

4. It’s not just about sport!

In many schools the grant is called the Sport’s Premium and therefore it is perceived that adding to the trophy cabinet should be the priority.

This should not be the case. In fact, the grant is jointly funded by the Departments for Education, Digital Culture Media and Sport, and Health and therefore the money should be spent on ALL pupils for a range of health and education enhancing benefits. Hiring coaches to ‘teach sport’ is not the answer either.

Coaches are a fantastic resource to support teachers and pupils’ physical acquisition of knowledge and skills, however teachers should still be leading PE lessons, ensuring that pupils are taught, not coached.

maths, but love football could be engaged better through active learning resources such as Tagtiv8, Maths of the Day or Premier League Primary Stars. Look at the areas of school improvement where sport could be used a tool to galvanise disengaged learners.

6. Quality assure and scrutinise everything You wouldn’t employ a teacher just because they can save you money or their lessons are fun so why employ a coach without scrutinising them in the same way? Will the coach add value, expertise and improve progress and attainment? PE is a curriculum subject just like any other so staff should be able to teach it just like any other. Will you access enough of that membership package to make it good value? Are there other similar resources available at less or no cost? What evidence or research exists to show that it will make an impact? Due diligence should be the same, whether a school is hiring a member of staff or buying a new scheme of work. Remember to speak to your Active Partnership for free and unbiased advice!

5. Think ‘whole school’ The second and most often overlooked indicator is “the profile of PE and sport is raised across the school as a tool for whole-school improvement”. This means that the group of boys who struggle with

16.

The Difference Between PE, School Sport and Physical Activity?

Physical Education

School Sport

Physical Activity

Structured learning that takes place during curriculum time following a predesigned curriculum and learning objectives.

Structured learning that takes place outside of curriculum time, often progressing on the learning from Physical Education such as after school clubs / tournaments.

A very broad term referring to all bodily movements requiring energy.

Games, Dance, Athletics OAA, Gymnastics, Dance and Swimming.

Football, Rugby, Cricket, Netball, Rounders, Basketball etc‌

Daily Mile, Active Breaktimes, wake up shake up and Active Learning.

Citations http://www.afpe.org.uk/physicaleducation/wp-content/uploads/Definitionof-PA-PE-School-Sport.pdf

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17.

Guidance On Spending The PE Premium – Brianne Turner Although writing your sport premium impact report might seem like a daunting prospect, it gives you a chance to report on all the amazing things you have put in place for PE, School Sport and Physical Activity (PESSPA) over the previous year.

So, use it as a chance to thoroughly show off!

There are a few key things to remember right from the off: 1.

2.

3.

4.

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5. You can include any free provision, as well as anything you have paid for.

Make sure you report against all of the 5 outcome indicators.

6.

Make sure there is proof of sustainability.

Include your swimming data for the current Year 6 cohort.

7.

Publish your impact report on your website before the deadline (the deadline this year is 31st July 2020).

You are not allowed to use Sport Premium funding to pay for PPA cover, so don’t include this in your report.

The minimum PE requirements should be carried out regardless of the Sport Premium funding, so also leave your regular curriculum PE out of your report.

Let’s go through each of the key indicators and talk about what we can include in each section.

18.

The engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity: This section is the place where you include everything you do to ensure all the children in your school get to take part in regular physical activity.

This can include the Daily Mile (or a similar venture), and any other whole school programmes. It should also include any targeted interventions or clubs you have in place. For example, you may have a club for those lessconfident children, or an intervention for children who need to work on their gross-motor skills.

The profile of PE and Sport being raised across the school as a tool for whole school improvement: This part is for all the extra bits you do to ensure PE and sport are seen as important across the entire school. It might be something that every child in class carries out, such as active brain breaks during lessons or it could be smaller groups that are for the benefit of the whole school, e.g. a sports council, or sports leaders.

Also, if you have any discrete events such as athlete visits, inspirational assemblies or workshops, then this is the place to put them. If you use social media or display boards or newsletters to promote PESSPA in your school, then put that in too!

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Increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport: This can be a tricky section if you are the only person teaching PE in your school, but don’t worry! If you have got external sports coaches working in your school, helping to upskill the staff, then make sure that’s included in here. Other things that can be included are: school staff that run or help run sports clubs, any CPD or training and any PESSPA-focussed staff meetings.

Broader experience of a range of sports and activities offered to all pupils: Include the selection of sports on offer to your pupils, especially if you ever expose the children to some of the more unusual sports, such as fencing or tri-golf. These will often have been delivered by external coaches, which is great as it show the purpose of paying for those expert resources! Something else I always find that is really effective in this section is some real data. For example, the percentage of children who take part in extra-curricular clubs (e.g. 67% of Key Stage Two pupils take part in at least one after school club every week). This will clearly show the breadth of the impact of your delivery.

Increased participation in competitive sport: As well as writing about all the amazing competitions you take part in throughout the year, also write about all the other expenditures surrounding carrying them out. For example, transport costs and new kits. And remember, competition doesn’t just mean inter-school, it means intra-school too! Make sure you discuss why you have taken part in the competitions and what impact it will have on the children in their ongoing time with you at school.

For each section, it is vital that you state the impact of the projects you have taken part in. There is no point listing all the things you have spent money on without showing what the continued impact will be. For help and guidance with writing your impact report, have a look at the Association for PE website.

19.

School in the Spotlight St Marys RC Primary, Middleton

Structuring a Long Term Plan for Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity.

September 2012, I took over the post of Sports Leader at St Mary’s RC Primary School, Middleton (Twitter - @ stmarysrcmidd) and it was clear that Physical Education and the Curriculum needed a massive overhaul and a change in direction.

Things were not going to happen overnight, we needed to look long term in regard to our PE curriculum, physical activity within the school and how we could add value to the Extra Curricular provision.

School Ethos My aim was and is that all pupils benefit from a physical education curriculum that would motivate them to succeed and participate in sport, games, exercise and other physically demanding activities.

It needed to offer appropriate opportunities for pupils to develop a wide range of physical skills as well as the knowledge and understanding to promote their health and fitness. Through our PESSPA provision children have opportunities to compete in sports, games and other activities which build their character and help to embed values and qualities such as determination, endurance, perseverance, fairness and respect.

For this Ethos to be embedded throughout the school, I needed the support of the Senior Leadership Team and Governors, to help prioritise the Health and Well-being of our pupils. This was key for our long-term plan for PE and School Sport to be successful.

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Key Areas Which We Addressed Once a School Ethos had been established, I focused on our Early Years Provision. I realised this was an area that was overlooked in terms of Physical Education. I discovered that the Fundamental skills were lacking as they moved into Key Stage One, down to lack of provision that was provided prior to my appointment.

It was vital to make sure that our children were ‘physically literate’ when leaving Early Years, so as a department I implemented a take home ‘physical literacy’ bag with ideas on how children and parents could work together outside of school.

I knew working with the Foundation Stage I would see the benefits as children progressed throughout the school as need to master the basics skills before they were ready for the Key Stage Two Curriculum.

Curriculum Design Our Curriculum is designed to build on pupils’ skills as they progress through St Mary’s. Working on fundamental skills in the early years moving onto Sports Specific skills in KS2 focusing on the aims of the National Curriculum. In Key Stage 2 there are many opportunities for our children to access competitive events, through intra school events and being partnered with the School Games Partnerships.

I also felt I needed to change how we approached Curriculum PE, an overview was needed to see progression through each year group, building up of the key skills and increasing knowledge and understanding in all areas of PE and School Sport.

Our curriculum map was produced and has developed over the past few years, as we introduce new sports and new approaches to the National Curriculum and Physical Literacy Framework.

20.

PE And Sport Premium

Swimming Provision

From the introduction of the Sports Premium in 2013, I wanted to look at how we could make a sustainable impact to our PE Provision.

Another big use of the Premium was used in swimming, statistically we have been below average for many years.

The Year 6 Cohort from 2018 were 34% expected and 2019 Cohort was 33%. We had to think again long term how we could improve that.

One of the first things added were 2 new members of staff to the PE team to cater for our PESSPA needs as the school grew. This allowed more extra-curricular clubs, maintaining the 2 hours of PE for all classes and a bigger focus on school swimming.

Another key area was staff development, we didn’t want to go down the External Coaches route, we wanted to ensure our staff were fully trained to the highest level. We have 3 Full time members of staff Level 5 AfPE Primary PE qualified, with the view to send anther colleague on the course before the end of the Academic year 2020.

If in the future the funding was to end, we would still be able to offer high quality provision to our pupils.

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We take the pupils swimming when they are in Y4, and the data is sent to us following the compulsory session.

From this we have added ‘swimming top up lessons’ in Y5 to address this area. As we are now seeing more children being active and more children striving to achieve highly in PESSPA, we have raised the 2020 Year 6 Cohort to 60% pass rate, with our projection of children who will leave in 2021 hitting the 75% National Curriculum expectations.

At St Mary’s our passionate sport and physical ethos, does not only inspire and motivate our students but has in the last 4 years cemented our absolute belief that our school is about loving unique sporting experiences and outdoor learning.

21.

Ofsted With the new changes from Ofsted, what does all this mean for PE? Our friends from afPE have provided valuable guidance as well as firsthand experience from Kiran Savage.

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22.

Education Inspection Framework (EIF) afPE Summary Guidance (Based on the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework Handbook September 2019)

The leadership & management of PESSPA is exceptional. All teachers are engaged, feel effectively and meaningfully supported both in terms of their well-being and opportunities to take part in focused professional development. Those responsible for governance ensure that the school has a clear vision and strategy and that resources are managed well.

There is a clear and ambitious vision for high quality PESSPA. The PE curriculum is well planned, relevant and purposeful and supports the progression of all pupils from their starting points to their end points with the aim that all pupils successfully complete their programmes of study, demonstrating improved skills, competencies and developing at the same time, detailed knowledge, understanding and the cultural capital (1) to succeed in life.

There is a wide and rich range of extra-curricular experiences that enhance and extend pupils interests and talents. Pupils are motivated and engaged and participate willingly and respond positively to the sporting and cultural opportunities on offer.

PESSPA contributes exceptionally well to the development of pupils’ character, confidence, resilience and independence and supports their persistence in the face of challenges and difficulties. Pupils know how to eat well, maintain an active lifestyle and keep physically and mentally healthy.

Pupils appreciate how PESSPA can make a difference to their attitudes and behaviour across the school and how to be responsible, respectful and active citizens. They feel safe in PESSPA and there is a culture of safeguarding that supports effective arrangements. There is a

positive climate for learning where low level disruption and bullying is not tolerated. Pupils behaviour and attitudes in PESSPA are exemplary.

PESSPA provision contributes strongly to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and effectively meets different pupils’ needs, including pupils with SEND. (1) Cultural Capital: ‘It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’

PESSPA = PE, School Sport and Physical Activity

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Teachers are engaged in PESSPA

Clear and ambitious vision for PESSPA

Leadership of PESSPA is exceptional

A well planned, relevant and purposeful curriculum

The curriculum supports child progression

Wide range of extra-curricular experiences

The Ofsted Framework and the Impact on PESSPA

PESSPA contribute strongly to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

Pupils respond positively to the opportunities on offer Pupils know how to maintain a healthy lifestyle

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Pupils know how to keep physically and mentally fit

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Preparing for a PE Deep Dive – Kiran Savage It was a brisk Monday morning, two weeks before Christmas, when we had the call from OFSTED. Being a part of SLT meant I was involved in the initial phone call with the lead inspector identifying the subjects that were to be chosen for deep dives. This process was a very open discussion about our strengths and areas for development with the lead inspector and we knew we were going to choose PE for one of our dives as it had been a strength within school over the last couple of years. I was informed that on Day 1 of the inspection, the afternoon would be assigned to PE and I would be working closely with one of the inspectors.

The first part of the deep dive consisted of a 30 minute discussion between myself and the inspector.

Within this meeting, the inspector asked a range of questions about PE at Anglesey and how it had developed over the last few years.

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He had already seen the sports premium action plan on the website and although I referenced it within some of my answers, there were no specific questions about the Sports Premium Spend. Below are some of the questions (I can remember) from the initial meeting:

and what they learnt. Something that came up from this was they wanted more competition based lessons, teaching them specific skills to help them in a specific sport. This enabled myself to go off and write our own schemes for Handball, Sportshall Athletics and Football.

Can you tell me your approach to the curriculum design?

What training have you offered staff? How is this monitored?

We follow the Rising Stars Champions Scheme, which covers three areas in PE (Sport, Fitness and Health). Every class undertake 2 hours of PE a week mainly focussing on the Sport and Fitness aspects of the scheme. The Heath aspect of the scheme is used when the weather conditions are too bad to go outside and this ensures the pupils are still achieving their 2 hours of PE. We also have had a Sports Council for the last three years who have looked at developing the curriculum in school.

The initial discussion was about if the pupils were enjoying the lessons

At the start of every year, all staff complete a PE Audit in which they identify the areas they would like to improve within PE. Using this audit, specialised coaches from local sports clubs come in to work closely with the teachers on a unit of work for one half term. In the final week of the half term, the teacher will lead the session with the coach observing them. This ensures the CPD is monitored and we can assess the impact of it straight away.

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What extra-curricular opportunities do you offer your pupils?

I personally believe our local sports partnership (East Staffs Sports Partnership) is one of the best in the country. They not only provide over 70 competitions for our pupils to take part in but also offer afterschool clubs throughout the year to enable our pupils to achieve 60 minutes activity outside of curriculum time.

I would recommend every PE Lead contacts their local sports partnership if they haven’t already too see what amazing opportunities they can offer. Within school we offer a range of clubs for all year groups across the year including Handball, Boccia, Indoor Canoeing and Dodgeball to name a few.

Can you explain how the sequence of skills develop across the curriculum?

If there is one piece of advice you do take away from reading this, let it be this: “Understand your curriculum and be prepared to explain in detail how the skills progress across the year groups.”

I gave an example of how the skills for Invasions games progress throughout the school and the inspector then asked me to do the same for Dance and Gymnastics.

Below are some more of the questions I was asked during the initial meeting: •

How are pupils assessed within PE and how do you know they make progress?

•

How do you ensure your pupils are active learners?

•

How have you involved the wider community?

•

How does the Scheme of Work help pupils with SEN?

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Following our meeting, we then went to observe three different PE lessons. The inspector was very keen on seeing how physical the lessons were and how much time was spent moving around. Fortunately, one of the provisions at our school for PE is to have a minimum of 80% movement time within each lesson. When the teacher was modelling different skills, the examples were short and snappy and allowed pupils to go off and try the new skills immediately.

Once we had observed the three lessons, we met up again for a quick discussion about our observations. The inspector wanted to know my thoughts on the strengths and areas for development within each lesson. This was done throughout the 2 day visit and meant they could verify our judgements on lessons.

The inspector then spoke to two pupils from each of the classes that had been observed. The questions ranged from “How are you assessed in PE?” to “What different sports do you take part in at school?” During this time, pupils had their Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) Passport with them that showed how we track progress across the school. They were able to explain what the FSM passport was and how it was used within lessons.

The final part of the deep dive was a discussion with the three members of staff who had been observed. The questions were very similar to mine and allowed the inspector to cross-reference what I had said compared to the members of staff. They were asked about CPD, how the scheme of work helps SEN pupils and what PE was like in general at school.

Although OFSTED can be a very stressful time for most people, it is also a chance to show the inspectors what amazing things you are doing in school. I am proud of the work we have done in PE at Anglesey since I started 5 years ago and we continue to push ourselves further every year. I am a strong believer that all pupils should have the opportunity to succeed in physical education no matter what their circumstances or ability. Without the support and hard work from our amazing local SSP (East Staffs Sports Partnership) and all the staff in school, we would not be where we are today.

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Q&A with... Ryan Ellis 1. Where do you stand on the ‘Coaches v QTS’ debate? Should sports coaches be teaching curriculum PE? This is a particularly tricky and touchy subject. Quite frankly, I have found myself swaying between both sides of the fence, and some of the practitioners making the biggest difference in their schools in this country, don’t actually have QTS. My own skill set was shaped and moulded by my coaching background. We also need to take into account here how ‘qualified’ a coach actually is. Would I be happy with my son being taught curriculum PE by somebody with a Level 1 Football badge? Absolutely not! However, how about a coach with a variety of coaching badges across multiple areas with a number of years of experience working in school and sporting settings? Yes. The reason I say this is that my own son’s school has a PE specialist who organises,

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plans and delivers everything to do with PE in the school, and has done so for the best part of 10 years now. She does a phenomenal job and is madly passionate about PE. She doesn’t hold QTS, but I wouldn’t change how things are. One of the strongest arguments for QTS came from Victoria Randall on episode 121 of The PE Umbrella podcast. By definition, PE is an academic curriculum subject that I’m sure we’d all like to be given even more time to on our timetables. She believes that if somebody who doesn’t hold QTS is teaching it, then it completely undermines its status as an academic subject. Fast forward to a more recent interview with the CEO of AfPE, Sue Wilkinson in episode 139, she summarised as such:

“You would not go to the local bookie and get the bookmaker to come in and teach the children on probability…”

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2. On the whole, do you think the Sports Premium budget has been spent wisely?

This is very subjective, and I can’t sit here typing this claiming to know if it has or hasn’t been spent well on the whole. What I can do though, is speak from schools I have worked in, the staff I have spoken to and people I have had the pleasure of interviewing. Of course, there are schools across the country who have truly flourished with the funding, and as a result, they are in a much better and sustainable place going forward. An increased profile of the subject, more active children, more confident staff and additional extra-curricular opportunities are but a few benefits that these schools have seen. On the other hand, there are schools who have spent it like pocket money on quick fixes, like putting a plaster on a burst water pipe or as a means to just keep others happy. In those instances, not only do I think it’s been spent unwisely, but I fear they are possibly worse off than when they started. Can you honestly walk into your school and see/feel the impact of anywhere between 50-100k worth of spending on our wonderful subject?

3. If you could give our readers one recommendation to making their schools more active – what would it be?

This is easy. Physically Active Learning. After years of banging the drum and backing up claims with research, people are finally taking note of the positive relationship between Physical Activity and Teaching and Learning.

Improved concentration, behaviour, attainment and ultimately happiness are byproducts from including more physical activity into your core curriculum. There are amazing initiatives out there to give you inspiration into starting this journey such as Tagtiv8, combining Numeracy & Literacy with movement.

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So why such a gulf? Why can I still walk into some schools and see they don’t have enough balls/rackets so that each child in a class has one each? We wouldn’t teach our children to write by having them share a pencil between two, nor should we expect the same in their physical development. It simply isn’t acceptable.

I empathise with some schools in this situation though, as, for the most part, it isn’t their fault. A lack of accountability, guidance and (here’s the most important one) passion for the subject area, has meant that many school leaders and PE co-ordinators (who have been given the role at random) have not known how to best spend the money, nor had the desire to do so in a meaningful way. Many bandwagons have been jumped on and many plasters used to cover wounds that haven’t and possibly won’t heal.

As with anything though, it needs to be a habit and the children and staff need to know ‘why’ they are making these changes so they don’t think it’s just another ‘fad or trend’. In episode 118 of the podcast, headteacher Ian Holmes explained the importance of having a ‘WHY’ and sharing this with the students so they realised their Active Breaks and Physically Active Learning weren’t just an extra playtime. For more information, listen to co-author of ‘The Kinesthetic’ classroom, Mike Kuczala in episode 143 of the podcast as he shares the wonderful benefits of this brain-body connection.

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The thoughts of

Steve Busby Physical Education and School Sport Yes Physical education needs breadth and balance, knowledgeable teachers who have great pedagogy and we all need to have intent and know what a deep dive is blah, blah, blah but above all it needs people who inspire; who are prepared to be generous with their time, be unstintingly optimistic and to make the experience for the children, fun.

PE teachers / sports coaches come in all different forms.

There are the purists who deliver a full curriculum and lead the subject to School Games Mark Platinum (with no white lies) and the children in their schools love PE and will go on loving PE, sport and exercise and be physically literate throughout life given the right climate. Then there are those teachers/ coaches who only deliver what they feel comfortable with- that can be a curriculum that’s games…. and more games…. and a curriculum aligned to The School Games where they go Pot-hunting for trophies to show how important they are to the school. At the same time they naively think that’s great. In their rhetoric it’s great that a team of 5 children have brought home a cup…..never mind the other 25 in the class who never get to do a gym, dance or OAA lesson all year.

So we need to appoint the right people and to be clear that good physical education is about breadth and balance and teaching and learning from a programme that’s progressive. We need a WALT board in every teaching area, making it explicit what the children are learning and, below it, the explicit steps to success. We need teachers and children to know how to differentiate using STEP so there is a culture of support and challenge and shared knowledge and understanding. We need every school to have sent someone on the Sainsbury’s Inclusion course and to share that back in school.

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The recent changes to the Ofsted framework should be great news for PE. Amid the hysteria of all subject leaders writing knowledge organisers and preparing for Deep Dives I would like to return to something I tell any colleagues I work with, who lead PE….’You should be asking your HT for at least 5% of your PE and Sports Premium funding to release you to plan intent, monitor implementation and prove the impact’. To show intent you need a programme of study and starting that from scratch is not easy, nor is deciding on the best of the multitude of schemes of work out there because none of them are perfect! Some are very good, but are they very good for your school, its children, and its environment and with the resources and staff you have? Better to take your time than push yourself to an early grave and do it well. If it takes 18 months so be it! The RE leader and the geography leaders can probably juggle their intentions after school. That’s because they’re not running a club, or coordinating 3 others or taking a team, or tidying that cupboard that everyone dumps stuff in.

Ofsted…… so less emphasis on data and a real focus on implementation…..well, if they want us to show that we are serious about PE let’s start by going to Head teachers and demanding that our Teaching Assistants are in PE lessons with us, supporting the learning in PE and not being used to lead interventions to groups of disappointed kids. In my experience, the difference this makes is incredible especially when TAs are involved in training in how to support in PE. As for Impact - for primary PE leads it should be a breeze- you’ve been doing that year on year,…filling in the school games mark applications and PE and Sports Premium reports.

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As for School Sport, it is a funny old thing. In every LA there is always one blatant cheat; one who roars at their 8 year olds and look like they’re going to explode and one who just don’t want to do it but has been delegated the task by the head- they’ve not even brought a ball and (judging by the way they are dressed) are communicating loud and clear that they aren’t refereeing!

And then there are those who are dedicated, inspiring and understand the physical, cognitive and affective benefits that everyone at this event should get from this – the majority.

In attendance are the Pot Hunters, who have spent the last 6 weeks, in curriculum time and at their after school club, they’re ready and are having their second team meeting of the day staring intently at the manager’s tactics board. . The idealists, who give every child an

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opportunity are nervously wondering how they are going to get on and hoping they don’t draw the Pot Hunters in match one. The parents are gathered; Mr A (with the Pot hunters) is already shouting advice and offering to run the line in his tracksuit whilst secretly wishing he could manage the team. Mrs C has brought everyone a carton of juice and some Jaffa cakes and has invited her mum and dad up from Westminster to watch Bertie in his first ever game for the school. Then there’s the young leaders refereeing, lacking the confidence to make eye contact with the 8 year old children let alone the team managers. Mr A is sure to be frothing at the mouth later, at some of their decisions, whilst Bertie’s grandparents mutter at what an awful example he is setting to the children and deflecting attention from Bertie’s teams twelve goal humiliation at the hands of The Pot Hunters.

School Sport is now played on better facilities, more kids get an opportunity, more young people cut their teeth refereeing- what’s not to love about it!

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EYFS PE Our experts discuss the importance of providing high quality experiences for children in the Early Years.

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Encouraging Physically Literate Children – Marnie Willis Are you an early year or KS1 educator? Do you feel you know enough about Physical Education?

Children from across the world are spending more time playing indoors and on screens than outdoors and in playgrounds or parks. As a result, they are increasingly failing to develop the basic building blocks of movement. These building blocks include running, throwing, kicking, catching, jumping and balancing.

The challenge now is for children to not only develop these skills, but to positively want to be physically active – and to understand why regular physical activity is so important to their future lives and to learn to enjoy this activity.

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This is known as being Physically Literate - meaning children have the confidence, the skills, the motivation and the knowledge to be active.

So as educators how can we develop physically literate children?

Let me give you the key recipe to success ……...early exposure to Fundamental Movement Skills.

Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) are the building blocks of movement. They are a set of gross motor skills that involve different body parts such as feet, legs, trunk, arms and head and are essential for children’s participation in sport and physical activity. As children

do not naturally learn these skills as part of their innate growth and development, FMS skills need to be taught with educators providing direction and feedback to children.

The mastery of FMS skills for children happens at different ages and often some children will reach KS2 still developing these skills, hence why it’s important for children to explore and practise these skills in the early childhood years within a structured or directed environment.

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It is so important that children have fun, and to be given praise and positive feedback when developing these skills. Children develop individually and at different rates so it’s more important to see skill development is sequential focusing on children progressing at different stages rather being proficient by a certain age.

There are 3 categories of FMS •

•

•

Locomotive - The body moves from one place to another e.g. running skipping or jumping.

Non-Locomotive (Stability skills) - The body remains in place but it moves around the horizontal axes. eg- star shape and twisting or bending down.

Manipulative skills - Giving or receiving and an object.

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In my opinion these are the most important FMS to master early are:

Here is your 5-step guide to a killer FMS lesson:

• Run

Step 1

• Jump (for height and distance)

• Overhand Throw • Ball Bounce • Catch • Leap • Kick • Forehand Strike (with and without object)

Choose one of the above FMS

Step 2 Create an individual challenge for each child with this skill

Step 3 Add another FMS skill to your challenge.

Step 4 Can you change your challenge to be in pairs or a team? This becomes a game

Step 5 Progress your new game, with these simple principles: – Space bigger or smaller – Add a time – or change equipment

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10 WAYS TO MAXIMISE PE TIME

1

Children come to school in PE kit

2

Saving time getting changed allows children to have a full hour of PE.

4

Use the warm up to get children into teams

Avoid long lines Refrain from having children lined up in long ques waiting to take part in an activity, instead consider how you can alter the activity to make it more engaging.

3

You don’t always have to stop to whole activity to deliver coaching points, consider small group and 1to1 interventions.

5

Short, sharp interventions

9

Make sure your plan is ‘free-flowing’

Keep plans simple and avoid lots of change between activities.

Plan your teams / groups beforehand During your planning make sure you know your teams / groups which speeds up the process during the session.

7

Ensure interventions are short and to the point so you don’t lose the attention of the class.

Instead of children standing around whilst organising teams, try and do this during the starter.

8

Small group interventions

Ensure sessions are set up beforehand This saves time at the start and ensures children can get straight into your first activity.

10

Visuals to promote independent learning Can you incorporate any visuals to encourage children to learn independently?

.

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Engaging The Early Years In PE And Physical Activity – Ryan Ellis

Before we begin, let’s just take a minute once more to acknowledge the times we are currently living in.

Never has there been a moment in time more critical than this in terms of the immediate need to educate everybody on the importance of finding love and enjoyment in Physical Activity (PA). As the School Sport Premium has proved, nothing is ever a quick fix, even with millions of pounds thrown at it. Are we better off now than ten years ago?

I’m not entirely convinced. Instead of throwing plasters onto critical wounds, we need to start finding

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solutions at the source of the injury, and as primary educators, we have a huge role to play in this, especially at EYFS. We are playing a game of decades here, sewing the seeds today that will bear fruit tomorrow, perhaps fruit we will never see, but I, for one, am ok with that. Malcolm Gladwell says a ‘Tipping Point’ is the moment when “an idea, trend or social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire”. EYFS and subsequently the rest of the Primary setting is this exact tipping point for Physical Activity and the moment the beliefs children have

towards PA can be shaped for the good. Recent data published by Public Health England suggests that more than 1 in 5 children are overweight when they begin school, and this leaps to more than 1 in 3 by the time they leave primary school.

Whether there are clear links or not, couple these figures with the increased amount of ‘screen time’ that children have access to, which as we know, stimulates the release of our ‘feel good’ chemical, Dopamine, into the brain, engaging children in PA has never been harder.

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Physical Education is the very start of this journey, one in which the children will ideally gain the confidence, competence, knowledge, understanding and motivation that will allow them to access Physical Activity or Sport for life, without any barriers. Many reading, will know this as Physical Literacy, a term that can sometimes get banded around loosely, but one that fits the mould for what we want our students to achieve, and in my world, that’s building their PE Umbrella.

In my experience, it doesn’t take too much to capture the imagination of children in EYFS. They are naturally excited and inquisitive about everything around them. As a result of this, my starting point for engaging children in their PE learning journey is through disguise

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and wrapping lessons/activities in stories or themes. Take the children on a journey through the jungle or across the seven seas. A beanbag can be a boat, a treasure chest, a piece of fruit, an animal or a moon rock, and the circumstance in which they are manipulating this piece of equipment will depend entirely on the journey they are on. Teachers are the best storytellers and taking this skill into the PE environment is a game-changer. I recently taught an EYFS class who were learning about the Ocean. I took this opportunity to work on foot-eye coordination skills in PE. They chose a boat to travel in (beanbag, small ball, large ball) and sailed around the harbour (hall) working on their steering. Their lesson (story) goal was then to sail the seas in search of Sharks and snap pictures of them. The resulting lesson

progressed with lots of student choice and maximum engagement as they had to visit many different oceans to capture photos of sharks.

If they visited more oceans, they snapped a rarer shark (depicted by the visual below). You don’t have to re-invent the wheel here either.

The exact same activity could be packaged up as a space mission to visit planets in their rockets, water plants in their garden or collect food for their kingdom.

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Disguised Learning

Motivation

Disguised learning through stories would be tip one for maximising EYFS engagement. You know your students better than anybody else and what makes them tick, so be brave. Let’s be honest, if I told your class we can either work on ‘multiskills’ today or ‘travel the galaxy in search of infinity stones’, what do you think would fire them up more?

If we return to the ‘Physical Literacy’ definition, one key indicator there is ‘motivation’. Realistically I could argue that one is the most important, as without it, none of the other stuff matters. A student or even I, might be incredibly confident, competent, knowledgeable and understand why I need to move, along with the benefits it brings me, but if I’m not motivated, I won’t do it. Often Primary Schools are a hotbed of extrinsic rewards, and these are great as a means to motivate if used correctly. The motivation that I seek from my students is ‘intrinsic’ and a desire to pursue PA for the enjoyment of the task. If I get this right then the confidence and competence will follow. In his book ‘Drive’, Daniel Pink describes three contributing factors for lighting the spark towards intrinsic motivation. These are autonomy, mastery and purpose

It is through story-based learning and using your imagination that leads me to tip number two. Repetition.

Happily, repeat activities with your students. Repetition of skills will contribute to their development, and with this, it brings a sense of familiarity to the lesson that puts the children at ease. We’re never afraid to repeat activities when learning phonics or counting, so don’t be afraid to do so in PE either!

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and they always enter my thought process for creating engaging PE lessons, starting with early years.

Let’s start with purpose. Let your students know ‘what’ they’re learning, ‘how’ they will know they have been successful but most importantly ‘why’ they’re learning it. It was a quote from a Damian Hughes book ‘5 Steps to a winning mindset’ that really changed my thinking around this concept: “Brains work just like torches, it’s not enough to just turn them on, they have to be pointed towards a target”

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What why and how?

This would be my third tip for engagement. Sharing in this way is ultimately contributing to the knowledge and understanding strands of ‘Physical Literacy’, especially the ‘Why’. In the case of my ‘snapping sharks’ lesson, I share multiple ‘whys’, one of these Storybased and the others, applicable to the real world.

WHAT

We are learning to move a chosen object using our feet

WHY

So we can travel the oceans of the world and photograph rare sharks So we can transfer this skill to different sports and activities So we move with improved balance in our school and home environment

HOW

I can control and object using my feet, keeping it close to my body

Equally important here is allowing the students an opportunity to reflect on the What, Why and importantly the ‘How’ of the lesson, to gauge how they think they’re doing on their learning journey. I’ve been guilty over the course of my career of finishing PE lessons like tearing off a plaster: “Ok, equipment back and line up at the doors!” or something to that effect. The children are whisked back into the classroom never to speak of the lesson again until a recap the next week! Sure, we are all pushed for time in a primary setting but to truly absorb any progress from the target that their brain is now pointed towards, a couple of minutes to acknowledge their learning is essential. In EYFS, there are two ways in which I approach this. Firstly, using exit ticket posters that the students tap on their way out of the hall space/back inside as a means of formative assessment. I first saw these used by Joey Feith (@thephysicaleducator) and since adapted my own versions with ‘I Can’ statements. At first, they may tap a

Engagement Autonomy and a sense of choice is a great addition to any PE environment and would be my fourth tip for engagement. Where possible, allow students to choose how they complete a task or what equipment they would like to use to do so. If you want to work on some simple catching activities, then provide them with balls, quoits, scarves, beanbags and more to allow them to explore. Allow them to change this at any point too, so they can fluidly swap items to what they feel is the most comfortable and rewarding. In situations such as this, gamifying a task or activity to allow students to choose what ‘level’ they want to try is often an incredibly engaging way of progressing. Not only that, it frees you up to become a ‘guide on the side’ and observe your class through a different lens, taking a helicopter view and intervening only where necessary, as opposed to being the ‘sage on the stage’ and prescribing each step of the journey. Below are some examples of how visuals

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random poster, and even copy their friends, but over time, I’ve embedded these into my own pedagogy and seen children really think hard about where they are on their learning journey and even remind me when I forget to ask them to tap the posters.

Secondly, the use of simple STEM sentences that students can share, reflecting on any successes or indeed difficulties they had in the lesson.

This only need be a couple of minutes maximum. Below are some example visuals of the exit ticket posters and STEM sentence posters.

can help with this. Some examples included are from KS2 to give you a feel for what gamification looks like at different levels.

Ultimately, we hope that by having an autonomous choice over a task is a way of allowing them to self-differentiate, and for the most part, they will choose the task that most suitably challenges them, sometimes referred to as a ‘Goldilocks’ task. Should this not be the case, the helicopter view that I mentioned earlier will give you the chance to differentiate and position them with this ‘perfect’ challenge. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi refers to this state, of being fully absorbed in an activity of optimum challenge as ‘flow’, and in this state, we are at our happiest, and with this comes engagement. We’ve all heard of the phrase ‘doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun’, and now you know why.

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Early Years Resources Designed by Ryan Ellis from the PE Umbrella

Feed the Sharks Challenge

Kung Fu Catching

DOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD

Racket Net Game

Avengers Game

DOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD

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EduTech Find out more about companies that are providing technology solutions to PE, School Sport and Physical Activity

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Find out more and book a free trial at www.moki.technology

The Moki Active Schools Project The Moki Active Schools Project assessed physical activity levels in over 350 KS2 primary school children from 13 different UK schools over 8 weeks in the summer term of 2019.

For a pupil to be included in the project, they needed to have recorded physical activity data for at least one week. The results show inschool physical activity (i.e., starting when school starts and stopping when it ends). To give you an idea of the size of the dataset collected, the assessment included almost 5000 pupil school days and over 55 million steps.

View Daily Average Steps Graph (01)

Same day – very different levels of physical activity The variability in average daily physical activity between pupils was enormous – from a low of fewer than 2000 steps a day to a high of almost 12,000 steps a day. This means that the most active pupils do 6 times more physical activity during the school day than the least active pupils. The average was ~5600 steps a day. So, in-school physical activity is highly variable between children and we can’t just assume that all children get access to the same amount of physical activity just because they are in school for the same length of time.

It is worth noting that based on the recently updated Government guidelines for daily moderate to vigourous physical activity (MVPA) almost 2/3 of these children are not meeting them. Recommendations are 60 minutes per day with half of that taking place in school.

View Daily Average MVPA Graph (01b)

Inequalities in Schools – Girls are less active than Boys The ASP found that girls do approximately 20% less activity than boys. There were small differences across the whole day but this finding is mostly explained by differences in physical activity during lunch and break times.

The ASP does not tell us why there is this difference – perhaps girls are choosing to do something that is less active during lunch/break times or, alternatively, girls feel less comfortable engaging in active play than boys because they feel pushed out or excluded (e.g., by the boys).

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View Boys vs Girls Graph (02)

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The ‘Inactive’ Curriculum It comes as no surprise that the largest contributors to daily physical activity at school are breaks and lunch. What is interesting to note is the relative inactivity at all other times.

View Typical School Day Graph (03) This underscores the importance of looking at physical activity as something that can be integrated across the curriculum rather than just inserted as discrete activities like PE and breaks etc. The overall impact of this ‘Active Curriculum’ approach is evident in the last graph in this article [07].

View Typical School Day MVPA Graph (03b) It’s also unsurprising but worth noting that whilst Lunch and break times are the most consistently active times of the day for girls and boys, this is when the gap really opens up in terms of the level of physical activity between the groups.

View Boys vs Gorls Graph (04)

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Big differences across the school week On average, Mondays are the least active day and Fridays are the most active day. In fact, physical activity tended to increase each day over the course of a typical week. It is hard to know whether this is because the early part of the week focusses (mainly) on academic endeavour or because teachers deliberately give more access to physical activity (e.g., PE, active breaks) later in the week, but the fact that an average Friday has about 50% more activity than an average Monday is a fascinating insight.

View Typical School Week Graph (05) School-to-School Differences One of the most striking findings from the ASP is the difference between the 13 schools that took part. The most active school did more than double the average activity of the least active school – and there was a lot of variability between the other schools. Thus, even though the curriculum might be the same, local differences are having a major impact on physical activity in KS2 pupils. This could be explained by many things

– such as school resources (e.g., playing fields) as well as teacher attitudes to and understanding of physical activity.

View Comparing Schools Graph (06) The Active Curriculum The overall school approach to physical activity established by the leadership team explains the high level of physical activity in the most active school above. The incorporation of two Active Breaks and a longer lunch break contribute enormously to higher daily physical activity in their pupils – but the most active school also managed to make other school time more active through the implementation of active learning throughout the day and across the curriculum.

View The Active Curriculum Graph (07)

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Assess Fundamental Movement Skills in your school www.sportingage.co.uk

INTENT

The Movement Experts

For your free demonstration: T: Shaun Fox on 07983949618 E: shaun@sportingage.co.uk

IMPACT

To develop Fundamental Movement skills which are central to children’s positive physical & mental health and wellbeing.

Children move with confidence Increasingly competent teachers Scientific evidence of progress

IMPLEMENTATION A systematic, sequential 10 week programme providing personal challenge for children whilst saving time for teachers/deliverers. Designed to compliment existing high quality provision Shaun Fox, Andrea Springthorpe and Jonny Nolan are the movement experts. Their ed-tech company, Sporting Age, is helping primary school children from disadvantaged backgrounds become more confident at fundamental movement skills to help improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing in later life. Healthy Futures Magazine spoke to the trio to find out more.

Shaun Fox, founder of Huddersfield based Sporting Age, says primary school children from less affluent backgrounds could be less likely to grow up benefitting from the effects of exercise because they often lack the ability to run, throw and catch confidently when they start primary school.

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“This could then have a knock-on effect as children grow older, as they may be less likely to participate in physical activity, leading to a less physically and mentally healthy lifestyle”, Shaun explains.

Fundamental movement skills are movement patterns involving different body parts such as the legs, arms, torso and head. They include skills like running, hopping, catching, throwing, striking and balancing, and are the foundation movements for more complex skills used in general physical recreation like invasion games, sports, dancing and gymnastics.

Andrea explains: “Early childhood is the optimum time to teach and learn fundamental movement skills.

During this period, children are motivated and keen to master ways of moving, controlling their bodies and coordinating their movements.”

“We’ve now carried out fundamental movement skills assessments on over 7,000 children” However, the trio say research carried out by Sporting Age indicates children from less affluent backgrounds are starting primary school less able to grasp these basic movement skills.

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“Over the last 12 months, we have worked with primary schools across Kirklees to carry out fundamental movement skills tests on over 4,000 children and collected 9,000 pieces of data to determine each child’s level of ability at fundamental movement skills, or what we refer to as their sporting age”, Shaun explains.

He adds: “A sporting age is similar to a reading age, in that it indicates the level of ability at which a pupil can carry out fundamental movement skills in comparison to their age, just like a reading age indicates what level of books a child should be reading compared to how old they are.”

Jonny explains that the data Sporting Age has collected demonstrates significant overall differences in the sporting ages of children from affluent and less affluent backgrounds.

“In one instance we compared two schools in Kirklees. While School A had just 6% of pupils on Pupil Premium funding, School B had 54%.

The results showed us that the average sporting age of the pupils at School B was 25% lower than School A, indicating the level of ability in fundamental movement skills among pupils is much lower at schools with a higher percentage of pupils from less affluent backgrounds.”

He continued: “When we compared schools with more than 40% of children on Pupil Premium funding directly with schools where less than 10% of children were on Pupil Premium, the average sporting age was at least 20% lower.

“Our work so far with schools across West Yorkshire demonstrates that teaching children PE at a level that matches their identified sporting age helps to increase their level of ability in fundamental movement skills including running, throwing and catching”, Shaun explains.

“A major inequality exists in the level of ability of children from affluent and less affluent backgrounds”

A North Kirklees primary school embraced the programme fully and our approach went as follows: Intent To develop Fundamental; Movement Skills for children, whilst increasing the confidence of their teachers delivering PE lessons Implementation A structured ten week programme provided personal challenge for young people. Stage appropriate lesson plans saved teachers time and promoted differentiation, ensuring that lessons were meaningful and progressive.

Impact Teachers reported improved confidence when delivering lessons on fundamental movement skills and increased understanding of physical literacy. Scientific evidence showed that 96% of pupils improved in one or more fundamental movement skills. End of programme impact reports enabled senior leaders to report on progress more reliably to parents/carers and external stakeholders.

Pathways were identified for talented performers and those requiring additional interventions to improve movement skills.

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The trio says their research demonstrates that correctly identifying a child’s sporting age and then creating lessons that are tailored to their specific level of ability can have a dramatic effect on their performance.

Andrea says: “Our own learning and research around early years fundamental movement skills indicates that a major inequality exists in the level of ability of children from affluent and less affluent backgrounds.”

Jonny adds: “Further studies show that there is a very real correlation between young people who are confident and confident movers at primary school and their likelihood of engaging in physical activity in later years.

Shaun concludes: “Sporting Age is working with schools to help them “narrow the gap” and reduce these inequalities to ensure every young person is able to learn to move as competently and confidently as possible, regardless of their background, and increase the likelihood of them engaging in lifelong physical activity.

This can subsequently lead to significant improvements in their overall physical and mental health and wellbeing as they grow.”

The team at Sporting Age aim to work alongside current high-quality providers to help primary schools to improve the movement skills of young people in their care.

For more information about Sporting Age, please contact shaun@sportingage.co.uk

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Health & Wellbeing The wellbeing of children and staff has never been more important. We detail some of the ways your school can raise the awareness of wellbeing.

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Dance & Wellbeing – Jess Livock

The link between Dance and Wellbeing As PE professionals we all know the benefits of physical activity on our mental health. We don’t need to tell you that moving more leads to better mood, longer focusing times, boosted self-esteem and improved sleeping patterns. But does Dance in particular hold a unique key to maximising the positive mental impact of movement for our children and young people?

Dance and wellbeing is certainly in the spotlight of international

research at the moment. A group of Swedish researchers recently studied the impact of a range of activities on a group of girls who were struggling with issues like depression and anxiety. The group who engaged with weekly Dance classes reported a boost in mood which lasted up to 8 months after the classes ended.

Alongside this, a recent article from One Dance UK and People Dancing also reported that Dance allows us to develop 3 further areas of the self (aside from improved mental and physical health) allowing us to combine ‘healthy physical activity’

The dreaded Dance unit The national curriculum includes Dance within PE until the end of KS3, though through our work with many schools over the years, we find Dance can often be something colleagues dread delivering. However, when we actually engage with these teachers in co-delivery we find it is purely a confidence barrier stopping them believing they can deliver outstanding Dance. In most cases there is absolutely nothing wrong with the content, it is purely the teachers’ self-belief in their own ability.

We need to remember that though individual teacher confidences may lie in delivering more traditional, competitive sports, these in turn can be intimidating for some of our young people. An ArtsEqual research paper found ‘many children and teenagers who dislike result orientated physical activities enjoy forms of moving that allow more freedom such as dance’. Dance removes the explicit competitive element that is found in many sports, allowing pupils to focus on how the movement

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with ‘the engagement of the creative spirit, the promotion of emotional expression and <positive> social interaction.’ Even the World Health organisation has, for the first time, published research directly linking engagement within the arts and improved mental and physical health.

So why are many of our primary schools still reluctant to embed Dance into their regular curriculum?

looks and feels to them, in a wider socio-cultural context.

A University of the Arts Helsinki policy brief found that this ‘is why Dance can play a useful role in preventing… social exclusion among children’ who can reject or shy away from more traditional forms of sporting social engagement.

Taking this a step further, we can also use Dance as a powerful tool for the inclusion and pastoral care of our EAL pupils ‘<Group Dance> has a positive effect on social interaction, group spirit and sense of empowerment in groups where pupils do not have a common spoken language’ the aforementioned ArtsEqual initiative found.

Researchers found Dance to be a ’powerful form of cultural expression promoting feelings of belonging and allowing pupils to share something of their heritage, wherever that may be.’

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Somatic movement We have all been on the dance floor at some point and worried whether our ‘moves’ look good to others, but what about if we focused on whether they feel good to us? This can be powerful for our children and young people too and provides the basis of a movement known as somatic movement through Dance.

Somatic movement focuses on the intrinsic value of movement, rather than how it looks to an audience, peer or assessor. Incorporating Dance into your PSHE programme through playing different and varying pieces of music and asking pupils to respond in a way that feels good, rather than looks good can be a freeing way to build physical activity alongside self-expression. It allows us a way of exploring more complex ideas, particularly for pupils who may struggle to express their emotions or have experienced trauma. We found this firsthand recently when we taught the Haka to a group of young offenders who struggled to express their frustrations in a positive way. The sense of release, unity and calm reported after, as well as the evident smiles, proved the power of communal movement and that it

can reach even the stereotypically ‘hardest to reach’ groups.

Ofsted’s focus on pupil well-being If you still aren’t convinced, Dance provides a big ‘tick’ within the new Ofsted inspection framework also.

Many of the changes to the new framework are centred on emotional wellbeing, with the words ‘mentally healthy’ appearing a number of times within the handbook. The notion of a broad and balanced curriculum, the newly separate ‘personal development’ category and the focus on schools enabling students to be able to make ‘informed choices about…fitness and their emotional & mental wellbeing’ can all be supported through well thought out Dance provision.

embedded into year 6 study from September as a ten minute stretch and smile to some up lifting music building positive strategies to deal with SATS stress; it could be part of a body confidence intervention or it could be a friendship group tool for International New Arrivals to connect with their peers. Dance does not need to be intimidating and with the multitude of holistic benefits it can bring to our children and young people we must model for our pupils how to engage with it. If we model to pupils that Dance is something to feel awkward about or even fear, then they will inevitably approach it in the same way. If we change our mind-set on how we approach Dance delivery in schools, we can truly begin to realise the benefits of Dance for our children.

For Dance to be successful in your school it doesn’t require an hour of valuable curriculum time per week, or to simply be shoe-horned in as a lack- lustre indoor PE topic during the cold and wet months. It can be built into PSHE teaching as a way of exploring feelings or challenging topics such a bullying, teaching pupils how to express themselves whilst keeping fit; it could be

Citations One Dance UK and People Dancing - Our Vision: Reducing health inequalities and tackling inactivity through dance - https://www. onedanceuk.org/programme/dance-healthwellbeing/ Mindwise Innovations – Dancing and mental health https://www.mindwise.org/blog/mentalhealth/dancing-and-mental-health/ World Health Organisation – Can you dance your way to better health and well-being? http://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/ sections/press-releases/2019/can-you-danceyour-way-to-better-health-and-well-being-forthe-first-time,-who-studies-the-link-betweenarts-and-health Ofsted inspection handbook - https://www.gov. uk/government/publications/school-inspectionhandbook-eif Tanssi liikuttaa research released by ArtsEqual research initiative and University of the Arts Helsinki policy brief via UKEDCHAT article Schoolchildren should dance more in schools, say researchers https://ukedchat. com/2019/02/19/dance-schools/

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How Much Sugar?

Effects of sugar on young people • • • • •

Low energy Poor concentration Mood swings Weight gain Tooth Decay

How does this compare to popular drinks and snacks?

Can of coke = 39g A can of Red Bull =27g

Daily Allowance

Milkshake = 38g

• • •

Bowl of Cereal (50g) = 18.5g

Children aged 4-6 = 19g Children aged 7-10 = 24g Adults = 30g

Chocolate Bar (45g) = 25g Bag of Sweets (62g) = 43g *Source My Fitness Pal

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Child Wellbeing – Nadia Mendoza

How do I deal with attentionseekers in class?

Even though Self-Esteem Team has taught over 100,000 students, parents and teachers nationwide since we began delivering mental health workshops in schools, public speaking always feeds the anxiety beast within.

I remember one parent talk in particular, when the floor was thrown open for Q&A, and an eager mum shot her hand up. I wasn’t prepared for what came out her mouth (or mine) as she asked: “What made you want to self-harm in the first place?”

To rewind a little, Self-Esteem Team speakers open talks with first-hand testimonials so the audience can understand why we feel qualified to stand in front of them and why we feel connected to the topic we’re discussing, so I had delved into a chunk of my past before she asked.

Just no one had ever asked me quite like that before…

On the spot, words out my mouth before I can think, I reply: “For attention”. My answer not only surprises me but leaves me deeply ashamed.

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While society is talking about wellbeing more than ever before, and mental health is now seen as something we all have, being an attention-seeker is still a dirty word.

The crux of it is (whether cutting, playing the class clown, disordered eating, trolling etc.) these selfdestructive behaviours are often seen as ‘acting up’, and we fail to look at the reality of what’s going on behind each mask – chronic low self-esteem.

To be the one in the room that seeks attention is considered a negative, with attention often withheld by parents, teachers, or friends, just on principle. Though what happens if we see attention as a positive tool to help someone grow?

whenever she felt compelled to sing them a song. Luckily, she had people in her life who played along.

They’d listen and clap, leaving her with a feeling that she could achieve anything. Soon, songs became dances, became musicals, became plays, became jobs. Stage is the place she feels most in control and calm, while applause is the gift that gives her most purpose. During times she’s not performing, she struggles, and life feels pointless. In her words, “I literally live for attention”. But, she’s lucky, she found a positive way to get it through family, music and public speaking. A lot of us aren’t so lucky.

My Self-Esteem Team co-founder Grace Barrett is a self-confessed attention-seeker, who from age three would sit family members down

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And for someone like Grace, if no one had shown positive ways to find attention, it’s likely she would’ve found negative ways to garner it.

When it comes to mental health, her specific issue – a mood disorder – isn’t classically something that gets lumped into the ‘attentionseekers’ box. But she is one. Notably, when she’s depressed, her desire for attention dips, she doesn’t get the same buzz being on stage and doesn’t want to be around people.

Consequently, it’s not her mental health issue that makes her an attention-seeker, it’s her. She wears that label proudly because not squashing her need for it helped her nurture skills and talents, while providing her with goals and ambition. Maybe if we weren’t so quick to think of attention-seeking as negative, people would pursue less negative behaviours in order to get it. And we would understand if someone is seeking attention, it’s likely because they need it.

Here are our top tips for boosting healthy attention in your classroom: 1) Value attention as something people need to thrive Just as mental health prevention is greater than cure, it’s the same with attention. We only have to look at CAMHS where young people are turned away until their self-harm is ‘worse’ so they can be treated to see that adults give attention in crisis. We need to see attention as something that prevents crisis, helping young people to flourish. If you drew a Venn diagram of the five human psychological needs (to be loved, to be heard, to belong, to have meaning or purpose, to achieve), the core point they all have in common to make a well-rounded human is rooted in attention.

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2) Don’t forget you’re human too

5) Re-consider language

With 30+ students in one class and a lot of distractions like whiteboards/ projectors/text books/phones etc. it’s tricky for everyone to have a voice… by being human yourself, you lead by example. Whether it’s starting the lesson with a song of their choice on YouTube, hosting a session on what students are struggling with, or sharing your personal coping strategies, you create a space where students feel heard which will have a knock-on effect on their productivity.

There’s often panic about what to say if someone raises a mental health issue as it’s medicalised that people forget to just be human, so we remove ourselves from the equation and do our best to signpost.

While this can be invaluable, so is relatability. Being mindful of this and re-considering how we are open to conversation rather than shutting it down is crucial for connection, for example, “calm down” becomes “how can I help you?”, “stop crying” becomes “I can see this is hard for you”, and “don’t yell” becomes “take a deep breath then tell me what happened”. Creating a poster for the classroom to highlight these alternatives could also help students understand positive attention and no longer demonise those ‘attentionseekers’

3) Positive body language Have you ever walked into a room and thought you could cut the atmosphere with a knife? Even if no one is talking? It’s said that communication is 7% verbal and 93% non-verbal, so even if you’re saying the right things but are clockwatching ‘til lunch students will know.

Positive and open body language helps communicate interest, giving students their ‘applause’ without the need for them to necessarily perform.

4) Encourage conversation While there’s a temptation to ban phones, how about flipping the rule on its head? Perhaps bring phones TO the table so students can read their best text or article from that day – use the tools on offer to connect instead of to censor and drive us further apart. You can keep it subject specific and challenge them to explain their maths/science problem in the 280 characters of a tweet. We know people who feel well-connected to others experience lower rates of cardiac disease later in life, while those who feel appreciated by superiors are more productive, so if attention can impact physical and mental health it’s not only good for wellbeing but vital to survival.

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Every Teacher Matters – Suneta Bagri Where Passion Meets Education – Every Teacher Matters Project – well-being at the heart of Education.

Coaching and cultivating a community of lifelong professionals.

The best investment you can make is the one you make in yourself.

offers specialised coaching and training that relates to personal and professional performance and development.

Suneta Bagri is on a mission to help teachers, senior leaders and all staff in education to lead fulfilling lives and encourage a positive mindset.

Helping teachers to navigate their way to a fulfilling lifestyle is something she is incredibly passionate about.

Education is a gift, and to be able to support teachers with their personal and professional growth and development motivates Suneta to positively impact future generations.

With the Every Teacher Matters Project, teachers can take control of their wellbeing, look after their mental health, and be truly effective in the classroom as well as happier in their personal lives.

In this overwhelming arena of education, it can be difficult to manage your mental, physical, and emotional health and well-being. As an award-winning Coach, Speaker, and former Head Teacher, with over twenty years’ experience, Suneta

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The aims of the Every Teacher Matters Project are: •

To support the well-being of teachers and educational staff so that they can be well enough to do the important job at hand.

•

To enable personal growth and development to ensure selfempowerment for teachers

•

To provide teachers with practical ways and modern mind tools to withstand the challenges of the profession

•

To contribute to the retention of teachers in amidst a recruitment and retention crisis

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Every Teacher Matters project has three aspects:

What is important to you as a mindset and well-being coach?

What is the well-being network and the well-being workshops?

•

Bespoke Coaching; individual clients & school based

•

Training and Well-being workshops

•

Every Teacher Matters Network

At the core of what I offer is a young girl with a fierce passion for learning and education. As a youngster I saw education as a gift and loved to learn. That hunger for education has stayed with me. Being able to support teachers and school staff allows me to honour my values and mission of serving within education.

Education is really important to me and this project gives me a great sense of purpose.

The Every Teacher Matters Network, is a safe and confidential space in which educational staff come together and focus on well-being.

There are inspirational speakers, tips and practical advice and strategies given to take away from each meeting. It’s about sharing, learning and growing within a community of like-minded professionals who understand the challenges but also find practical solutions to withstand those challenges for selfempowerment. The network serves as a platform to bring professionals together to inspire, motivate and support. As a profession, it unites us and together we are stronger!

Tell us about your coaching and who can benefit from it.

I support, coach, empower and help teachers, senior leaders and school staff to evolve and transform.

Through bespoke one to one coaching and self-awareness sessions I guide my clients towards the best version of themselves. Coaching is essential to personal growth and in moving towards goals in both one’s personal and professional lives.

The benefits are mutually exclusive and results in improving teachers’ confidence, enjoyment and overall well-being within the education sector.

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Being of service to others is where my true values lie and being in education keeps me connected to that passion and purpose. Teaching is a profession in which we can have significant influence and impact upon the lives of children. This is truly a privilege. To give our best we have to be our best, and this is where my coaching comes in.

The workshops offer solutions and practical strategies at whole staff level within CPD sessions. The purpose of each workshop type is to help teachers prevent burnout and understand themselves as well as how they can take responsibility for their own well-being.

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Workshops include: •

Avoiding Burnout & Responding to Change with Greater Self Awareness

•

Managing Anxiety & Combatting Stress

•

Time Management & Life/Work Balance Effective Communication & Building Positive Relationships

•

The Healthy Teacher - How food affects your mood

•

The Mindful Teacher - How Meditation, Mindfulness and Spirituality Can Support Emotional Well-Being

Thinking back over the last 12 months, what are you most proud of?

Winning an award for the Startup Category at the Woman Who Solopreneur Awards was a great achievement. Knowing that my Every Teacher Matters project is receiving the recognition it deserves fills me with pride and joy. I’m also so humbled by all the support I have received from colleagues.

Everyone has been overwhelmingly positive about the project and this encouragement has driven me further in my quest for championing our profession.

What are the biggest challenges facing teachers right now, and what are the best ways you’ve found to overcome them?

There are so many! Pay, conditions, life-work balance, pressures of Ofsted, pressures from parents, colleagues, leaders, getting it right for the children, dealing with the diverse issues that children enter the classroom with, feelings of over-whelm, workload, marking, data, assessments – it really is a never-ending barrage! If you have read the Education Support Teacher Wellbeing Index 2019 (released on the 11th November) you will know that teachers stress levels are at the highest. There are some staggering statistics within that report which are simply terrifying. We have to respond to this as a profession and start to address the issues that are being raised. This problem will not just go away!

Over-coming these challenges is not for the feint hearted. It takes a special type of person to be a teacher. Conquering your mindset and ensuring it is galvanised to remain strong and bounce back from setbacks, really is essential! The teachers’ standards are exceptionally high and of course they are expected to be met. Every Teacher Matters Project is about accepting the challenge and taking responsibility for yourself with an attitude of “bring it on!”

Who or what inspired you to do what you are doing now?

Over the past 4 years I have worked in some very challenging schools that have been in need of strong leadership. Often, in these situations, I found that staff were struggling with their own well-being and mental health and in need of a huge boost of morale. They were capable but needed coaching. I spent more and more time on coaching, supporting and investing in my relationships with the staff.

This was received very well and gave me the encouragement to know it was positively influencing the standards within the schools. I love empowering others to be their best. I found the impact of coaching to be incredibly powerful, which resulted in Teaching and Learning being enjoyable. Staff morale improved and school improvement work became an inevitable part of the process with strong evidence of improvement across all areas within school. Through coaching and focusing on well-being the whole ethos and culture of the school was productive. I enjoyed this aspect of my role so much that I was inspired to train as a Master Coach and share the significant impact on a much wider scale. My love for personal development and education culminated and the Every Teacher Matters project was born!

How can we find out more about Every Teacher Matters Project?

You can find out all about my coaching support and the Every Teacher Matters Project via my website sunetabagri.com or email me directly at contact@sunetabagri.com

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HEALTHY FUTURES ONLINE Launching in 2020 with the following: – Interactive Videos – Subject Leader Area – Outstanding Lesson Plans – Health and Wellbeing Workshops – Online Courses – Discount Hub

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