Burnham sets Olympic ambition for school sport - Coaching and competition for all in main sports by 2012

090/08
29 August 2008

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham set out his ambition to offer coaching and competition for all by 2012 as part of plans to offer young people five hours of sport a week.

Speaking at the third UK School Games in Bath, Burnham said by 2012 high quality coaching and competition will be on offer to all school children in all the main sports like cricket, tennis and athletics.

He also said that the £1.5 billion investment into school sport since 2002 – roughly five times the amount invested in developing medal winners in the same period - was beginning to reap the same rewards as those seen in elite sport.  

His comments came as Sport England announced the first phase of government plans to offer young people more sport outside of school. The £36 million ‘Sport Unlimited’ scheme is designed to attract into sport those young people who do not take part in sport regularly.

It will set up 4000 taster sessions across England in non-traditional sports, including cycling, sailing, kayaking, American football and dodgeball. The nationwide scheme will be available from the beginning of this new school term.

The fund is part of the £100 million extra funding for young people’s sport announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last year, bringing total investment into school sport over the next three years to £780 million. The extra investment was put in to offer all 5-16 year olds five hours of government funded sport a week, two in school and three out. All 16-19 year olds will be offered three hours of out of school sport a week.

Andy Burnham said:

“The UK School Games are the pinnacle of the school sport system and shows how a culture of competition and excellence has been reintroduced to our schools. Since Beijing it is has become widely acknowledged both here and abroad that we now have a world class system for developing medal winners. But rivals like Australia are not just looking at our elite sport system anymore. Outside Britain they are now also acknowledging the giant leaps we have made in school sport.

“Despite these improvements, it still feels like some people are stuck in a time warp when it comes to their perceptions of school sport in this country. It’s not the eighties any more. School playing fields aren’t being sold off left, right and centre. PE is not being abandoned from the timetable and competition is no longer a dirty word. In fact there has been a dramatic and unparalleled transformation of school sport that emulates the transformation of elite sport in Britain.”

“Today’s announcement by Sport England is further proof of that and builds on our Olympic medal success. School sport has undergone a radical overhaul since 2002. There are now more coaches, more facilities, more varied sports and more competition. By 2011 we will have achieved the ultimate ambition that every child will be offered five hours of quality sport a week. That will include coaching and competition for all.  By the time the Olympics start in 2012 I’m confident our school sport system will lead the world. “

There have been a number of developments in school sport since 1997.

  • In 1998 Government moved to protect school playing fields by requiring all local authorities and schools in England to have the consent of the Secretary of State of the Department for Children, Schools and Families before selling. 

  • A sale won’t be sanctioned unless it is an absolute last resort, with local authorities having to demonstrate that they have exhausted all other sources of funding and all proceeds must be used to improve school sports or education facilities. 

  • Since 1997, just 192 playing fields have been sold (out of total of over 20,000 schools) and all of these were surplus to requirements. 91 belonged to schools that were closing, 83 of those that remained open used the sale to improve their sports facilities and the remaining 18 improved their educational facilities.

  • The number of children doing at least two hours of school sport has increased from two million (25%) in 2002 to over five million (86%) in 2007.

  • Over 450 specialist school sport colleges have been set up since 2002.

  • Over 3,000 Community Sports Coaches, whose core focus is working with young people in schools, have been employed.

  • The Youth Sport Trust organised UK School Games – which benefits from Lottery and Government funding - launch in 2006

  • 225 local competition managers will be in place from September the 1st 2008 to ensure more competitive sport takes place between schools.

  • Inter-school sport competition is on the rise. Latest figures from 06 / 07 show that 40 per cent of children in years 4 - 11 (aged 8 - 16) are taking part in sports competition against other schools up from 33 per cent in 2003 / 04

  • In 2007 EU study 'Current Situation and Prospects for Physical Education in the European  Union ‘ highlighted our school sport strategy as a model in a number of areas. It also showed that while curriculum time in PE has been falling across Europe in recent years, they have been rising in the UK and that the UK now provides more PE curriculum time than the EU average.

  • Last year the Chair of the Youth Sport Trust, the body that helps deliver our PE and School Sport Strategy, went over to Australia to share best practice.

Notes to Editors

  1. Further details on the Sport Unlimited scheme are available in a separate press release by Sport England which is available on their website. Press contact: Peter Dickinson 020 7273 1800

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