Active Schools Secondary

It is universally recognised that physical activity levels drop off substantially once children reach secondary schools so Active Schools is an initiative that looks to provide a range of new and exciting opportunities to offer to children that will increase their motivation to get active. Active Schools in particular are looking to target specific groups such as girls and those particularly inactive, in order to change lifestyles and make sport and physical activity part of a daily routine.

Active Schools Coordinators working in the secondary sector will also focus on specific projects and support various other areas or work within the secondary schools such as:

Health Promoting Schools

With all schools facing the challenge of the various stages of accreditation of Health Promoting Schools (HPS), Active Schools is expected to play a key role in helping schools achieve this status by focusing on the physical activity element within HPS. By working alongside Assistant Health Promoting Officers this will provide reciprocal support and allow for a planned approach to health and well being within schools and to seek encouraging an ethos within the school and community environment.

Some ways Active Schools have contributed to HPS status:

• Statistics are being provided showing the uptake of physical activities.
• Action plans were provided.
• Photos of activities are included in schools portfolio

Curriculum for Excellence

The commitment of the Scottish Government to ensure the curriculum for excellence is integral to the way that our children learn will change the way of education in years to come.

Active Schools is well placed to support the CfE in particular the Health and Well Being agenda, supporting extended curricular, cross curricular work and encouraging outdoor learning. It gives opportunities for children to experience the breadth and variation that active learning can provide and will see new opportunities such as Sports Leadership help to put the child at the centre of learning and focus on outcomes for the learner.

With the support of education colleagues we have collated some of our projects and linked them to the CfE format to illustrate how Active Schools map to the individual capacities – an example being physical activity through orienteering linked to mathematics and numeracy.

Through CPD Active Schools can provide a range of opportunities for teachers to support exciting new initiatives and also to involve parents and volunteers in adopting a whole community approach to working together. Good practice both locally and nationally can be disseminated throughout Aberdeenshire and the utilisation of GLOW will give us an opportunity to communicate easier.

Active Schools will also give us an opportunity to develop new partnership to achieve joint objectives and provide evidence to HMIE that a wider approach is taken by involving the community and professionals from a range of backgrounds.

Participation Trends

The monitoring involved in Active Schools is extensive and covers a number of areas e.g. school to club links, training opportunities, volunteers recruited, senior pupils involvement and participation numbers to name a few. One of the many positives we see is that participation numbers have increased so far this financial year up 141% for 2008-09 compared to the last financial year and this is still with one quarter of the year left. The numbers of people that have been trained are up by 307% for the same period and this has allowed a number of programmes to become self sustaining.

Integration into a Secondary School

A key challenge to Active Schools will be to integrate the programme into the secondary school and to gain support and commitment to meet the objectives of Sportscotland. A view is given below from Danny Murphy, a rector from Clackmannanshire Council on how Active Schools has supported the secondary schools in his area.

 

Participation Trends

The monitoring involved in Active Schools is extensive and covers a number of areas e.g. school to club links, training opportunities, volunteers recruited, senior pupils involvement and participation numbers to name a few. One of the many positives we see is that participation numbers have increased so far this financial year up 141% for 2008-09 compared to the last financial year and this is still with one quarter of the year left. The numbers of people that have been trained are up by 307% for the same period and this has allowed a number of programmes to become self sustaining.

Good Practice Examples & Other Opportunities for Secondary’s

There are a number of good practice examples that Active Schools have been involved some of which are summarised below:

Girls in Sport

Girls at Meldrum Academy have been getting healthier recently by taking part in a new ‘Fit for Girls’ initiative.

The initiative aims to encourage girls between the ages of 11 and 16 into a more active and healthy lifestyle by increasing their participation in extra-curricular sport and physical activity.

An all girls’ extra curricular multi-sport club was established at Meldrum offering a range of different activities. The club was designed so the activities would change regularly and that several activities are offered at the same time.

Over 10 different activities have been offered through the club including hip-hop dance, cheerleading, aerobics classes, spinning and girls’ only swimming.

Andrew Sutherland, former Head Teacher at Meldrum Academy, said: “The girls club focuses on girls who would not otherwise participate in exercise by giving them opportunities to try out a range of sporting and healthy activities not normally on offer. The club is providing increasingly popular and is already making a difference to the health of those girls involved.”

The main girls’ club attracts between 30 and 50 girls each week, and is helping to increase physical activity levels and an understanding of health and exercise.

The activity at Meldrum Academy is part of the pilot scheme for 'Fit for Girls' (FfG), a national drive that will be led by sportscotland and backed by Government investment of almost £530,000.

Other Opportunities for Secondary Schools through Active Schools

Fit for Girls – National roll out
Objective – create new opportunities for girls to participate in physical activity, to increase woman’s activity levels by 16% by 2017, to develop links between PE and extra curricular activity, improved links between school and community
Target – those girls that do not participate in physical activity, girls that opt out of PE
Resources – Training plus £700 per school

Bank of Scotland Soccer One
Objective – create new teams, improved links between school and community, new volunteers
Target Group – S1-3 boys & girls, children who cannot get into schools teams, children that want to play in organised games, girls only teams
Resources – training sessions by AFC staff, coach education, kit for coaches, equipment for schools

Sports Leaders
Objective – develop new leaders and volunteers who can gain organisational and planning skills through a sports medium. New sports clubs, new leaders working in schools
Target Group – pupils who wish to gain a formal qualification and who can learn key skills through the diversity of sports planning and organisation
Resources – training and manuals

Grants

Present Active School staff, have been very successful with applying for a number of additional grants and sponsorship. A number of staff has been successful with applying for Awards for All grants and 10k was allocated to Aboyne through Private Corporation funding. Stuart Milne group has also sponsored the Westhill network Active schools programme for 10k to develop a range of physical activity opportunities for children.