Agenda item

(To receive a report which provides the Committee with an update on how the participation of children and young people in Physical Education (PE), school sport and physical activity is being sustained and enhanced in light of increasing childhood obesity and the Olympic/Paralympic Legacy)

The Committee received a report which provided an update on how the participation of children and young people in Physical Education (PE), school sport and physical activity was being sustained and enhanced in light of increasing childhood obesity and the Olympic/Paralympic legacy.

A number of officers were in attendance to represent partners including Keith Batty (Director of Programmes, CfBT Education Services), Andy Birch (Head of Secondary School Improvement, CfBT Education Services); Navaz Sutton (Children and Young People Manager, Lincolnshire Sport); Andy Allen (Chair of Lincolnshire School Games Organisers); Jon Clack (Headteacher of Great Ponton CE Primary School and Ambassador Head Teacher for the Youth Sport Trust and Trustee for Inspire+); and Phillip Garner (Health Improvement Manager, Public Health (LCC)), and take part in a discussion with the Members of the Committee.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         PE and sport was seen as a good opportunity in terms of improving health and wellbeing.  One of the main drivers for the past 5-7 years had been the amount of funding which was available for PE and Sport;

·         Around 44% of schools opened up their facilities for the use of the local community.  Some of the reasons schools stated for not doing this included staffing costs and the need for additional insurance.  It was noted that most of the groups that did use school facilities were pre-school age groups;

·         A challenge would be how to continue to secure funding in the future, and ensure that investment continued to come into the county;

·         The Youth Sport Trust was working with around 28,000 children, and approximately 1,000 were involved with Change for Life and the Legacy Challenge;

·         Councillor N J Smith reported that she had attended the launch of the Change for Life and Legacy Challenge Programmes, which had been a very good event.  It was noted that one of the teachers had spoken passionately about the difference the programmes had made to some of the children, not just physically, but also mentally;

·         Concerns were raised regarding the use of the sports premium to bring external agencies into schools, as it was thought there should be more emphasis on teachers taking the lead on providing activities.  Members were assured that staff within schools were being developed to deliver these programmes and activities, and schools were working closely with the Sports Partnerships to ensure that this was happening.  It was noted that PE teachers should be working alongside the coaches;

·         It was commented that sometimes the experience of trying a different activity – through an external coach that visited a school – could lead to a child taking an interest in that activity and seeking out an after school club;

·         It was queried whether there was any way of predicting when levels of childhood obesity would start to fall below the national average;

·         It was also queried whether there was any national incentive to bring back the free swimming scheme for under 16's?  Members were advised that this was a programme which had finished 18 months ago, and it was not thought there was any national drive at this time to reinstate it.  It was also noted that the cost to provide the free swimming in Lincolnshire had been £1.6m, funded by £800,000 from central government and £800,000 from the County Council, and it would this level of funding which would need to be found in order to reinstate this for under 16's and older people;

·         There had been a big influx of coaches going into schools, mostly from private agencies.  However, there were some pro-active coaching companies.  It was noted that there was still work to be done;

·         There were a number of funding streams that went into a raft of different initiatives.  The Sports Premium went directly to the primary schools, and it was unclear what would happen to this funding after 2016.  In relation to local authority funding of these activities, Lincolnshire, as well as other authorities, would be facing significant budget reductions, and priorities would need to be examined.  The proposed budget for Children's Services would be presented to this Committee at its meeting in January 2015;

·         In terms of childhood obesity, it was noted that the authority would only need to work with 30 year 6 children, in order to move to below the national average;

·         It was difficult to recruit parents for the Fit Kids programme, but it was found that for those children whose parents got involved with the programme, it did have good results;

·         There was a need for a constructive and helpful conversation around childhood obesity;

·         There was a need to encourage more traditional playground games.  Members were advised that some schools were training children as playground leaders to encourage other children into being more active in the playground;

·         24% of schools were not involved in the Schools Games programmes.  It was noted that this could be for a number of reasons including cost and transport issues.  However, the offer did go out to all schools as it was a national programme.  Nationally, there were some proactive schools who had a strong drive to be involved;

·         Changing rooms had always been found to be a barrier in encouraging more children to play sports, particularly children who were already overweight as they did not want to change in front of other children.  It was noted that providing changing facilities in primary schools had always been a challenge, but some secondary schools were starting to address the issue and installing cubicle changing facilities, similar to those found at swimming pools;

·         It was noted that whilst there had been increased participation in playground activity, it became too combative and competitive for girls, and it found that at key stage 1 and 2, participation from girls started to decrease;

·         A difference in parental attitudes towards boys and girls weight was identified through the Fit Kids programme – it was believed that boys would grow out of it but that there was a need for girls to look after themselves.  However, it was found that overweight boys were likely to be less active as they got older;

·         It was thought that there was a need for more monitoring and tracking of children's weight through primary school, as currently they were weighed in the reception class and again in year 6;

·         The work being done was positive, but it was thought there was more need for a cultural change as parents would drop children off at the school gates in the car, and pick them up again.  There was a need for more work to be done with parents;

·         It was important for parents to encourage their children to take part in sporting activities;

·         Gender issues in the approach to sport had been identified, with girls more focused on the health and fitness aspects rather than competitive sports.  This had led some schools to offer aerobics type classes in order to engage girls in physical activity;

·         Members did not want work on obesity to become target driven, and they wanted the work to go beyond the 30/40 children that would be required to bring Lincolnshire's figures in line with the national average;

·         It was suggested that the Fit Kids model should be extended to parents to get them more engaged;

·         A vast number of teachers were being trained within the County to continue the Legacy;

·         There was a stronger agenda coming through in terms of activity in schools which recognised the differences between boys and girls, and encouraging all clubs to engage more with girls.  It was more complex than just 'sport for all';

·         It was commented that the majority of obese children were mirrors of their parents, and unless the parents were engaged in programmes such as Fit Kids first, this could create conflicts between the children and parents;

·         It had been found that there was reluctance from parents to have discussions regarding their child's weight;

·         Information on the Change for Life programme would be going to all schools;

·         There was a need to address physical activity education as part of the initial training for primary school teachers, so it could be built into everyday lessons.  A piece of work carried out by Partners had discovered that trainee teachers generally received between 4-6 hours of PE training during their teacher training.  It was thought that this needed to be integrated more into the full year of training.  Partners were starting to work on this with Bishop Grosseteste College;

·         Some schools were working towards offering their sports facilities to the local communities.  However, it was often the cost of ensuring a caretaker was on the premises during out of school hours that prohibited schools from opening their facilities to the community.  Opportunities were being offered in Sixth Forms for students to be employed as leisure assistants to alleviate the pressure on caretakers;

·         It was noted that there were sports science and sports development courses offered at the University of Lincoln  but no PE courses, and it was important to realise that these subjects were not the same;

·         It was suggested that it could be helpful if the Fit Kids programme could be developed into a cross curriculum project;

·         It was a decision for the governors whether schools could open on a weekend so the community could make use of their facilities;

·         It was hoped that sports teachers realised that there were many different sports available and any child should be able to try out any sport;

·         It was considered important that in primary schools, the teachers participated in the PE lessons with the children, rather than just directing them;

·         It was requested that when this Committee considered the budget, members drilled down into the budget and scrutinised it carefully to ensure that funding for the schemes discussed continued so the work could carry on;

·         It was requested that officers came back to this meeting in the future with an action plan on how childhood obesity could be tackled;

RESOLVED

            That the briefing paper be noted and that the Committee support the           work of the Partners.