Annual Review 2019-20
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Annual Review 2019-20 Making a Difference www.joininedinburgh.org/sports/active-schools/ Follow us @ActiveSchoolsED Welcome The new academic year started like every other year: Over 1,000 extra-curricular activities on offer across the city focusing on getting more pupils, more active, especially those who hadn’t been a part of the Active Schools programme before. 18,000 pupils took part in over 50 different activities with 80% deliverers being voluntary, (39% teachers, 47% senior pupils, 14% parents). The team worked closely with school staff, parents and pupils promoting the benefits of physical activity, including how it can affect mental health, stress and anxiety. Little did we know our world was about to change and that getting out of the house once a day to exercise would prove a lifeline and truly make a difference to our mental health and wellbeing. Now more than ever, we must continue to promote the benefits of physical activity and encourage everyone to get active. Physical activity and sport have the potential to enhance children and young people’s mental and physical wellbeing and will support children and young people to lead healthy, active lifestyles now and in the future. I hope this review will illustrate some of the impact the Active Schools team were able to make to certain individuals across Edinburgh. Our Values... The Edinburgh Active Schools team’s values permeate throughout the work they do and within schools across the City of Edinburgh Our mission is to get more children more active more often To see more of what we do follow us on twitter @Active SchoolsED Messages from our key partners Active Schools is an invaluable addition to In an active Scotland we all find ways to The Royal High School community. The be physically active every day and this Active Schools coordinator Mathew is the fundamental work of the McLachlan provides support for Edinburgh Active Schools team. Despite numerous clubs, enabling a very high the year ending abruptly in March the percentage of our pupils to take part in a team worked hard to address the focus sport whether for fun, fitness or areas of their plan, namely tackling competition. inequalities and prioritising inactive pupils. The contacts Matthew makes to support core Physical Education delivery gives our Throughout eight months of delivery in pupils access to a very wide programme schools the team successfully ensured ranging from cricket to rugby that the children and young people of from football to netball, gymnastics, Edinburgh continued to have beach volleyball and more. There really is opportunities to participate in physical something for everyone through the activity and sport. In addition, the team Active Schools programme. have continued to engage in the PEPAS agenda nationally and locally. Pauline Walker Bob Wylie Head Teacher, sportscotland Royal High School Now more than ever it is important to The role Active Schools has played in offer opportunities to participate in facilitating participation in sport within physical activity and sport, as it has the our community has been vital. Active potential to enhance children and young Schools has been able to proactively people’s mental and physical wellbeing, overcome a wide range of barriers to enabling them to lead healthy, active pupil participation. lifestyles now and in the future. This understanding of our community The Active Schools team provide a varied and enthusiasm to engage parents in and extensive programme across the city. the ways that suit them best has led to Much of this would not be possible an exponential growth in extra- without the many volunteers recruited to curricular participation amongst our deliver these sessions. Over 18,000 pupils pupils and all of the numerous health took part before March and continued to and wellbeing benefits associated with engage with Active Schools during sport and exercise. lockdown via alternative platforms and social media. Chris McMillan David Bruce Acting Head Teacher City of Edinburgh Council Brunstane Primary School Promoting Equity Additional Support Needs Awareness WE VALUE Many of the children in mainstream education with a disability may find they are the only child with a disability in that school. The chance to experience parasport activities is very limited and can be dependant on PE staffs’ knowledge and experience of delivering and promoting these opportunities. To address this gap, in collaboration with Scottish Disability Sport, whole class sessions to raise awareness of Just to let you know M. loved the disability sport were delivered in PE. session you did at school. She For some pupils it was more couldn’t stop talking about it appropriate to offer this input on a yesterday! one-to-one basis. Six key schools across the city Alice Mountford received CPD sessions to support PE Additional Support for Learning Service staff in delivering disability specific (East Neighbourhood Centre) sports and raising awareness of disability sport opportunities in their classes. Over 80 children gained a greater awareness of disability sport across the following schools; Holyrood HS, Stenhouse PS, Royal High PS, Parson’s Green PS, Portobello HS, George Watson’ s Girls at Broomhouse are getting more active with sporting variety being the spice of life! OTINGMOPR When Shona Clark, the Active Schools Coordinator at Broomhouse Primary School had a vision to help more girls in P6-P7 get active, she involved the local EQUITY Community Sports Hub (CSH) and worked hard to remove the barriers to participation which girls identified they might face. These included; lack of confidence, cost, variety of activities and travel. Shona and the local CSH sports clubs overcame these challenges by providing all activities for free and offering sessions either at school or at Forrester High School (i.e. within walking distance). The girls were able to come out of class for an hour each week on top of their curricular P.E. time, to get a taste of over 11 different sports and physical activities over courses of 4-8 weeks. After 89% each block the extracurricular club was advertised if already in existence or a new club was set up – including Triathlon, Water of P6- 7 girls have Polo, Swimming, Judo, Cheerleading, Yoga, Rugby, Football, taken part in Active Gymnastics, Badminton, Basketball and more! Schools sessions Involving young people in the decision making was a key part to the success, as one of many happy pupils commented “I enjoy the girls project because we get to do sports that we choose”. Senior pupils also gained leadership experience, as Young Ambassadors and Girls’ Ambassadors helped support the younger Primary school pupils by preparing for their transition to the High School. There is more variety than ever at Broomhouse, with clear pathways for girls to continue participating in the sports they chose and enjoyed. When the project started only 33% of girls in P6 and 7 participated in Active Schools activities. This number has risen to 89%. Such a large proportion of female pupils have experienced increased confidence, and now have the experience to stay active and healthy for life. GNITOMORP NEW clubs and Holiday Camps for ASN pupils! Y Active Schools are passionate about promoting equity for children and young T I people with Additional Support Needs (ASN) in both mainstream and special U schools across the city. The ASN Co-ordinator Jill Coleman has long championed Q Parasport opportunities, liaising with schools and governing bodies to improve E ASN-specific provision across the city. This year has seen the establishment of new clubs and the first Active School’s ASN Activity camp at Liberton HS, in partnership with Edinburgh Leisure and Lothian Disability Sport. Pre-camp links were made with parents/carers to build ‘Attendee Profiles’ which proved hugely beneficial to ensuring a child-centred approach was followed. 6 Higher staffing ratios were implemented in conjunction with Mainstream activity sessions tailored to meet the specific needs of the schools with ASN children attending. Children who had not previously clubs experienced an Active Schools session were able to participate for the first time in a variety of activities – from goalball to boccia, basic moves to multi-sport The training of volunteers and school staff to support these fresh Thank you for such a fantastic week initiatives included 1-2-1 mentoring & at the ASN sports camp. The staff consultation sessions, Disability were brilliant; both the Active Inclusion Training and PE Schools team and your guest shadowing within the special school instructors. It was great to see cluster at Prospect Bank School. Liberton HS senior pupils getting involved too. In addition, Dean Park PS have launched a new ASN initiative with D Kay Gold & Gray Academy, specifically Parent of ASN club attendee for 10 pupils who hadn’t previously had such an opportunity. Plans are being implemented to start new clubs and camps in the future, utilising the successful model of delivery which has been developed thus far. Watch this space Fresh opportunities for children with ASN prove popular and create pathway to ParaSport Festivals Summer Camps 2020 go virtual Tackling the challenges of Covid-19 restrictions has been a priority for the Active Schools Edinburgh team for much of 2020. Active Schools were concerned that children who would normally have access to our popular summer camps would struggle to stay physically healthy. EQUITY PROMOTING To overcome this obstacle a ‘Virtual Summer Camp’ was created and launched on twitter to encourage children and families to be more active over the summer holidays. Every day a different activity and challenge was featured, with variations to accommodate all ages and abilities. The Active Schools team also assembled 500 paper activity packs including a goodie bag which were delivered to families who were receiving food parcels through Edinburgh Community Food Initiative.