Providing a range of intra or inter competitive experiences for many children and young people. All children and young people should be achieving to their full potential. These events and festivals do not need to be competitive. We have effective strategies in place which are improving attainment and achievement for children and young people facing challenges such as those from our most deprived areas, young carers, those who are looked after and those with additional support needs.
Competitive opportunities actions
If your assessment tool has highlighted this as an area for improvement, here’s some simple actions your school sport committee can add to their action plan:
Provide opportunities for all pupils to compete in a variety of sports at a variety of levels:
- The Sports Committee have worked to develop more opportunities for Inter-House competitions where pupils can earn points for their House alongside the already established Inter-House school sports day.
- Pupils are given opportunities to take part in a range of competitions both locally and in surrounding areas, this includes school sports day, inter-house competitions, inter-school sports, Active Schools festivals and competitions.
- Your Active Schools Coordinator will be able to provide information on local competitions
- Encourage the Parent Council Committee to attend and support sporting events, they may also help to fund some of the activities.
- Encourage parental/carer involvement – could they help allow pupils to attend events and competition?
- Have a visible place in the PE department and online where young people can see all the opportunities available to them
Competitive opportunities examples in practice
Active Schools festivals and competitions
Using the School Sport Award assessment tool, competitive opportunities was identified as a weak area. The assessment enabled us to see where we needed to focus and where to future plan. We needed to explore and consider future opportunities which would enable us to improve the core area of competing and performing. Through our Active Schools coordinator pupils were able to attend sports events and festivals alongside other schools. This would mean pupils would be able to integrate with other pupils/schools and have the opportunity to participate in high quality school sport events. To date pupils have successfully attended sports events with pupils being mixed into other school teams. Staff reported pupils have coped well and enjoyed the experience.
Organising an in-house competition
The school sport committee could organise an in-house competition with a prize at the end. This would include designing and managing the competition and organising an appropriate prize. The impact would be measured by observation of how the committee organise and administrate the event and feedback from all pupils who compete in the event. The sports committee can also design posters for the events to be advertised, parents will be notified regarding this and a blog will be uploaded to the school website in order for everyone to access the information.
Delivering an in-house competition
The competition can run 4 times a week at lunchtime with the school sport committee recording scores. Pupils of the school will get to celebrate sport and success in a new and unique way. They will also be able to see that working as a team they will achieve success together and that everyone’s contribution matters.
‘Schools Together’ events
Every year we invite other schools to play different sports with us. We always give visiting schools a gift with a nice message on it when they leave. We call these events Schools Together and we meet with active schools coordinators to plan these events.Sport brings us all together because we all love to play sport!
Impact on young people
We feel it is important to allow pupils to achieve beyond the classroom and take pride in their school and local community. It also provides other pupils the opportunity to cheer on their fellow classmates and hopefully in the future aspire to do the same. Going to training and matches through clubs will develop lasting friendships that can then be taken back into classrooms.
The right environment
Our young people often find it difficult to regulate their emotions and behaviours in a competitive environment. However, this year we have made significant progress and we have attended many of the Local Authority disability sports events where our young people have achieved significant successes. Our young people participate in competitive events at break and lunch and as the year has progressed there has been a significant decrease in the number of incidents reported at this time. Giving the pupils ownership and allowing them to choose and lead the events has helped them to develop their skills and have fun
Scottish Indoor Rowing League
The school sport committee were looking for ways to enhance the schools competition offering across the school. I had suggested the indoor rowing league which the school had never entered before. It was decided the young ambassadors should take the lead of promoting and running this in the school. With the backing of the PE department the fitness suite was given over a break time and lunchtimes for children to take part and record their times. Each pupil was asked to record at least one time per block for entries as dictated by Scottish Rowing. In the end the school had well over 100 pupils take part and some success with the overall results.
