How to make physical education accessible

^{Image: Students at Heathfield Junior School received training from Monte Lynch and Ariana Dowse.}

Education Business spoke to James Watson from Heathfield Junior School to discuss how cricket can open doors.

Heathfield Junior School is situated in a disadvantaged area of Twickenham. They have 437 pupils, with over 35 per cent of students eligible for free school meals.

The school was Highly Commended in last year's Education Business Awards for the Sports Award. One year on, we check in with James Watson, PE lead at Heathfield Junior School to see how they have progressed:

What cricket provision does the school provide?

After Covid, cricket lent itself to PE in the curriculum. With social distancing – it was the perfect sport to play. It was new to the pupils at Heathfield.

Only 15 per cent of the pupils previously belonged to a club outside of school (this was supported with Active Lives Survey).

My aim is that all pupils leave Heathfield Junior School physically literate and with the knowledge, skills and motivation necessary to equip them for a healthy lifestyle and lifelong participation in physical activity and sport.

Some of the characteristics and qualities that I have worked on through cricket are: self belief, integrity, responsibility, gratitude, respect, communication, concentration, and decision making.

Currently we have four cricket projects funded by OSF and London Sport all delivered by Watson (ECB Level 3 coach). Every class has 12 one hour of cricket in curriculum time during the spring term.

These are girls hardball, girls softball, a club for children eligible for free school meals, and a club for targeted children.

In addition to this, we also run an All Stars club for year 3s. This makes us the first school in our borough and one of only a handful in Middlesex to run this programme. We also have a Dynamos session for year 4s and 5s.

We also have a Chance to Shine street cricket club, and a club for squad training that takes place before school.

The school has also had masterclasses and assemblies from current and ex players. These include Monte Lynch, Scott Newman and Monty Panesar.

The school runs Holiday and Food cricket camps. How did the idea come about?

Cricket is an elitist sport for many as found in the ICEC report. I wanted to break down these barriers and truly make the game more accessible for children on free school meals.

To develop this love even more and give these children an experience that they would never otherwise experience, I set up the HAF camp in Easter 2022.

Cricket had a huge impact upon the children, and gave them training that they would only get at quality cricket academies. We looked at diet, talked about fuelling up for competition, had coaching from ex-England and Surrey player Monte Lynch alongside high quality coaching from Watson and fellow teacher Callum Donnelly (a player at Teddington CC).

The psychology of sport was looked at and we encouraged children to read passages from ‘You are awesome’ by Matthew Syed. We even attended a Surrey One Day game in summer 2022, where the pupils got to meet the Surrey and Somerset players.

Cricket has had a huge impact on our pupils' lives. Parents have come to us saying that before playing cricket at school, their children lacked confidence and didn't do any clubs. Now they have more confidence within sport and in school.

How is the school making cricket accessible for children from disadvantaged backgrounds?

Our girls all play outside of school for Hampton Wick Royal Cricket Club. HWRCC have provided bursaries for the girls, and I have sourced a hardball kit.

They now are beating some of the most privileged clubs in Surrey and Middlesex.

What advice would you give to school leaders who want to make sport education more accessible?

Provide that sport at school. Get in touch with NGB. Work closely with a local club to provide a pathway so you can signpost children. Be prepared to work hard.

What have you got planned next for the school in terms of cricket?

We are a trailblazer for primary state school cricket and we want to be centre of the community for cricket. Our next steps are to develop our facilities, run a state school cricket academy out of Heathfield.

We are also in talks with BATFAST to install a cricket facility.