£600 million confirmed for PE and Sport Premium

The government has confirmed that the PE and Sport Premium will continue for the next two academic years, with funding of £600 million, and has also announced £22 million for the School Games Organisers (SGO) network.

The PE and Sport Premium is designed to help children get an active start in life by improving the quality of PE and sports in primary schools. Headteachers can choose how best to spend this funding including on teacher training, offering more opportunities for pupils to take part in competition and widening the range of sports for both boys and girls including football, tennis, cricket and hockey.

There will also be a new digital tool for PE and Sport Premium, to support schools in using the funding to the best advantage of their pupils.

These announcements are part of a package of support to boost PE and sport in schools, which includes equal access to sports in school for boys and girls.

The plan also stipulates delivering a minimum of two hours of curriculum PE – with more support being offered through a refreshed School Sport Action Plan.

The Schools Games Mark network will also be expanded. To reward parity of provision for girls, this kitemark scheme, delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, recognises schools that create positive sporting experiences across all sports for young people, supporting them to be active for 60 minutes a day.

The government has also announced up to £57 million funding for the opening school facilities programme - to open up more school sport facilities outside of school hours especially targeted at girls, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs.

The funding will be used to allow selected schools around England to keep their sport facilities open for longer for after-school activities, especially targeted at girls, disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs.

This work will be led by Active Partnerships who are leading a consortium, which includes Youth Sport Trust, ukactive and StreetGames, and will benefit up to 1,350 schools across.

Schools will receive updated guidance this summer setting out how to use the funding to the best advantage of their pupils. A new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending of the PE and Sport Premium and allow the Government to understand where further guidance is needed.

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