Physical Education and School Sport

Physical Education and School Sport (PESS)

Raising Standards - Extending Opportunities

The Sports Council Wales

Development Centres (DC's)
National Targets
What is High Quality Physical Education?
The Outcomes of High Quality PE and Sport
The impact of PESS on Development Centres
How Other Schools Be Involved in this Project

The National Assembly and the Sports Council for Wales are working in partnership to improve and develop the quality of PE and school sport in schools across Wales. The Assembly has invested millions since 2003 across Wales to set up 'Development Centres' within each local authority. The Assembly has now consolidated their commitment to the project by securing PESS until the Olympics in 2012.

A development centre is a notional concept of 'clusters' of schools. The centres help set up transition links between schools and unite them in working towards common aims to raise the standard of physical education and school sport.

The role of the DC is to identify and share existing good practice and to strengthen PE and school sport opportunities for its partners. It is run by a Partnership Leader (DC Manager) and is usually based around the secondary school to include its feeder primary schools and other partners which are unique to each centre. The project is overseen by a national manager, based at the Sports Council for Wales, and is coordinated locally by a PE & School Sport (PESS) co-ordinator within each local education authority. In Merthyr Tydfil the PESS Cooridnator sits in the Integrated Children's Services Department.

The PESS coordinators' role is to establish the development centres’ within their authority and support the managers with the organisation and implementation of the operational plans.

National Targets

The aim of PESS partnerships is;

To raise standards in PE by ensuring that all schools have effective teaching and learning in PE which is essential for achieving consistency of attainment of improvement in standards across Wales.
To be committed to managing the subject effectively within the whole school curriculum by providing 2 hours per week of high quality PE for each child, in order that teachers have sufficient time to deliver the requirement of the National Curriculum. In addition, opportunities should be provided for teachers to prepare and plan for future changes to the curriculum and within education.
To develop continuity and progression in the development of young peoples knowledge, understanding and physical skills across the partnership and between key stages.

Schools committment to the PESS Partnership

Each school in the PESS partnerhip including the head teacher and senior management should:

be able to demonstrate its commitment to achieving improved standards of attainment in PE and school sport for the duration of the PESS project
embrace a willingness to continue that commitment after the funding period
be commited to working towards the provision of two hours of good quality curriculum PE per week for each pupil
be willing to provide opportunity to share strengths and good practice with all staff within the school and with all schools in the partnership and beyond
provide a structured approach to the PE CPD of the teachers involved in delivering PE including support for maintaining professional development portfolios in line with professional or academic accreditation
contribute to the development and promotion of a healthy and active lifestyles policy and related action plan for the Partnership or demonstrate links between the school policies for health, active lifestyles and PE, this may be achieved through the Healthy Schools action plans
contribute to the development of a cluster based transition policy for PE or include PE into the school transition plans in order to promote effective links between key phases
respond positively to strategic priorities agreed by the cluster of schools in the partnership and include the relevant actions into the school development plan
identify a representative or subject leader who will represent the school at partnership meetings, this person should be an experienced teacher who is willing and able to motivate and support their colleagues. This person may be asked to deputise for the Partnership Leader and work with external personnel to plan and implement aspects of the partnership plans

Specialist Projects

Specialist projects have run Nationally through working groups and have created resources and guidance for teachers. The projects currently running are;

Gymnastics
Dance
Health, Fitness and Well-Being
Inclusion
Adventurous Activities
In the Zone
ICT in PE

What is High Quality Physical Education?

The Department for Media, Culture and Sport has two interesting documents that provide a guide for schools to recognise if they are achieving high quality physical education and to self assess whether they have high quality PE and school sport.

'High Quality PE and Sport for Young People'.

'Do You Have High Quality PE and Sport in your School'?

The Outcomes of High Quality PE and Sport can be summarised in the ten points below and can be used as a guide for schools on what to look for, they should see young people who:-

1. are committed to PE and sport and make them a central part of their lives - both in and out of school

2. know and understand what they are trying to achieve and how to go about doing it

3. understand that PE and sport are an important part of a healthy, active lifestyle

4. have the confidence to get involved in PE and sport

5. have the skills and control that they need to take part in PE and sport

6. willingly take part in a range of competitive, creative and challenge-type activities, both as individuals and as part of a team or group

7. think about what they are doing and make appropriate decisions for themselves

8. show a desire to improve and achieve in relation to their own abilities

9. have the stamina, suppleness and strength to keep going

10. enjoy PE, school and community sport

(From; High Quality PE and Sport for Young People DCMS PE/HQ March 2004)

If new partners needed guidance on how the PE and school sport project can impact on whole school improvement.pdf they should read the document accessed through this link. A must read for all partners, headteachers, staff, pupils, parents and school governors to help illustrate what and how the PESS project can impact on their school.

The impact of PESS on Development Centres

ESTYN have monitored the impact of PESS on development centre schools since the start of the project and has produced two documents to report their findings, the most recent can be found on the ESTYN website.

More locally, ESIS has worked in partnership with the PESS Coordinator to quality assure work and measure the impact of the project on schools. This has been completed each summer term by the Senior Advisor/PE Advisor from ESIS and PESS Coordinator. Each development centre recieves a written report to celebrate the findings from the visits. Each document reports many examples of good practice and high quality work from development centre schools in Merthyr Tydfil.

Cyfarthfa Development Centre ESIS Report 2005.pdf