What is the Sports Premium?

On the 8th March 2023, the government confirmed that the Primary PE and Sport Premium funding will continue across the next two academic years (2023-2024 & 2024-2025) with a commitment of £600 million being awarded to help children get an active start in life, supporting primary schools to improve the quality of their PE and sport provision so that pupils experience the benefits of regular exercise. Being active in childhood is vital to long-term wellbeing and physical and mental health. The Chief Medical officer's recommendation from 2019 for all children and young people to access, on average, 60 minutes of physical activity per day across a week is still very much integral in our use of the Primary PE and Sports Premium fund.

A new digital reporting tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending of the Primary PE and Sport Premium.
In August 2023, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport produced their 'Get Active' strategy, a strategy designed to increase the number of children being classed as active. Further to this, an updated School Sport and Activity Action Plan was published in July 2023 offering support for teachers and schools to deliver two hours of high-quality PE and provide competitive and extra-curricular opportunities to both girls and boys. 

How will we be spending the Sports Funding and who will benefit?

All children at Coton C of E (VC) Primary School will benefit by this funding and the action plans will show how we will be spending the funding. At the end of each academic year, the action plan will show the impact that the funding has had on the school and children. This year's impact report will be made available by 31st July 2024.

Evidencing the impact of the Sport Premium Grant

Swimming at Coton school

We are very lucky to have a swimming pool at Coton C of E (VC) Primary School. Historically, the pool was accessed in the second half of the summer term as it is an outdoor pool. All children access swimming lessons at Coton school every year. This is something we are very grateful for as we believe swimming is an essential lifesaving skill which gives children the chance to participate in many different sporting activities. All children access at least one hour of swimming every week during the second half of the summer term so they have at least six hours of swimming teaching each year.

During the 2022 - 2023 academic year, the school pool was kept open for additional curricular lessons and extra curricular opportunities during the first half of the autumn term. Increasing numbers of children were less water confident and unable to swim as compared to previous years - the direct result of the challenges faced due to the pandemic. We recognise the importance of prioritising these pupils and are keen to future proof our pool. During the 2023 / 2024 academic year we, again, committed to keeping our pool open during the first half of the autumn term to offer additional swimming opportunities for children in KS2 that were not water confident / non swimmers.