Big Lottery

About the partnership

The Redditch School Sport Partnership, formed in 2003, expanded from 19 to 43 schools in September 2005. Its schools are all in the Redditch area of Worcestershire, where the population has fluctuated in recent years, unemployment is high and parental concerns have prevented the introduction of a two tier education system.

Over the past few years there has been considerable reorganisation and merging of schools due to falling rolls and inadequate buildings.

Most pupils in the partnership are white and only a few are in the early stages of English acquisition. Ofsted has highlighted attendance, behaviour, motivation and concentration as areas of concern in a number of schools across the partnership.

What were the objectives of this project?

The partnership's key objectives through this project were to:

What was the situation before the project?

Before this project began, lunchtime behaviour was poor in most of the schools in the partnership, with an average of 10 serious incidents per week per school. 15% of pupils were regularly late or were poor attenders.

In a survey carried out by the PDM, teachers across the partnership said that:

What did the partnership do?

The partnership decided to introduce a new range of out of hours activities to meet the needs of pupils whose behaviour and attitudes were causing concern. Rather than giving the pupils a questionnaire to find out what they wanted to do, the school sport co-ordinators talked directly with pupils across all of the schools. This detailed consultation exercise took a month and produced a colourful array of suggestions, from which the following nine activities were put into practice.

1. Multi-skills clubs were introduced in 14 first and middle schools for pupils who found lunchtimes difficult due to poor behaviour, low self-esteem or lack of social skills. A Community Sports Coach gave lunchtime staff training and support in how to lead activities, focusing on co-operative play and communication skills.

2. Breakfast skipping clubs were introduced in 9 first, and 1 special school. These were targeted at pupils in years 1 to 4 who had health problems associated with lack of exercise or poor nutrition, or whose attendance was below 85%. The pupils took part in 30 minutes of skipping followed by a healthy breakfast 6 times a term, led by teaching assistants and adult volunteers.

3. Basketball clubs were started for boys from years 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9 who had poor concentration and lacked motivation to learn. 3 middle schools, 1 special school and 1 high school arranged 10 sessions led by a basketball coach each term, mostly before school.

4. Dance mat activities were introduced at lunchtimes for pupils in years 5 to 9 with poor co-ordination and/or low self-esteem (selected by SENCOs, PE teachers and form tutors).

5. Pop aerobics sessions were arranged for disaffected girls in years 9 to 11. 15 girls from each of the high schools and 1 special school attended 6 weeks of activities. Pupils with 100% attendance were rewarded with 2 weeks working with health and beauty students at a local college.

6. Trampolining clubs were organised for year 7, 8 and 9 pupils who did not participate in PE or who had a negative attitude to PESS. These gave 20 pupils from different schools the opportunity to interact.

7. Multi-sport activities were introduced for Key Stage 2 pupils who had not taken part in school sport and were showing signs of developing health issues. The 6 week scheme involved pupils and parents in a range of activities linked to local clubs. 12 schools took part in sessions run by the community sports coach using TOP Sport materials.

8. Skateboarding, in-line skating and BMX biking were organised at a local skateboard park for 15 disaffected boys in years 9 to 11 who were getting into trouble in the community after school. 10 weeks of 2 hour sessions were arranged, with a member of staff from one of the participating schools supervising (although the boys were encouraged to take ownership of the club).

9. Swimming activities were arranged for pupils with statements of special educational needs and/or low self-esteem. Half of the time was spent on swimming skills and the rest on confidence building, water safety and recreational activities. The uptake of activities was very good. Staff from the schools involved were required to attend, providing them with valuable INSET through working with external coaches.

What difference did the project make?

At the schools across the partnership that introduced lunchtime activities, recorded incidents fell by 5% when clubs were running. Although this is small in percentage terms, it has reversed the trend and behaviour is clearly improving across the partnership. Teachers have reported a definite improvement in pupils’ behaviour in the afternoons as a result of lunchtime activities.

The percentage of disaffected boys in 2 high schools has fallen from 10% to 8%. 12 Year 9 and 10 boys have shown much better behaviour – a small but significant victory. 7 of the 17 disaffected Year 9 and 10 girls who took part in activities have not needed report cards, and year heads and tutors say that the pupils are much more positive. There have been fewer temporary exclusions among these pupils over the past year.

Trampolining proved a great success with pupils disaffected with PE. The partnership hoped to engage 5% more pupils, but actually got 10% back into lessons. 12 of these Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils now take part fully in every PE lesson.

10% of the pupils attending skipping breakfast clubs now arrive early at school. Teachers have also noticed improvements in these pupils’ work. One jubilant head was reported to have run outside to greet 15 pupils arriving at 8am who had never been seen before 9.30 before!

The multi-skills clubs for pupils and parents proved a great hit and are growing fast. As a result, two parents became involved in running football clubs that their children started to attend.

Overall, teachers reported a huge increase in pupils’ self-esteem and confidence. At Pitcheroak Special School, an autistic pupil in danger of being excluded gained such kudos from his success in the dance mat club that his relationships with other pupils improved and he started to concentrate on his work.

How did the partnership collect information?

The partnership collected information to show the success of this work by: