Praise for Active Schools programme
Active Schools is going from strength to strength with figures at an all-time high and 7.3 million participant sessions delivered in 2017/18, an increase of 6% from 2016/17. Local politicians have welcomed the latest figures.
The latest figures show that the number of individual children and young people taking part continues to rise with an increase of 5% over the past 12 months to a record-breaking 309,000.
Increases have also been reported in activity sessions where an additional 6% have been recorded, and a 2% increase overall in the percentage of the school roll now participating in Active Schools sessions nationally.
Mel Young, Chair of sportscotland, (above) said: “The success of Active Schools is the result of strong local partnerships between Active Schools teams, school staff, sports development teams in local authorities, regional managers from the governing bodies, and local sports clubs.
By working together, we can deliver more and better opportunities for young people of all abilities to take part in sport as these latest figures show.
“It’s rewarding to see the impact of programmes like Active Schools on the lives of young people, increasing their confidence and motivating them to continue an active lifestyle in the future.”
Active Schools, one of sportscotland’s longest running flagship programmes, is designed to provide more and higher quality opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity before school, during lunchtime and after school. Developing effective pathways between schools and sports clubs in the local community is also a priority and this year schools have identified 24,000 examples of links being reported including extracurricular links and holiday programmes, an increase of 2% on the previous year.
Sport Minister, Joe FitzPatrick, stressed the importance of programmes like Active Schools in tackling barriers to participation. “A key feature of Active Schools is that while it has had great success with young people all over Scotland. In particular, it is providing opportunities for young people who have barriers to participating, such as children from deprived areas and girls,” he said.
“I would like to thank the network of managers and coordinators who work tirelessly to develop and deliver these opportunities to children across Scotland.”
Delivered in partnership with all 32 local authorities in primary, secondary and ASN schools, the impact of Active Schools goes beyond the numbers with a recent independent survey commissioned by sportscotland providing strong evidence that programmes like this are making a difference to people’s lives.
The survey of over 4000 school pupils showed that 98% of Active Schools participants feel healthier thanks to their involvement in the activities while 94% are motivated to be more active in the future and 92% of those surveyed felt more confident.
Children and young people from right across Scotland have been able to participate in over 100 different activities ranging from football to dance and movement delivered by a combination of volunteers, including pupils, and paid individuals.
The number of secondary pupils delivering sessions has also increased year on year which is a fantastic endorsement of the leadership programmes now in place in the sporting system and something to be celebrated in this, the Year of Young People.
In Scotland 2018 has seen a record 673 schools obtain an award. Across Lothian, 33 schools won Gold, 63 schools won Silver and 27 schools won Bronze.
Local politicians have welcomed the latest findings.
Northern and Leith MSP Ben Macpherson said: “Congratulations in particular to Prospectbank school, Hermitage Park Primary & Trinity Academy for winning Gold Awardsin the SportscotlandSchool Sport Awards 2018 – and to St David’s RC Primary School, Trinity Primary & Leith Academy for winning silver!
“The Scottish Government funds sportscotland, the national agency for sport, which works to put sport at the heart of society and make a positive impact on people and communities.”
Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP, said: “Sports Scotland is an excellent initiative that promotes sport, leadership and team work in schools across Scotland.
“Exercise has enormous physical and mental health benefits and forming good habits whilst at school can really set people up well for later in life. A massive congratulations to all Lothian schools who won an award.”
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