Schools and Government Funding | PE and Sports Education

The Government is providing funding of £150 million per annum for academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to provide new, substantial primary school sport funding’. This funding is being jointly provided by the Departments for Education, Health and Culture, Media and Sport, and will see money going directly to primary school headteachers to spend on improving the quality of sport and PE for all their children.
The sport funding can only be spent on sport and PE provision in schools.

Eligible schools

  • Funding for schools will be calculated by the number of primary-aged pupils (between the ages of 5 and 11) as at the annual schools census in January 2013.
  • All schools with 17 or more primary-aged pupils will receive a lump sum of £8000 plus a premium of £5 per pupil. Smaller schools will receive £500 per pupil.
  • Purpose of funding
  • Schools will have to spend the sport funding on improving their provision of PE and sport, but they will have the freedom to choose they do this.

Possible uses for the funding include:

  • hiring specialist PE teachers or qualified sports coaches to work alongside primary teachers when teaching PE
  • new or additional Change4Life sport clubs
  • paying for professional development opportunities in PE/sport
  • providing cover to release primary teachers for professional development in PE/sport
  • running sport competitions, or increasing participation in the school games
  • buying quality assured professional development modules or materials for PE/sport
  • providing places for pupils on after school sport clubs and holiday clubs.

Accountability
Schools will be held to account for how they spend the sport funding. Ofsted will strengthen its coverage of sport and PE within the Inspectors’ Handbook and supporting guidance, so that schools and inspectors know how sport and PE will be assessed in future as part of the school’s overall provision offered.

Schools will be required to include details about their sporting provision on their school website, alongside their curriculum details, so parents can compare sports provision between schools, both within and beyond the school day.

Best practice
Schools will be able to draw on information on effective practice taken from case studies provided by the very best schools. One year on, Ofsted will carry out a survey reporting on the first year’s expenditure and its impact.

Funding period
The sport premium will be paid for the two academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15.