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Your Council working with you to create a healthier environment
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Sporting life
How PE lessons can help children both on and off the field
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The Pickering High School Sports College rugby league team which played at Wembley this year |
This is the rugby league squad of Year 7 pupils who achieved their dream of playing for their school team at Wembley this year.
The squad (now in Year 8), from Pickering High School Sports College, played a 'curtain raiser' prior to this year's Challenge Cup final between Hull FC and St. Helens.
But what the thousands of rugby fans at Wembley stadium didn't see was the hard work behind the scenes during hundreds of hours of PE lessons.
Not to mention the many extra-curricular hours spent travelling thousands of miles by coach across the country to play the knock-out matches of the Carnegie Champion Schools tournament in order to reach the Wembley final.
Along the way, these lads gained more than just physical fitness and sporting ability.
They also learned about the hard work, application and dedication needed to achieve something great.
"PE is about more than just teaching sport," says Pickering's director of sport John Savage.
"It's about teaching kids to be team players, planners, and leaders – and that makes them more able to achieve things in other areas of life and in other school subjects such as English and maths."
Sport for all
But what of the children who don't engage in PE? The ones who think it's all about freezing your socks off on a sports pitch in mid-winter? The ones who deliberately forget their kit, or who have a letter from mum every week?
"At the end of the day, not every kid is into sport," adds John.
"But we've moved on from teaching just the traditional sports like rugby, football, hockey and netball to less high-profile sports, which can often engage pupils who otherwise might not have shown an interest in PE."
One example is a girls' self-defence class which has helped build confidence and self-esteem among underachieving pupils at Pickering.
Another example is a karate club which runs after school two nights a week and is attended by up to 25 pupils, many of whom have now achieved coloured belts.
Other sports now offered to pupils at Pickering and other schools include cycling, boxing, horse riding, archery, fencing and even frisbee.
Hitting the target
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Above: Pickering pupil Liam Robinson and (below) PE lessons at the school |
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In September this year, 89 per cent of all school children in Hull were taking part in at least two hours of PE or sport every week – and that beats the Government target of 75 per cent.
But no-one can rest on their laurels.
That's because the Government has now set a new target with the aim of pupils taking part in at least five hours of sport or PE each week.
The new target also aims for young people aged between 16 and 19 to take part in three hours of physical activity each week.
"We need to seek the views of children and young people as to what activities they would like to take part in," says Dave Percival, one of two partnership development managers in the city, whose role is to increase participation in sport and PE.
"We also need to listen to feedback from PE staff in schools and look at take-up figures, in order to make informed decisions about what types of sports we offer.
"Meeting the new target is not something schools and colleges can achieve on their own – it will require lots of different agencies working together."
Those agencies include the local NHS, children's centres, and the council's extended services teams, which can extend the opening hours of school sports facilities such as dance studios, sports halls and fitness gyms.
Other measures to increase sport take-up include the employment of both a dedicated gym coach and a dedicated athletics coach, who will tour schools across the city, spending six-week periods at each one.
And a grant of £500,000 has recently been awarded to the newly formed Services2Sport Coaching Agency, based in Hull, which helps to recruit more sports coaches and increase participation in sport across the Humber region.
Key players
But at the end of the day it could be pupils themselves who are key to increasing take-up of PE and sport.
Most primary and secondary schools now have several 'sport ambassadors' – pupils who encourage others to become involved in sport by setting up clubs and organising competitions.
For example, two sport ambassadors at Pickering, both Year 11 girls, were shown how to apply for funding to set up a boxercise class, which has proved extremely popular.
"One of the main thrusts in the last couple of years has been the development of sports leadership skills," adds John Savage.
"These are skills we can nurture in primary schools and build upon when children arrive at secondary schools."
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