ACTIONS

Termly Reporting

Thank you for completing the termly reporting this month, it has been great to read about all of the great things you have all already achieved this academic year. In January's newsletter, we will share some of the highlights of the findings.

If you have yet to send your data, please get the information to us before the festive break.

Partner Survey

You should have recently received an email from Amy Skipp at Ask Research regarding circulating the partner survey to everyone you have worked with over the last three years of the project. So far we have had one response. 

As Inclusion 2024 is drawing to a close, it is important we capture and highlight the effect and impact of the fantastic work that the Lead Inclusion School network undertake.

Please pass the link on to everyone you have had contact with as part of the project over the last three years. This could be through giving training or advice, running events, attending meetings, or sharing information. We want to hear from as many people as possible. We ask you to circulate to a minimum of 15 partner schools each before Christmas.

Here is some suggested text and a QR code to send onto practitioners you are working with:

Dear XX,

We'd really like to know what you thought about YST's Inclusion 2024 project and how it helped you support children with SEND in PE and school sports locally. Please could you take a few minutes to feed back to us: https://bit.ly/YST_partners

Nominations Closing Soon for the Youth Sport Trust Awards!

The Youth Sport Trust Awards 2024 will celebrate schools, settings, trusts, and individuals who, working alongside Youth Sport Trust over the past year, have made a real and impactful change to the lives of young people.

The awards will be presented at the Youth Sport Trust Awards dinner on Tuesday 19 March at Telford International Centre on the eve of our 2024 Conference. There are seven categories, including Outstanding Inclusive Practice - awarded to a special, PRU, or AP school that that has used PE, sport and play to build back healthier, happier and more resilient young people.

Get your nominations in now. The application window is open until midday on Monday 18 December.

UPDATES

Staffing

As you may have all read in the last newsletter, Roshni has now left the Youth Sport Trust but has left her role in the trusty hands of Rob Belbin for the next three months for two days a week. As part of his role, Rob will be covering the following projects:

• Inclusion 2024 Live
• Inclusive Youth Leadership
• Inclusive Health Check
• LTA Open Court

Furthermore, Rebecca will also be going on a sabbatical for two months next year between January and February to do some international volunteering and travelling. In her absence, we will have other colleagues from Youth Sport Trust to support you all, including Caroline and Brad. We will be providing more information on this in the coming weeks.

With all of the recent changes, please be aware that there may be delays in responding to queries. Thank you for your understanding.

School Payments

All schools should receive half of their school payments this month. For the core lead inclusion school offer, the December payments will be as follows:

• Inclusion 2024 - £500
• Inclusive Sports Programme - £200
• FA - £250
• School Games - £1,000 (please note this will come through as two £500 payments)

Lead Inclusion School Involvement School Games County Meetings

In your offer this year, we outlined that we would like Lead Inclusions to facilitate conversations with their local School Games network at the upcoming county meetings in the spring term. Following discussions internally and with Inclusion Development Coaches, there has been a slight change of approach.

The ask for Lead Inclusion Schools is to facilitate a conversation at these meetings on one of the following areas:

1. Wider inclusion of young people in the School Games (addressing the inclusion of other protected characteristic in addition to SEND)
2. MATP – how to embed this format to engage and provide opportunities for young people with PMLD
3. Gender Diversity – facilitate discussions and advise on inclusive practice within the School Games with a lens around gender diversity
4. Lead Inclusion School role – lead a general discussion around the role you as a Lead Inclusion School can play in creating a more inclusive School Games.

This conversation will be approximately 20 minutes and will follow an Inclusion by Design session the County Lead DC will be delivering. County Lead DCs have been briefed and should have invited you to these meetings and included you in any communication around the agenda.

As a call for action for Lead Inclusion Schools, please contact your County Lead DC to have a discussion around how you can input into the Inclusion by Design session and how the facilitated conversation will align to this. Please note: SGO’s who attended the regional conferences will already have heard some of the Inclusion by Design presentation previously.

LTA Open Court

We will open registrations for year two of the LTA Open Court Project in January. The key objectives of the project are:

1. Retain areas involved in the pilot (Year 1) with a specific focus to strengthen school-club links and grow a more competitive pathway in and through the game
2. Grow the number of young disabled people playing tennis in school
3. Grow the number of young disabled people playing competition in school
4. Grow the number of teachers trained in SEN and mainstream schools accessing LTA Youth (face-to-face or virtually)
5. Grow the number of Open Court venues linked to Lead Inclusion Schools and their network of schools - providing exit routes.

Please keep an eye out for further information in the New Year.

Sport Sanctuaries

A reminder that the Sport Sanctuaries resource is available, including free activity cards for you to download. We ask Lead Inclusion Schools to use these activity cards to support young people, predominantly in secondary school settings. We will ask you how you have used them in the next termly reporting window in March.

Girls Active Research

Insight on young people’s attitudes towards physical activity and school sport has been gathered from the Girls Active Questionnaire that was completed between March-June 2023. Specific reports have been produced to capture the thoughts of young people with SEND, including barriers and motivations for participation.

• Girls Active National Report – Girls with SEND
• Girls Active National Report – Boys with SEND
• Girls Active National Report – SEND students in years 3-6
• Girls Active National Report – SEND students in years 7-11

European Education Games - Greece 2024

Karen Erikson is coordinating a UK team to attend the European Education Games in Greece in April. If you have any secondary, post 16, and/or Special Schools who would be interested in attending, please pass on Karen’s email ([email protected]) to discuss further. The deadline is 20 December.

Astley High School Sign Up as New Lead Inclusion School in Northumberland

We are pleased to announce that Astley High School have signed up to be the Lead Inclusion School in Northumberland for 23/24 replacing Ovingham Middle School. Gill Smith, the local SGO, will be leading the Lead Inclusion Role and has a vast amount of experience working across the School Games and education sector. Karen Erikson is supporting the school and Gill and will take them through an induction into the Lead Inclusion School role. Welcome Gill and we look forward to introducing you to the wider network in the near future.

GOOD PRACTICE AND CPD OPPORTUNITIES

The Award for FE Lecturer of the Year - Rachel Bown

A huge congratulations to Rachel Bown for winning the Silver Award for FE Lecturer of the Year.

Rachel Bown from Fairfield Farm School (Lead Inclusion School in Wiltshire) was recognised for her expertise in inclusive PE practice at the Pearson National Teaching Awards. Here is the official film which accompanied her award.

Engaging Wheelchair Participants in Sport - WheelPower’s Online Training

We are sadly still hearing from young people with physical disabilities who are being excluded from PE lessons whilst their friends and peers are enjoying being active and engaging in physical activity. As the national charity for wheelchair sport, WheelPower are dedicated to providing opportunities for physically disabled people to lead active lives, move more, and engage in sports.

If you would like to learn how to be more inclusive in your provision, you can register for WheelPower's online training course, ‘Engaging Wheelchair Participants in Sport’. The overall aim of the course is to enable learners to develop their confidence in working with and supporting physically disabled people to enjoy, participate, and access sport and physical activity. Their knowledgeable tutor will provide practical examples on how to include that physically disabled student within a class of non-disabled participants.

The new course format is in two stages:

• Stage 1: Completion of the e-module which should take around 45 minutes to complete in your own time
• Stage 2: Join the tutor-led session conducted over Zoom, which lasts for approximately two hours. This course is interactive, with breakout room discussions and the opportunity to learn from the lived experiences of our tutor. You will be guided through some ideas and examples of sports and activities that are inclusive and can be adapted for physical disabilities.

If you wish to see the lives of young people with physical disabilities improved through the beneficial power of sport, register here. 

Alternatively, if you would like a closed course tailored to your needs, please email [email protected] (minimum of 15 learners required).

How LIS, SGOs and School Can Collaborate Effectively

Active Surrey’s work with the Lead Inclusion Schools and all the Surrey Special Schools had reduced and there wasn’t a strong link with the special schools and the mainstream schools’ SEND/additional needs pupils. So, they wanted to forge stronger links and make it consistent and fair when it came to competition levels and opportunities for all by adding some more events to the calendar and streamlining the competition levels.

Read more on how relationships have been build and how to work effectively together via this case study.