ACTIONS

YST Reporting

The reporting questions for all inclusion projects have now been finalised. The questions are saved in the Teams channel and can be downloaded here. In the coming weeks, we will also send through your unique link to start adding your data too. If you have any questions on the reporting, please get in touch with one of the team.

Youth Engagement Support Survey

At YST we are working with a group of young people to co-design a Youth Engagement Plan. This will determine our approach to Youth Engagement (usually referred to as Youth Voice in schools), our priorities, and the support we provide to schools and sports organisations to embed youth engagement in their work with young people.

To ensure we identify the right support for schools and Lead Schools, we want your views on what resources and training would be most helpful in supporting you to enable young people to express their views, be listened to, and for their views and ideas to result in change.

Please complete the survey by Tuesday 28 November to ensure your views are taken into account.

CPD - What Works?

As part of YST’s Inclusion 2024 programme, Activity Alliance are looking to further develop the Inclusive Education Hub. This is an online resource to help school staff provide PE and school sports inclusive of pupils with SEND.

To ensure this site can help all staff with the questions they may have in the best way possible, we would like to hear your thoughts. You do not have to have used the Inclusive Education Hub to respond - we want to hear from as many teaching staff as possible. Feel free to pass this link on to colleagues and schools you work with too. The survey takes less than five minutes to complete. Your help with this would be appreciated.

UPDATES

Latest Inclusion 2024 Evaluation Report

The latest evaluation report for Inclusion 2024 which covers the 2022/23 academic year was recently published. The report again highlights the positive impact and reach the project is having through the skills and expertise of the nationwide Lead Inclusion School network. An infographic has been produced for you to share with your networks and use in presentations.

The main findings in the latest report can be summarised as:

• The programme has involved over 28,000 interactions with members of the school workforce during 2022/23 academic year through training, networking, practice modelling, and information-sharing activities
• Beneficiaries see a range of impacts on their practice from taking part in the programme; the vast majority would recommend colleagues take part
• As a result of taking part, most beneficiaries have seen positive changes in how they approach the delivery of PESS to those with SEND
• Pupils are also now achieving more active minutes. During the 2022/23 academic year, almost half of pupils with SEND were achieving 60 active minutes a day, and seven out of ten were achieving 30 minutes.

NGB Resources

There are more NGB inclusive format resources on the Teams channel, and the English Cricket Board resources have been added most recently.

Staff Changes

After over six years with the Youth Sport Trust, Roshni is moving onto a new exciting role as programme manager at Blueprint For All in London. Roshni has been a valued and respected colleague at YST for many of us, developing numerous close relationships internally and externally with our partners. Always approachable and ready to offer guidance with a warm smile, Roshni has been a pivotal contact point for the Lead Inclusion School network for a number of years. Starting in the Project Support team and transitioning into the role of Development Officer for Inclusion, her dedication for the role and our inclusion work has shone through. Roshni has led vital initiatives such as the refreshing of Inclusive Youth Leadership and successfully coordinating Inclusion Live week for two consecutive years. As Roshni moves forward to embrace this new opportunity, we extend our warmest wishes. We are confident that her enthusiasm and dedication will continue to thrive in her new role.

Some words to the network from Roshni:

“It has been great to work with the network for the last four years and you will all be missed! Thank you for being so great and keep doing the amazing work you do to ensure every young person can enjoy the benefits of movement. I look forward to keeping up to date on the incredible impact I know you will all continue making!”

CPD OPPORTUNITIES

FA SEND Shooting Stars Training Dates

Do not forget to sign up to one of the FA SEND Shooting Stars training dates for this academic year.

As part of the core offer, Lead Inclusion Schools are required to maintain/set up two SEND Shooting Stars clubs so it is essential that you sign up for one of these training dates if you have not been to one before or would like a refresher.

The dates and booking link are as followed:

• Tuesday 06 February 2024, 3:30-5:30pm 
• Tuesday 14 May 2024, 3:30-5:30pm

If you need any support registering, please get in touch with Rebecca.

Berkshire and Buckinghamshire FREE Inclusive CPD Outline – Autumn 2023

Monday 13 November, 4-5pm, (Virtual) - Youth Voice & Co-creation

• Do you really know what your SEND pupils think of PE? Do you know what they enjoy, what they’d like to try? How can you plan with them to help make your PE fully inclusive to all pupils? Hear from Dr Niamh Mourton on how to gather and understand youth voice and co-create with your pupils. This session will explore how to gather pupil voice of your SEND pupils and how to engage all pupils. This workshop was so popular last year and so insightful, we are bringing it back for a more in-depth session.

Monday 20 November, 4-5pm, (Virtual) - Embracing Gender Diversity in PE

• In this session, leading inclusion consultant Simon Scarborough will highlight the challenges that PE and school sport presents to transgender and gender diverse students. He will talk through his five A's of Allyship; Awareness, Advocacy, Adjustments, Activities, and Acceptance, giving top tips and practical advice to create a safer space for all students to feel a sense of belonging in PE.

To book on to any of the virtual webinars, please click here. 

If you have any questions on the courses, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].

MATP Training

There are a number of opportunities this year to spread the MATP joy and welcome new staff to the Special Olympics Family.

If you want to know more, join one of the MATP introductory workshops, join a workshop yourself, or train up new and existing staff in your provision, click here to sign up. It's free!

If you are an established MATP practitioner, there are some great opportunities coming up this year including completion of the MATP Quality Mark, MATP Tutor Training, and Advanced MATP Training later in the year.

Special Olympics look forward to meeting you at a workshop soon.

SHARING GOOD PRACTICE

Making Waves: Promoting Water Safety and Inclusive Swimming Initiatives

In a world surrounded by water bodies, water safety is a vital skill that everyone should possess. Ensuring that children, especially those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), receive proper water safety education and swimming opportunities can be quite a challenge.

Funded through the Department for Education (DfE), the aim of the Swimming and Water Safety programme is to improve and increase opportunities for pupils with SEND by increasing the quality and impact of Physical Education/school sport/physical activity provision and training. This is done through innovating new content and delivery approaches and delivering swimming and water safety lessons (experimenting with timetabling and delivery).

Schools involved are asked to collectively review and directly enhance swimming provision. As part of this, schools develop, test, and evaluate innovative approaches in partnership with Swim England to address the current challenges of engagement for young people with SEND to access and/or participate in swimming opportunities.

The impact of this project will see young people with SEND offered high-quality opportunities, developing life skills, independence, as well as swimming ability which will further support schools’ outcomes both for curriculum opportunities as well as life chances for their pupils.

In Northamptonshire, an inspiring initiative is underway to make sure that no child is left behind when it comes to water safety and swimming. In this update, we'll dive into the efforts being made to promote water safety and inclusive swimming initiatives in the county.