INTRODUCTION

We hope you all had a restful Easter break and are feeling refreshed as we head into the summer term.

It was great to see so many of you at the Youth Sport Trust annual conference last month, and it was fantastic to discuss and reflect on some of the key work streams with you at the Lead Inclusion School session. The inclusion theme was evident across the whole conference and you as a network are at the forefront of what the trust is doing in this space. 

The YST Awards dinner was again an opportunity for us to recognise the great practice that is happening out there in the field. Congratulations to Warmley Park and Kris Tavender who were recognised for their inclusive leadership model across the West of England, which is adding a huge amount of value for the young people involved and the local schools and SGO networks.

UPDATES

YST staff changes 

As you’re aware Chris is moving on from YST to a role at Special Olympics and his last day at YST is on the 25th April. 

We are pleased to announce that Kelly Gates will be taking over Chris’ role as the new Development Manager for Inclusion. Kelly has a lot of experience from her role as a Development Officer within the sport team at YST and is looking forward to getting to know you all over the next few months. Kelly officially begins her role on the 1^st May, so in the meantime please continue to contact Rebecca and Vicci. Thank you for your patience during these team changes.

• Vicci’s email: [email protected]
• Rebecca’s email: [email protected]
• Kelly’s email: [email protected]

New non-statutory guidance for PE and school sport 

Ahead of a big summer for sport, the Department for Education has released new non-statutory guidance for schools titled ‘Enhancing PE provision and improving access to extracurricular sport in school’. The guidance will support schools to offer equal sporting opportunities for girls and boys, alongside a minimum of 2 hours of PE per week. Drawing on case studies from across the country and citing examples from the LIS network, the guidance also provides inspiration for schools to offer all students inclusive, high-quality PE. 

Click here to read Youth Sport Trust CEO Ali Oliver’s response to the news and to download the guidance.

Lead School banners 

Following some feedback that it would be useful to have some branded resources when you are delivering to your networks, we have arranged for each school to receive a YST Lead School pull up banner. These will be sent out to your lead school in the next few weeks, so if you are not based at your school you may want to give them the heads up that it is coming! 

GOOD PRACTICE

Leicestershire Disability Athletics Development Group Annual Report 

The LDADG have published their annual report, detailing examples of how they are working with local organisations and partnerships to deliver high quality events and competitions. Have a read through to hear about some great collaboration across the East Midlands.

Download the report here

Spotlight 

Congratulations to Jill Newbolt from Abbey School in Rotherham who recently won the Building Brighter Futures award at the Sport Give Back awards in March. The ceremony was broadcasted on ITV and a supporting film was produced following Jill and two young leaders in the run up to their Inclusive Youth Leadership event. The film is now available to view on ITVx and captures some of the incredible work this network does to support young people with their leadership journeys. Congratulations once again to Jill! 

Watch the film on ITVx.

Read more about Jill’s award here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Our final virtual SEND Shooting Stars training session for the academic year will be taking place on 14th May, 15:30-17:30. Please share this booking link with your networks and do follow up to see if clubs have been set up after the training so you can input the information in the summer termly reporting.

Just a reminder the KPI for this year is for each Lead Inclusion School to support 2 SEND Shooting Stars Clubs in your area. It has been great to hear through termly reporting that clubs have been set up across the country, and young people in both mainstream and SEN settings have been benefiting from the resources. If you haven’t yet let us know about the clubs you have helped set up, please contact Rebecca with some further information. 

Click here for the booking link

RESOURCES

Get Set: Path to Paris 

To celebrate the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games you are being invited to get active and join the virtual Path to Paris journey across the globe. Aimed at children aged 5-11, you can log activities which will be converted into miles, helping you reach new destinations around the world. Along the way you will meet Team GB athletes and there’s also some prizes up for grabs. You could register a team as a family, school class or sports group, making it a truly collaborative experience. 

For more information and to register your team, go to: https://www.getset.co.uk/pathtoparis