REMINDER

Summer Term Reporting

The deadline to submit your summer term data for inclusion projects is Friday 12 July. Please ensure all questions are completed by this deadline. A reminder that the data is cumulative for the whole academic year and you will have received the school URN template from Rebecca to fill in how many schools you have worked with. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Rebecca. 

Termly reporting deadlines 2024/25:

• Monday 16 December 2024
• Friday 28 March 2025
• Friday 11 July 2025.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Save the Dates for 2024/25

Lead Inclusion School dates:

• Lead Inclusion School Networking - Monday 23 September 09:30-15:30, Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham Attendance mandatory. Sign up here
• Inclusion Live Week - Monday 27 January to Friday 3 February, Virtual. Attend where possible
• YST Conference 2025 - Tuesday 25-26 March, Telford ICC. Attend where possible
• Provisional date - National School Games Summit - Wednesday 11 June 9:00-4:00pm (subject to change), Telford ICC. Attend where possible
• Lead Inclusion School Networking - Monday 20 September 2025 09:30-3:30pm, TBC. Attendance mandatory.

Training dates:

• My Personal Best Launch - Tuesday 10 September 3:30-4:30pm, Virtual. For schools doing the My PB programme. Sign up here 
• Inclusive Youth Leadership Launch - Wednesday 11 September 3:30-4:30pm, Virtual. For schools doing the IYL programme. Sign up here
• SEND Shooting Stars (1) - Tuesday 22 October 2:30-4:30pm, Virtual. Please share with your networks. Sign up here
• SEND Shooting Stars (2) - Thursday 5 December 2:30-4:30pm, Virtual. Please share with your networks. Sign up here
• SEND Shooting Stars (3) - Tuesday 11 February 2:30-4:30pm, Virtual. Please share with your networks. Sign up here
• SE Inclusive School Swimming & Water Safety (North) - Monday 4 November 12:30-2:00pm, Virtual. Encourage schools, Swimming Teachers leading Sch Swim, PE Lead etc to attend. Further details will be released nearer the time
• SE Inclusive School Swimming & Water Safety (Central) - Wednesday 6 November 3:00-4:30pm, Virtual.
  Encourage schools, Swimming Teachers leading Sch Swim, PE Lead etc to attend. Further details will be released nearer the time
• SE Inclusive School Swimming & Water Safety (South) - Friday 8 November 12:30-2:00pm, Virtual. Encourage schools, Swimming Teachers leading Sch Swim, PE Lead etc to attend. Further details will be released nearer the time
• Swimming & Water Safety Community of Practice - Wednesday 26 February 12:30-2:00pm, Virtual. Further details will be released nearer the time.

School Games dates: Attendance not mandatory. Further details will be released nearer the time.

• Welcome Back Webinar Autumn Term - Tuesday 10 September 10:30-11:30am, Virtual
• Deadline for Development Plans (Term 1) - Monday 30 September, n/a
• South West Regional Conference (Bristol) - Tuesday 5 November, F2F
• South Regional Conference (London) - Thursday 7 November, F2F
• Midlands Regional Conference (Coventry), Tuesday 12th November,  F2F
• North Regional Conference (Leeds) - Thursday 14 November, F2F
• Welcome Back Webinar (Spring) - Thursday 9 January 10:30-11:30am, Virtual
• Welcome Back Webinar (Summer) - Tuesday 29 April 10:30-11:30, Virtual
• Provisonal date - National School Games Summit (Telford TBC), Wednesday 11 June (subject to change), F2F.

UPDATES

Changemaker Awards Nominations

The Youth Sport Trust Young Changemaker Awards 2024 will celebrate individuals and groups of young people who, working alongside Youth Sport Trust and Youth Sport Trust International over the past year, have made a real and impactful change to their life and the lives of others.

The winner of each award, plus a guardian, will be invited to attend a star-studded red-carpet award ceremony in London in November. The exact date and location are to be confirmed but shortlisted nominees will be informed as soon as possible.

The nomination categories are:

• Young health champion
• Inspirational female leader
• Greatest turnaround through sport
• Young activist
• Inspirational inclusive leader
• International young leader (the Beckwith Care award)

Nominations close on the Wednesday 31 July 2024, and winners will be confirmed by mid-September 2024. Make your nomination here. 

Three Takeaways from the School Games Summit

On Wednesday 12 June, we hosted the School Games Summit to bring together the network at Telford International Centre to celebrate the success of the year and spark insight for the year ahead. For those of you that couldn’t attend the event, we’ve highlighted some key takeaways below from the day:

1) This year’s summit was the first year we hosted an NGB/NDSO Jamboree space which allowed the network to interact with both National Governing Bodies and National Disability Sport Organisations in one space. This is an exciting development within the School Games as this academic year, we will be launching a new inclusion toolkit co-created with the National Disability Sport Organisations to signpost practitioners to the expert support available from these organisations. This toolkit is due to be released ready for the new academic year – so watch this space!

2) Zoe Jane Littlewood and Faith Newton delivered an excellent session on key tips on how to communicate with young people pre, during and post School Games events. I’ve attached the slide deck from this session alongside a promoting accessibility resource shared by Zoe through the Dyslexic Movement to consider when delivering events.

3) This year saw the introduction of a Case Study Live Lounge which created a space for delegates in the network to discuss their current projects in the network showcasing their top tips and key learnings. This included Sue Allsop’s sensory stars case study which focused on creating an inclusive event for SEND young people to create positive experiences. You can find out more about the shortlisted impact award winners here.

If you’d like to submit a case study for an Impact Award based on a project you’ve been delivering or co-delivering with School Games Organisers in the network, please submit using the application form here by Wednesday 31 July.

Next year’s School Games summit is provisionally booked on Wednesday 11 June 2025 at the Telford International Centre – please note the date may be subject to change, we’d love to see you there!

SECTOR NEWS

Presenting our findings from Inclusion 2024 at the European Congress of Adapted Physical Activity (EUCAPA)

Last month Vicci Wells (Head of Sport at the Youth Sport Trust) had the privilege of attending and presenting findings from Inclusion 2024 at the European Congress of Adapted Physical Activity (EUCAPA). Vicci was joined by representatives from our consortium partner Swim England, our external evaluators ASK Research and The Parkside School (Lead inclusion School in Norwich).

Vicci has written a blog about the experience, highlighting takeaways from the presentations and insights from the conference. Have a read here. 

A message from Special Olympics GB

It has been a great year working in partnership with you as a Youth Sport Trust Lead Inclusion School on the development and growth of the Motor Activity Training Programme (MATP). Over this year, thanks to your support, we have trained 90 MATP Tutors, from 60 schools, School Sport Partnerships or Active Partnerships across 11 counties. This has raised the profile and quality of MATP delivery nationally leading to more and more young people with PMLD and Complex Support Needs getting active and being celebrated for their motor achievements.

We have a lot of exciting plans to continue to develop and grow MATP next year including expanding Quality Mark across more schools. We’re also exploring accreditation for the tutor training and developing a school affiliation to Special Olympics Great Britian. We also want to ensure that MATP is embedded into the wider Special Olympics pathway and our vision is to develop regionally based celebration events that can lead into future national games.

Going into the next school year it would be great to keep in touch and continue this momentum. MATP remains a School Games format and we continue to be available to support you and deliver funded MATP Introductory Workshops and Tutor Training that will be free to schools (if you are able to support with venues and publicity for the courses). We will also continue to run the introductory workshops online, repeating at regular intervals throughout the year and your continued support promoting these sessions to your networks would be greatly appreciated. We will share these dates for the next academic year in due course.

If you’ve been delivering any MATP programmes and have any case studies from your recent work we’d love to hear about these. These case studies allow us to share and demonstrate impact with other schools, partners, and funders. You can send the case studies via email to [email protected] along with any further MATP related questions.

Thank you for all your support this year, we really look forward to working with you next year and beyond as we continue to drive more high-quality meaningful opportunities for those who need them the most.

Kind Regards
Angela and the SOGB Team.