eligibility

explainer

For the most effective journey, please log in or register. As a logged in user you will automatically see the programmes your school/organisation is eligible to access.

Register

SOGB Unified Champion Schools

SOGB Unified Champion Schools promote social inclusion within educational settings, ensuring students with intellectual disabilities are included and feel welcome to engage in all opportunities that a Unified Champion School programme offers.

Description

Evidence of need:

  • Students who were categorised as SEND were 23% less likely to participate in sports clubs than their peers (Education Policy Institute, Access to extra-curricular provision and the association with outcomes, 2024)
  • For children with learning difficulties, rates of participation in sport and exercise were consistently lower than their peers without learning disabilities (Public Health England, Understanding and addressing inequalities in physical activity, 2021)
  • Children with SEN were about twice as likely to be unhappy with their friends (16%) and health (14%) compared to those without SEN (7% and 8% respectively) (The Children's Society, The Good Child Report, 2023)
  • Secondary school aged pupils with SEN reported low wellbeing compared to those without SEN (Department for Education, State of the nation 2022: children and young people's wellbeing, 2022).

What’s involved: Each Lead Inclusion School involved in this programme will raise awareness of the Unified Sport competition formats in the School Games across their county and run at least one Unified Basketball or Unified Football festival in their county for a minimum of 40 young people. They will also utilise the Unified Champion Schools assembly pack to deliver an assembly to at least 100 students, increasing whole school engagement. The school lead will complete reporting for this programme at the end of each school term (December 2024, March 2025 and July 2025).

Outcomes: Through the delivery of a Unified Sports competition, young people will have the opportunity to try Unified Sports formats and educators will have an increased awareness of how to embed this into physical education. Schools will be able to strengthen links with local SOGB clubs, raising awareness of opportunities for young people to participate in sport outside of school. Young people with and without intellectual disabilities will benefit from the opportunities to play alongside each other.

For your school to take part in this programme you must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Existing Lead Inclusion School

Duration: This programme takes place between 14 October 2024 – 31 July 2025. The deadline for expressions of interest is 07 October 2024.

Find out more: about our SEND Inclusion programmes on our website – click here. To find out more about our broader commitment to inclusion - click here.