Sports Premium 2022-23

As part of the ongoing Olympic legacy the government has provided schools with funding to be spent directly on school sport provision. Gilded Hollins received £17,780 for the academic year 2022-23. The purpose of the funding is to improve the quality of sport and PE for all primary aged children.

At Gilded Hollins, we recognise the contribution of PE to the health and well-being of our children. We believe that an innovative, varied PE curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities have a positive influence on the concentration, attitude and academic achievement of all our pupils.

Following the four successive Gold School Games Awards, we have since achieved three successive Platinum School Games Awards. These awards are dependent on high percentages of pupil participation across the whole school, encouraging pupils to not only take part in the actual sports, but to also organize and referee events. 

To further encourage participation we award ‘Spirit of the Games’ bands to pupils to recognize their endeavours in taking part, and in playing in the correct spirit. Categories for the bands include Honesty, Teamwork, Self-Belief, Passion, Determination and Respect. A lunchtime ‘Change For Life’ club has also been set up to encourage selected pupils who do not usually partake in sports events, and we have set up a group of pupils who work in partnership with the PE subject leader to improve PE by ordering equipment, choosing after school clubs and advertising / reporting on school events.

The captains of our football, rugby and High 5 teams are democratically appointed by our sports squads. Potential captains are given the opportunity to make presentations and a secret ballot then follows to decide the captain for the year ahead. The captain’s responsibilities include working with staff to select teams, looking after kits for each match, writing a match report for the sports blog on the school website, providing a verbal match report at weekly Awards Assembly, and selecting a worthy recipient for the Spirit of the Games wristband.

Our Primary School Sport’s Funding enables us to continue and extend our provision through employing sports professionals, entering into competitive sports competitions, buying equipment and training our staff to deliver in-house quality PE sessions.

This year we are using the majority of our funding to work in partnership with The P.E Academy. Experienced, qualified coaches deliver Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for our learning support assistants having previously worked with teaching staff. This quality training ensures sustainability by enabling our learning support assistants to work closely with coaches in observing, and learning from the good practice they see. This CPD in P.E. and school sport will ensure ongoing improvement in standards and inspire our children to reach their true potential.

In addition, we have invested in a high quality skills-based curriculum 'Real P.E'. This has involved two afternoons of teacher training and brought to school new resources to further support learning across the P.E. curriculum. Previously, our Sport Subject Lead, Mr Taylor, has attended termly Real P.E. updates, and new teachers have further received training. Recently, we have appointed key stage HLTAs assist PE Academy staff and take a focus group in each session in order to raise attainment, confidence and social skills.

At Gilded Hollins we actively encourage competitive sport. We enter a range of inter-school tournaments throughout the year and regularly represent Wigan Local Authority at the Greater Manchester Games.

Examples of the tournaments in which we participate are: Football, High Five, Dodgeball, Rugby, Tag Rugby, Athletics, Cross Country, Rounders and Cricket.

We also run a number of extra-curricular clubs to encourage wider participation. Where appropriate, the cost to individual pupils to attend these clubs is met through the Pupil Premium.

Each year, we also use our Sports Premium funding to form links with Lancashire Cricket Club through employing a coach to work in school.

Clubs that were offered in school last year included: Multi Skills, High Five, Rugby, Athletics, Dodgeball, Football, Dance, Cricket, Gymnastics, Cross Country, Handball, Zumba, Multi-Sports and many more.

Additionally, outdoor activities such as orienteering, kayaking, scrambling, high wire climbing and team building are the focus of our annual Year Six residential. This year we attended Thurston, on the banks of Coniston Water in the Lake District. Our Year Four class attended a mini residential at Barnstondale Lodge, Wirral this year.

Throughout the course of the year at Gilded Hollins the children are given access to the following sports:

• Football

• Contact Rugby

• Tag Rugby

• High Five

• Hockey

• Cross Country

• Cricket

• Athletics

• Multi-Sports

• Table Tennis

• Tennis

• Handball

• Gymnastics

• Dance

• Outdoor & Adventure Activities - team building, orienteering, canoeing, kayaking

• Orienteering

• Zumba

We are also an active member of the LOGOS (Lowton and Golborne Schools) Sports Cluster. This organisation is made up from a group of primary and high schools working together to improve the sporting experiences for primary aged children in the local area. The cluster aims to provide children with the opportunity to represent their school in sporting festivals and competitions against other schools. All children attend a term's worth of weekly swimming sessions in Years 2, 3 and 4 before being assessed against the following criteria in Year 6:

• What percentage of your current Year 6 cohort swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres?

• What percentage of your current Year 6 cohort use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]?

• What percentage of your current Year 6 cohort perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations?

As of the academic year 2022-23, 63% of Year 6 children met the national curriculum requirements for swimming and water safety in the above areas. These results are based on the end of Year 4 swimming levels.

How is the money being spent this year?

We have invested £10,760 in our partnership with The P.E. Academy. 

This will provide funding that can be specifically targeted at areas for development highlighted in the subject leader’s evaluation of their subject.

Funding has also been earmarked to provide for classroom cover for the subject lead to attend PE events and ensure high participation levels remain.

Recently, funding has also been directed to increasing lunchtime provision by revamping both KS1 and KS2 playgrounds to encourage a participation in an active, healthy lifestyle. Similarly, we have ensured that our Daily Mile Track can now be used all year round after being re-laid and packed down as well as funding being directed to a Timber Trail being installed.