More than 200 headteachers, teachers, PE Leads and others working to empower all young people in education settings to be active in a way that works for them, attended the Notts Primary PE, Sport and Physical Activity Conference on Monday 24 November.
Organised by Active Notts and the Notts School Games Organiser Network, the event was held at Eastwood Hall and focused on the Making our Move shared aim of enabling children and young people to have positive experiences of being active throughout their childhood.
A wide range of workshops were delivered by local and national partners, and included topics such as Inclusive PE; Ideas for Holistic Assessment using Move, Think, Feel and Connect; The ‘3 Es’ to Include Parents in the Power of Movement; Wet Weather and Disrupted PE Solutions; Developing Skills Through Games; and Move More, Learn More: Using the Power of School-based Physical Activity to Boost Learning.
There was also sessions on Physical Literacy Informed PE and Implementing Oak National Academy Ideas; Active Travel; Nature Connectivity; Movement and Storytelling; Listening to Seldom Heard Voices; Understanding the New Ofsted Inspection Framework Implications for PE; as well as practical boccia and kin-ball sessions.
A number of case studies were also shared in a Poster Presentation session which featured King Edward Primary School (Girls in Sport and PE), Kingsway Primary School (family engagement), Abbey Primary School (inclusive sports), Radcliffe on Trent Junior School (Gold School Games Mark Status), and Orchard Primary and Nursery School (Opal Play).
The opening keynote session was delivered by Lisa West, Head of Policy, Partnerships and Public Affairs at Women in Sport. Lisa spoke about how the early experiences of girls and boys impact their relationship with sport and activity throughout their lives.
Gender stereotypes hold girls and women back from sport, with many girls still feeling they don’t belong in sport, and so Women in Sport insight suggests five factors for success:
- Surround girls with the expectation that they will succeed
- Build girls’ skills early so there’s a level playing field
- Don’t ‘dumb it down’ for girls
- Provide more opportunities for young girls
- Harness the school and after school environment
During lunch delegates also had the chance to network with colleagues and browse the marketplace which included a range of partners such as Activity Alliance, Youth Sport Trust, Boccia England, British Triathlon, Lawn tennis Association, Nottalone, and Walk Notts.
The final session was delivered by School Games Organisers, who spent time with their schools to deliver local updates and to reflect on what people had heard throughout the day and share their key take aways with colleagues.
James Green, PE Lead at Edgewood Primary School in Hucknall said: “The conference is always a great opportunity to learn from like-minded professionals in a safe environment, and I particularly enjoyed taking part in some of the practical sessions.
“It was also really interesting to listen to the keynote about girls in sport. I think we can almost take for granted now that girls get the same opportunities and actually that’s not the case. It was good to see some of the facts and figures behind it and to give us a renewed passion to go back into school and do something about it and give them those opportunities moving forward.”
