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About the Premium

Background
In March 2013 the government announced that it was to provide funding of £150 million per annum for academic years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 to improve provision of physical education and sport in primary schools in England – The Primary PE and Sport Premium.
 
This funding is allocated to primary school headteachers. The funding is ring-fenced and therefore can only be spent on provision of PE and sport in schools.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Following the insightful webinar with DfE, afPE and YST on November 6th 2024 on the Primary PE and Sport Premium, the DfE has provided answers to questions asked during the webinar. The questions and responses alongside a sample of the digital tool submission in response to the 2023/24 questions can be accessed below. The sample is for demonstration purposes only and responses are not exemplar answers. The questions were included in the pilot and adaptations will be made to these for 2024/25 following feedback received.

 

Preamble

Sample Digital Reporting Tool Submission 2023/24

Primary PE and Sport Webinar: Questions and Responses November 6th 2024

 

Key Dates/Announcements

  • In the Autumn Statement 2013, the then Chancellor, George Osbourne announced an additional year’s £150m extended funding, taking the total investment to the end of the 2016 academic year.
  • On 6th February 2014 the then Prime Minister, David Cameron committed to continue the funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium until 2020.
  • On the 17th July 2015 the Department for Education announced that 2015/6 funding will remain at the same level as last year.
  • On 21st September 2016 the Department for Education released its grant conditions for 2016/17.
  • On 17th July 2017 the Department for Education confirmed the doubling of the Primary PE & Sport Premium.
  • On 24th October 2017 the Department for Education published guidance on the doubled Primary PE and Sport Premium grant.

 
  • On 15th July 2019 the Department for Education unveiled its research into the Primary PE and Sport Premium.
  • On 28th October 2019 the Department for Education released its grant conditions for 2019/20.
  • On 5th July 2020 the Department for Education confirmed that the funding would continue, at £320 million for the 2020/2021 academic year.
  • On 23rd October 2020 the Department for Education published grant conditions. Updated guidance, reporting template and top tips document will follow.
  • On 30th October 2020 the Department for Education published updated guidance for the 2020-21 academic year. A new ‘top tips’ document was also launched.
  • On the 16th March 2021 the Department for Education announced that they have extended the deadline for spending the Primary PE and Sport Premium.
  • On the 17th June 2021 the Department for Education confirmed that the funding would continue, at £320 million for the 2021/2022 academic year.
  • On the 28th October 2021 the Department for Education updated guidance and grant conditions for the 2021-22 academic year.
  • On the 25th June 2022 the Department for Education confirmed that the funding would continue, at £320 million for the 2022/2023 academic year. In addition, £11 million was also announced to support the continuation of the School Games programme to give particularly passionate and talented young people the opportunity to participate in competitive sport.
  • On the 5th October 2022 it was announced that unspent PE and Sport Premium funding from 2021 to 2022 academic year must be returned to the Department for Education.
  • On the 4th November 2022 the Department for Education published updated grant conditions and allocations for 2022-23.
  • On the 7th November 2022 the Department for Education published updated guidance on the effective and sustainable use of the funding.
  • On the 8th March 2023 the Government announced a 2 year extension to the PE and Sport Premium funding, including additional funding for SGOs for 2 years and the announcement that schools will be required to deliver a minimum of 2 hours PE per week.
  • On the 25th September 2023 the Department for Education published updated grant conditions and allocations for 2023-24

Major Government Funding Announcement & Commitment to PE and School Sport (March 2023)

The package, outlined below, announced on 8th March 2023 will help to boost equal opportunities in PE and school sport both inside and outside the classroom, delivering on promises made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to the Women’s Euro 22 winners, the Lionesses.
 
The full package includes:
  • Over £600 million across the next two academic years (2023-24 & 2024-25) for the continuation of the Primary PE and Sport Premium – a funding commitment to improve the quality of PE and sports in primary schools to help children benefit from regular activity.
  • Schools to deliver a minimum 2 hours of curriculum PE – with more support being offered through a refreshed School Sport Action Plan. £22 million for two years of further funding for the School Games Organiser network (SGO) – Annually the 450 strong SGO workforce supports 2.2m participation opportunities for children including 28,000 competitive school sport events.
  • Equal access to sports in school – setting out that offering girls and boys the same sports, where it is wanted is the new standard.
  • Up to £57 million funding for the ‘Open Sports Facilities’ programme – to open up more school sport facilities outside of school hours especially targeted at girls, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs.
  • A new digital reporting tool for Primary PE and Sport Premium – to support schools in using the funding to the best advantage of their pupils.
  • Expansion of the Schools Games Mark – to reward parity of provision for girls

Maintained schools, including those that convert to academies, MUST publish, on their website, information about their effective and sustainable use of the Primary PE and Sport Premium funding. The reporting deadline for this current academic year is 31st July 2025 but we strongly recommend that you update it regularly.

The Primary PE and Sport Premium is designed to help children get an active start in life by improving the quality of PE and sports in primary schools. Headteachers can choose how best to spend this funding including on teacher training, offering more opportunities for pupils to take part in competition and widening the range of sports for both boys and girls.

Schools will receive updated guidance this summer setting out how to use the funding to the best advantage of their pupils. A new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending of the Primary PE and Sport Premium and allow the Government to understand where further guidance is needed.

Schools will be asked to offer a minimum of two hours curriculum PE time and Government will provide support to schools on how to do this through the upcoming refresh of the School Sport Action Plan.

Alongside this work, Ofsted will be publishing a report into PE in the coming months, which will inform future inspections and set out what they believe is possible in terms of offering high quality PE and equal access to sports.

The Government is also providing security for the School Games Organisers (SGO) network, with the commitment of funding until the end of the summer term 2025. The 450 strong SGO workforce offers over two million opportunities to participate in competitive sports. The programme delivers on the Government’s ambition to ensure that all children and young people, no matter their background, can be active.

This is part of the Government’s commitment to improve access to sport for everyone. £300 million is being used to build or improve thousands of grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025.

Being active in childhood is vital to long-term wellbeing and physical and mental health. This major investment will help more children to keep fit, have a healthy start to life and will help save the NHS money in the years ahead.

Up to £57 million in funding will be used to allow up to 1,350 selected schools around England to keep their sport facilities open for longer for after-school activities (Opening Schools Facilities programme), especially targeted at girls, disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs.

afPE’s CEO, Sue Wilkinson MBE said:“afPE is delighted at the news from the Department for Education regarding continued investment into physical education and school sport. The commitment to extend the Primary PE and Sport Premium funding by over £600 million for an additional two years, to the end of the academic year 2024/25 is welcome news and should be celebrated by the sector. This will enable all primary schools to plan effectively and efficiently on how best to address their needs. At a time of on-going challenges it is absolutely critical that schools have the resources to address the physical, emotional, social and cognitive development of all pupils." “Minister Gibb has recently stated the importance of prioritising PE in the curriculum and that the Department would look at ‘lessons learned by schools’ placing PE at the heart of the curriculum. afPE is pleased that the work and subsequent research, instigated by the afPE Taskforce is making a difference.” “We ask all head teachers and senior leaders, to use their ring fenced funding to make a difference through physical education, school sport and physical activity. Whilst all are different, they are inextricably linked and provide the route map to achieve effective and wider outcomes for pupils.” “The planned progressive learning in and through PE will underpin the additional extended curriculum of school sport whilst embedding physical activity across the school. We are also pleased that the school games organiser funding (SGOs) is also extended. With an additional £57 Million confirmed for the Opening Schools Facilities programme ensuring more children and young people will be offered access and opportunities to engage in physical activities outside of the curriculum.” “afPE will continue to offer support to members and the wider workforce to ensure that they can achieve an inclusive, ambitious and compelling PE curriculum that is accessible. We will continue to create resources and professional learning opportunities to support the workforce.”

afPE’s Chair, Professor Jeanne Keay said:“The Association warmly welcomes the commitment to fund an additional two years of the Primary PE and Sport Premium grant. afPE has worked tirelessly, along with national partners, members of the afPE Taskforce (chaired by Edward Timpson) and the sector to champion the necessity for government to continue their investment." “The news today will positively impact the lives of children and young people for years to come. afPE believes that ‘transformational PE is the key to unlocking the secret garden to achievement and attainment’. It is critical that we support the PE curriculum entitlement for every child, including swimming and safe self-rescue.”“In addition, we fully support the Government’s request that schools offer a minimum of two hours of curriculum PE time. We know from the work that afPE has done in assessing schools for the Quality Mark that where schools provide pupils with a curriculum that has two hours of PE throughout each key stage there is a clear link to transformational learning outcomes for those young people.”
 

PE Funding Evaluation Form to Support Schools with the Reporting of their Primary PE & Sport Premium Funding

Schools must publish the amount of Primary PE and Sport Premium received for this year 2023-24; a full breakdown of how it has been spent (or will be spent); what impact the school has seen on pupils’ Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity, participation and attainment and how the improvements will be sustainable in the future.

Head Teachers, Subject Leaders and Governors will be able to use this simple reporting mechanism to ensure they are grant compliant in demonstrating effective use of the grant to achieve a sustainable impact.

  • Click HERE to download an editable PDF copy of the template.
  • Click HERE to download an editable Word copy of the template.

New PE Funding Evaluation Form for 2024-25 Academic Year

As announced on 19th July 2023, there will be a new Primary PE and Sport Premium digital reporting tool for schools. This digital tool will capture details on how a school has used its PE and Sport Premium and the impact it has had on achieving the aims and objectives of the funding.
 
The information gathered will include:
  • Figures on the overall spend
  • What the funding has been spent on
  • Whether there is any unspent funding
  • Swimming and water safety attainment
The DfE will pilot the digital tool for the academic year 2023 to 2024. It will be a mandatory requirement for schools to complete it from the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
 
The digital tool will provide a further measure of accountability and will help identify any non-compliant spending of the PE and sport premium. The DfE intend on launching the tool in May/June 2024. They will send information to schools closer to this date, including details of training sessions on how to complete the digital form. In the meantime, please use the existing reporting template, linked above.

Newly Updated FAQs Resource - January 2024

To support the PESSPA sector, the Primary PE and sport premium FAQs, created by the Association for Physical Education and Youth Sport Trust and commissioned by the Department for Education, has been updated as of January 2024 and is now available to download for free.
Primary PE and sport premium FAQs free resource - January 2024 HERE.
 

 

 

 

5 Key Indicators

There are 5 key indicators that schools should expect to see improvement across:
  1. Increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport
  2. The engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity
  3. The profile of PE and sport is raised across the school as a tool for whole-school improvement
  4. Broader experience of a range of sports and activities offered to all pupils
  5. Increased participation in competitive sport
Download the Key Indicators Poster HERE.
 

 

 

DfE Case Study Highlighting the Effective Use of the Primary PE and Sport Premium

The Department for Education has published a case study that details how a primary school successfully used their Primary PE and Sport Premium funding to up-skill a staff member to develop a new PE curriculum and increase teachers’ confidence and to deliver high quality physical education lessons.
 
Click HERE to view the DfE case study.
 
Click HERE to find out more about the Level 5/6 qualifications in Primary PE (these are the qualifications that are alluded to within the case study).

Recording: Primary PE and Sport Premium Webinar

On  Wednesday 6th November 2024 Department for Education, Association for Physical Education and the Youth Sport Trust delivered a collaborative webinar that focused on the changes to the guidance, and reporting procedures. The attendees also had an opportunity to submit questions to representatives from the DfE, afPE and YST.

To view the recording please click here

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