Olympic medalist presents award
20th Nov 2008
Golden girl Kelly Holmes drops in!
20th Nov 2008
National School Sport Week
30th June – 4th July
Gordon Brown and Kelly Holmes call for schools to take part in largest school sport event in history
20 May 2008
Dame Kelly Holmes to offer sporting inspiration to pupils in Kent.
20 May 2008
Dame Kelly Holmes to offer sporting inspiration to pupils in Norfolk
19 May 2008
Dame Kelly speaks at the Labour Party Conference fringe event
28t Sept 2007
National School Sport Champion News
Gordon Brown and Kelly Holmes call for schools to take part in largest school sport event in history
20 May 2008
Press Release
Schools across England are being called upon by the Prime Minister and Dame Kelly Holmes to take part in the first ever National School Sport Week. Their aim is to engage over three million school children, the largest number ever to get involved in PE and school sport at any one time.
National School Sport Week, a government initiative managed by the Youth Sport Trust and supported by Norwich Union, is set to kick off on Monday 30 June and will be a week-long celebration of PE and school sport. The initiative was announced in February by the Prime Minister and Dame Kelly Holmes, the National School Sport Champion, at the Youth Sport Trust’s Sports Colleges Conference.
The National School Sport Week will be shaped by schools and pupils themselves, who have been set the task of coming up with the most innovative activity during the week. Activity will focus around the following key themes:
Celebrate
Everything that has been achieved in PE and school sport over the last year, including the rise in numbers of young people participating, the range of young talented sports performers coming through from school-level and the contribution made by young leaders and volunteers to school sport and to helping younger pupils achieve their potential.
Develop
National School Sport Week is an opportunity for new initiatives and developments in PE and school sport to be launched in schools. This summer we will see new and innovative developments in schools delivering more intra school competition as well as the launch of the national network of Competition Managers who are rejuvenating inter-school competition.
Profile
The week will provide an opportunity for schools to raise awareness of all the fantastic work taking place in PE and school sport both nationally and at a local level.
Activity during the week will include:
Festivals of Sport (including TOP Sportsability festivals, multi-skill and multi-sport festivals). Young Leaders have been trained through TOP Link (within Step into Sport) to plan and run these festivals for primary aged young people.
Intra school competition – led by School Sport Co-ordinators and supported by young leaders
Inter school competition – led and organised by existing Competition Managers
Local activity – innovative and creative ideas organised at a local level
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “We need to put school sport back where it belongs – playing a central role in the school day. National School Sport Week is a great opportunity to do just that and I’m confident that it will help get young people fit and physically healthy.
“Whatever their natural ability and whatever their age, sport and activity can make our children healthier, raise self-confidence and self-esteem. It develops teamwork, discipline and a sense of fair play. Values that will stand young people and the country in good stead in the years to come.”
Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, Steve Grainger said: “The Youth Sport Trust is working hard with schools across England in striving to improve opportunities for pupils to access all kinds of different sports, as we work towards giving all young people access to five hours of high quality PE and sport by 2012. The new National School Sport Week is a great opportunity to celebrate all the great work already taking place and set the bar even higher as we look to re-invigorate inter and intra-school competition for thousands more youngsters.”
Through their partnership with the Youth Sport Trust and a variety of UK Athletics schemes, Norwich Union has been backing British sport from playground to podium since 1999. Mark Hodges, Chief Executive of Norwich Union Life, explains:
“We believe that the National School Sport Week is a positive sign of change in the development of youth activity in Britain. Through our work with Kelly Holmes and the Youth Sport Trust, Norwich Union is committed to preparing future champions and making it easier for the nation to get involved in sport at all levels.”