Burkha-Brot

-All breads in the bakery where wrapped in non-transparent plastic.
- The turkish saleswoman tried to describe the breads for me without unwrapping them.
- Although I didn't intend to question her good taste, I finally asked her: "Could I.... maybe... see the bread?"
- She answered: "You have to propose marriage to the bread first!"
And it was the first time that I blushed at sight of a bread.

Pitching in to Support the School Sport Survey

The Football Association of Wales is the governing body of football in Wales and, in addition to its administration responsibilities for football, has the responsibility of running the international teams. Alongside the FAW, the Welsh Football Trust (WFT) is the charitable organisation responsible for developing the grassroots game, including working with coaches and volunteers and increasing opportunities for young players to play and improve.

Here, FAW Research and Evaluation Officer Llŷr Roberts, and the WFT’s Operations Manager Kevin Moon describe how the School Sport Survey can make a difference for Welsh football.

There are many different elements to our work but ultimately we want Wales to become a more successful football nation at grassroots and international level.

Among our high level targets are for Wales to achieve a Seven Star Rating for the UEFA Grass Roots Charter, and to qualify for major international tournaments.

Football is by far the most watch and played sport in the country but, to keep it that way and continue to grow and improve, we need to have a picture of the participation and views of the people who we want to play and enjoy the game.

At a grassroots level, the Sport Wales School Sport Survey gives us a valuable suite of data that we can use as evidence and background to guide our work and target our resources.

Using the data from 2011, we wanted to establish baseline figures of both club membership and also wider participation in football. We have information relating to club membership but needed assistance in obtaining indicators of informal participation so that we know exactly what types of footballing opportunities young people are taking part in.

We have been working with Data Unit Wales to undertake initial research and recommendations, but the School Sport Survey provides both membership and participation data and prevents duplication of work.

We will also be using School Sport Survey as the data source for our annual reporting and making use of the forthcoming adult survey data for the senior game.

The term ‘school’ in the title of the survey masks how much pupils filling in the questionnaire can influence how the game of football in Wales is planned. That is why we would urge schools to complete the survey and ensure that all of us working in sport have the knowledge and information to provide the best possible opportunities we can.

Llŷr Roberts and Kevin Moon.

For more information on the Sport Wales School Sport Survey visit www.schoolsportsurvey.org.uk.

Peter Drew on why the School Sport Survey is hugely important to Tennis Wales.

 

 Peter Drew, CEO Tennis Wales

 

Introducing tennis to children at school is probably the most important part of Tennis Wales’ 2020 Vision Plan to grow the game.  Tennis Wales is aiming to double tennis participation over the next few years and introducing children to tennis at school is a very important part of that objective.  We want every child in Wales to have the opportunity to be introduced to tennis when they are at school and the School Sport Survey helps us greatly to understand how successful we are being with that, and helps us to identify where the gaps are and where we need to be better at that. 

The data that we got from the 2011 School Sport Survey was extremely useful to us when we came to develop our 2020 Vision Plan in 2012.  Some of the key themes that we saw from the data were that 60% of Primary Schools provided tennis, 53% of Secondary Schools provided tennis, and 40% of children Year 3 to 6 played tennis.  This is very valuable information for us because by 2020 we want all of these numbers to be as close to 100% as possible.  The 2013 survey will help us to know how successful our current strategies are for trying to achieve this.  The 2011 data also showed several other very interesting and useful trends for us.  It showed us that at Primary School there are roughly equal numbers of boys and girls playing tennis, but at Secondary School there is a significant drop-off in girls relative to boys.  As a result of this we have now introduced two new programmes aimed at retaining and attracting more teenage girls to tennis.  The 2011 data also showed us that there was a big increase in school tennis participation in 2009 coinciding with a big push in the schools tennis programme the year before when a lot of our current schools tennis initiatives were launched.  We also saw that there is a really huge latent demand for children at school who would like to play more tennis.  Tennis has one of the highest levels of latent demand in school children out of all the sports in Wales.  So this means we know that investing significant resources into our schools tennis programme is going to have a big impact on tennis participation.  This is very valuable information both for Tennis Wales and for its other funding partners, namely Sport Wales and the Tennis Foundation.  From this data Tennis Wales, Sport Wales, and the Tennis Foundation can all be very confident that investing resources into schools tennis in Wales is going to have a very positive impact on getting every child in Wales hooked on sport.

 Tennis Wales is increasingly using a very focussed, evidence based approach to developing and implementing its strategies, and determining where to prioritise its resources. The School Sport Survey is absolutely critical for this purpose and is one of our most useful strategic tools.

Professor Laura McAllister talks Conference 2013

I’m very excited to announce that our Annual Conference will be held on Monday 17 June at Cardiff City Stadium.

Designed to unite key stakeholders from across sectors for one day to discuss, debate and identify practical ways to deliver our shared agenda, it’s a crucial event in the Sport Wales diary in ensuring that we remain a strong and united sporting nation.

It’s a great opportunity to reach out to different sectors who may be able to use the influence of sport to their advantage – I believe in a multi-agency, multi-partner approach to creating a more active, healthy and confident population. Whether it’s across local authority departments, sectors such as health and education and even in business, we all have a responsibility to shape the future for our next generation.

The programme for this year reflects this view and will focus on a theme of leadership and legacy - we have invited leading professionals from inside and outside of the sector to stimulate important debates and discussions.

As part of the programme, we are thrilled to welcome Lord Sebastian Coe to the stage - not only one of the world’s greatest ever athletes, he also helped lead the way in exceeding our expectations for London 2012. It will be interesting to hear his thoughts on how we can strengthen the connections between the work at UK and home nation level to build on the success of the Olympics and Paralympics to keep the momentum going as we look towards Glasgow 2014.

We also welcome John Griffiths AM – his debut as Minister for Culture and Sport. I know that John is someone who has a personal love of sport and exercise, but more than that I know he will bring a drive and enthusiasm to the clear direction we have set out for the sports sector in Wales. I look forward to hearing his address.

We’ve had a record-breaking year for Wales and for GB sport with the national rugby side defending their RBS 6 Nations crown, Cardiff City FC lifting the Championship trophy, Swansea City winning the League Cup, Becky James winning two cycling World medals and a host of other successes.

This means that more than ever we need to be challenging the sector. I’m very proud of what we in Wales have achieved as a nation but we can always push ourselves further – the conference has an important role to play in this.

This is an event not to be missed - I urge those who have received an invitation to make sure they attend. The day is an undeniably important opportunity to drive sport forward in Wales.

Worth, Pride and Ambition, by Keith Towler (Children's Commissioner for Wales)

Keith Towler is the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. His job is to stand up and speak out for children and young people. He works to make sure that children and young people are kept safe and that they know about and can access their rights.

Here, he sets out why the School Sport Survey is such an important tool to empower young people in Wales.

How many of you watched last summer’s Olympics and Paralympics? How many of you were glued to the TV, or even lucky enough to watch an event in person? I don’t think that I’m alone in saying that I was glued to every bit of it. And six months later the events of the summer are still having an effect on children and young people here in Wales. Just this week I met a disabled young person who was feeling inspired by what he had seen in the Summer, telling me that his greatest ambition was to be on Team GB’s wheelchair basketball team at the next Olympics in 2016. 

It just goes to show the power of sport to inspire and unite people – around clubs, communities and countries. It’s this passion that Sport Wales wants us all to harness to create an environment where every child and young person in Wales can live in communities without barriers, without fears, without prejudices. Whilst access to play and recreational activity is a child’s fundamental right, let’s look at this as a wider opportunity to instil a sense of worth, pride and ambition in our children. It provides them with a sense of belonging – perthyn.

This is why I am supporting Sport Wales’ plans to undertake a national School Sport Survey here in Wales almost a year after the Olympics and Paralympics began. In 2011 their survey found out what nearly 40,000 of our children aged between 3 and 11 thought about sport in their schools. And this year they hope to find out the opinions of even more children. It is vital that every child in Wales has the opportunity to tell us what they think about sport, what they like and dislike about different sports, which sports they would like to an opportunity to take part in and what their attitudes are towards health, fitness and well-being.

The survey will help provide vital information to schools, education departments and our policy makers. It will help us to understand the role that physical education and sport plays in contributing to the physical, social and emotional well-being of all pupils. If we are to build on the sporting legacy of 2012 and to achieve Sports Wales’ ambition of “getting every child hooked on sport for life” then we must have a clear picture of what our sporting landscape looks like to children. We have to listen to what they are telling us and then use this information to plan strategically for the future of sport in our schools. 

For more visit www.schoolsportsurvey.org.uk and www.childcom.org.uk 

New this Week!

Schools at Heart of Active Nation, by Professor Laura McAllister

In her latest blog, as the Sport Wales School Sport Survey goes live,Professor Laura McAllister talks about how schools in Wales form such a vital part of our sporting future.

The 2013 School Sport Survey went live yesterday and we are eagerly anticipating an even greater response than that seen in 2011.

A record number of responses were gained in 2011, with the details of 40,000 youngsters captured, making it the largest ever survey of school pupils in Wales.

At the time, this was extremely encouraging.  Local authorities and schools were able to use the data to insight developments and changes, from which we have since seen improved opportunities for youngsters to lead more active and healthy lifestyles.

This said, there were however, also many local authorities and schools who did not achieve the sufficient response rates to gain appropriate data from the survey.

In these cases, it is a fair question for us to ask: how does an organisation plan to grow, resource and invest successfully without a detailed picture of what the sporting landscape looks like for young people as a starting point?

It is for this reason, that this year we must raise the response rate and ensure that every child stands to benefit from the wealth of knowledge that can be gained from this survey.  If we do this, we are one step closer to making Wales world leading in school sport.

It is our vision at Sport Wales to get every child hooked on sport for life.  This is not only to build a future nation of sporting champions to carry on the great feats being achieved by the likes of Becky James and Elinor Barker, our Six Nations Rugby squad, or our numerous football teams (Swansea City winning the League Cup, Wrexham bringing home the FA Trophy, the hopeful promotion of Cardiff City and Newport County, alongside the recent success seen by the national team) but also to create healthier and more active future generations.

Young people who have the skills and confidence to participate in sport and physical activity, who are provided with a variety of engaging sporting experiences that combine elements of competitiveness and fun, delivered by motivating people will result in them participating in regular, physical activity for the rest of their lives.

To ensure that we are achieving this and that the correct improvements and developments can be made, it is vital that we gain feedback from our younger generations, to acquire an accurate account of school sport from their perspective, and also from those currently in charge of managing school sport.

The greatest value of the 2013 School Sport Survey will be in allowing us to make considerable headway in building this understanding of what is happening on the ground, alongside understanding pupils’ attitudes towards sport and physical recreation. 

It will be vital to informing the decisions we at Sport Wales make on planning and resources, it should also therefore be utilised as the valuable resource it is to inform the decisions that our partners make within these areas.

We have seen hugely encouraging developments from individual schools who have managed to use the 2011 school sport survey data to improve levels of learner engagement in sport, to successfully target groups previously excluded from sport, to share resources and infrastructure to provide a more comprehensive and appealing offering of sport and to generally improve participation levels. 

All of which would not have progressed without the clear starting point that the 2011 data provided.  We want to see more of this progress emerging from the 2013 data.  Schools are at the heart of an active nation and every school will be urged to look at making sport a priority area in the future. 

As many of you will know the Joint Ministerial Task and Finish Group is very soon due to report recommendations on how to develop sporting skills and increase the sporting opportunities for children within schools. 

I have argued within the Task and Finish group that we have been charged by our Ministers for Education and Sport to discharge the Government’s commitment to ensuring that physical literacy is equal to reading and writing in our schools. The group will need to consider exactly how that might be delivered and how we alter the status and profile of PE within the national curriculum to award it the same status as that of numeracy and literacy.

In both cases, participation in the school sport survey could provide the first positive step for a school in the process to gain data that will become invaluable in planning how to attain these recommendations.  Recommendations which consequently could put Wales as world leaders in school sport.

It must also not be forgotten that Estyn have for the first time agreed to recognise that data from the School Sport Survey can contribute to a school’s self-evaluation arrangements.  This again recognising how the survey can inform strategic and improvement plans, helping schools to focus on their priorities for development.

I have identified schools as being at the heart of an active nation.  Our vision of getting every child hooked on sport for life would not however be possible without the significant role also played by local authorities.

In 2011, local authorities performed an important and influential role in encouraging schools to complete the survey.  The ability of individual authorities to marry the efforts of both sport and leisure with education departments, to support schools in the completion of the survey, resulted in a return of data which has also resulted in significant improvements at a county level.

I am pleased to have seen evidence where local authorities who were able to gain data in 2011, have been able to identify and address gaps in participation, unite schools and clubs to ensure resources and equipment are shared to create additional opportunities and also to ensure that extracurricular activities being offered outside of schools are meeting the needs of youngsters.

This last point is crucial.  We cannot expect a child to fully commit to a sport that is not available to them outside of school. Local authorities need to therefore ensure that the correct sporting opportunities are also available outside of school for youngsters to progress into.  Data from the survey can provide a great amount of insight into this area to ensure that plans are put in place to develop the required areas.

I cannot foresee a situation in which the data provided by the 2013 school sport survey would not become an extremely invaluable tool for all of those involved in helping to shape the future sporting landscape of Wales.  We all hopefully by now recognise the importance of physical literacy, and getting every child hooked on sport for life, so let’s work together to push Wales as a world leader in terms of providing sporting opportunities for its youngsters.