9 steps to getting schools to sign up to School Sport Survey

Andrew Honey Jones, Active Young People Manager at Caerphilly County Borough Council, has been busy encouraging schools to complete the School Sport Survey – Sport Wales’ biggest ever census of school sport.

Here he describes his nine point step-by-step plan to ensure that schools in Caerphilly are on board:

·         First of all, I emailed all Headteachers to highlight the importance of the survey and how it fits in with the inspection framework. I also sent them the sample report so they could have a good idea of the data that would be collected.

·         It’s a mistake to email the generic school email addresses. It’s also a mistake to send blanket emails. Be personal and your email will be less likely to end up in deleted items!

·         In Caerphilly, sport sits in the Education & Leisure team so we work closely with School Improvement Teams We issue a weekly bulletin to all Headteachers so we used that to communicate the importance of the survey and asked them to get in touch if they required any assistance

·         We also met with the Education Advisory Group so they could push it during their visits to the schools

·         We’ve also offered to come in and administer the surveys. This helps the school spread the workload. Within an hour of that email being sent, 10 schools quickly responded. Now, we have 30 schools where we are going in to manage the survey process for them.

·         Next week, we’re presenting at the Joint Headteacher meeting for all Headteachers – primary and secondary. This will be another opportunity to push the survey. We will highlight the schools that have already done it and hopefully that will encourage those that haven’t.

·         We will also send the School Sport Survey updates to schools so they can see how they compare to others in their area

·         We have also told schools that we will only support ActiveMarc Cymru applications if they complete the survey. In my opinion, you can only be recognised as a high performing school for sport if you understand the importance of collecting this information.

·         My top tip is to get Headteachers on board. Their buy-in is absolutely critical.

For more information on the School Sport Survey visit http://www.schoolsportsurvey.org.uk/ Schools have just until the end of term to complete it.

Back to School

Ben Field

Ben is the recently appointed manager of Sport Pembrokeshire at Pembrokeshire County Council

With schools across Wales being asked to get their pupils to fill in the national School Sport Survey, Ben describes his work so far to sell the benefits of the project.

When details of the survey came out I could certainly see the benefits of having the data – both for my team working in sport and the schools themselves – and I wanted to make sure we did our bit to sell the benefits.

We started off with an e-mail from the Director of Education to all our schools. This wasn’t a directive but an opportunity to stress the importance and encourage them to take part. It was good to have that endorsement from the Director.

I met with the Education Advisors for the School Improvement Teams to talk them through the detail and gain their support.

I presented to Primary School Headteachers while my Head of Service presented to Secondary Headteachers.

All Sport Pembrokeshire staff work in some form or another with local schools – peripatetic PE tutors, 5x60, Dragon Sport and sport specific officers – and they are key to reminding schools about the survey and giving that extra encouragement.

We’ve got a newsletter that goes out to schools and the public and we’ve included a full page article on the survey in our current edition.

I’m maintaining regular contact with Headteachers via phone and email. If the school has completed or started the survey I’m e-mailing them to make sure I thank them for their support. And also trying to build up some healthy competition.

The key message I’ve been selling is around the well-being agenda and the information that will be made available for schools to use, particularly as evidence for any impending Estyn Inspections.

I’ve had some constructive feedback about the questions, the terminology and the length of time it’s taken some pupils to fill in.

With the data that we could have, I certainly hope the end will justify the means.

For more information on the School Sport Survey visit: http://www.sportwales.org.uk/research--policy/our-surveys/school-sport-survey-2011.aspx

And our survey says…

This week, we’re sending out the School Sport Survey to every single school and college in Wales. This is like the census of school sport!

We’ll not only be asking teachers to complete the survey but primary and secondary schoolchildren too.

In our latest blogpost, Rachel Hughes, Research Manager at Sport Wales, gives us 8 reasons why the school sport survey is important and why we’re encouraging schools and colleges to fill it in:

·         We’ll be able to track how many young people are taking part in sport and how often

·         We’ll know what sports and activities are growing in popularity – and which are not!

·         Sport Wales, local authorities and other sporting organisations will be able to use the data to make informed decisions about sport for young people in your area

·         We’ll be able to identify which groups are less likely to take part in sport – whether it’s by gender, age group or the area in which they live

·         We’ll know much more about what stops young people taking part in sport – and what motivates them!

·         We’ll have a better understanding of the importance that young people are placing on sport in comparison to other leisure activities

·         We’ll find out whether young people feel that sport contributes to a healthy lifestyle

·    We’ll also know whether pupils enjoy their PE lessons

·         If schools provide a sufficient sample to analyse, they will receive a report to help them identify strengths and gaps in provision, and help them evidence the well-being of their pupils

Schools have until the end of July to complete the survey.

Do you have any questions about the survey? Please let us know and we'll be happy to help!