Over the past few months I have been critical towards the government and national governing bodies towards how loyal they have been to the Olympic legacy. See my blog on UK Basketball for further evidence. However some good news has been announced from the Prime Minister this morning that £150 million pounds will be invested into primary school sport. A further £150 million will be invested by Sport England to aid primary schools link up with local sports clubs through the county partnership projects.
The money for this scheme will come from three departments, firstly the department of health will provide £60 million while the department of Education £80 million and £10 million by the department of sport and culture. However this investment does not begin to match the investment that was in place through the school sports partnership scheme which was dismantled by Mr Gove just two years ago. It is some what of a U-turn for me while not putting back in all of the money that was taken away from primary school sport.
The money that primary schools receive will be ring fenched therefore it will have to be spent on sports and not other areas. However the investment does give head teachers some flexibility as to how they spend it either in getting coaches into schools through NGB, teachers training or equipment. All in all they should have a positive impact upon the primary school pupils and their sporting experience.
This investment while only short term ( check the small print this is only a two year investment) will go a long way. It will help get pupils playing more sport not only in school but outside through the club links. Hopefully inspiring our next great Olympic athletes like Jess Ennis. Getting more children physically active through the introduction of new and old activities will help solve the burden childhood obesity is putting on the health system. These positives from the investement have been described as measurable hence why the government is so supportive of it but how can you measure the enjoyment of positive feeling a young child gets through playing sport. For me that's un-measurable and what makes investments like this one great.
I'm not for one minute going to criticise the investment any investment into school sport is welcomed by me. However I did read something really interesting which I think summed this investment up best. It ticks the box for supporting the Olympic legacy and most defiantly at its lowest level, it has NGB involvement it has ring fenching of sporting money and goes towards correcting the huge mistake made by the government of removing the school sport partnership. I just hope this investment is not a tick boxing exercise by the government but more an attempt to get children doing more exercise.
Sorry for the lack of blogs this week, still having major Internet issues here in the Hume household!!
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