On this page you will find details of the ways in which we work with you as a Specialist Sports College or Academy with a sports specialism. We work with you to raise standards in:
- PE and school sport
- Whole school performance, particularly in the core subjects of English, maths and science
We also work to increase the range, breadth and quality of opportunities for ALL young people to participate in PE and school sport.
We help you to do this in the following ways:
Dedicated one-to-one support
We provide three key points of contact:- Area Development Manager - responsible for support to Sports Colleges and Academies across one of five Youth Sport Trust regions.
- Area Development Officer - responsible for ensuring local support to individual Sports Colleges and Academies. Each Sports College/Academy be assigned an ADO. They are normally your first point of call.
- School Support Unit area contact - based in the Youth Sport Trust head office, the SSU is your ‘one-stop shop’ providing assistance in accessing training, networking and resources. Each of the five Youth Sport Trust areas has a lead member in the SSU
Through these people we aim to:
- Help you undertake a self review process in support of your progress against Sports College outcomes.
- Ensure support to key people within Sports Colleges/Academies
- Identify and position Youth Sport Trust support in support of achieving Sports College Outcomes. For example through Youth Sport Trust tools and programmes, seminars, workshops, professional development and training, etc.
- Help you build relationships with other Sports Colleges/Academies
- Signpost other relevant organisations which will help you achieve Sports College/Academy outcomes
- Support you as an effective hub site of your School Sport Partnership
Ahead of the game
Ahead of the Game is a new communication tool, which we hope will encourage headteachers and their senior managers to share best practice, and to open up and maintain a dialogue across the network.
This, along with a supporting publication offers detailed case studies, a checklist of key questions and action points and the opportunity for you as leaders to contribute to what we hope will be an on-going and stimulating debate about developing best practises
Click here to find out more information
Impact of the specialism on whole school standards
In August 2006 the Youth Sport Trust formed a new ‘Specialism Impact’ team to work strategically to provide whole school improvement support for Sports Colleges and Academies with a focus on sport.
This evolving team will be developing strategies and programmes focusing on how the specialism can raise achievement and attainment of young people. It will be working particularly in the areas of:
- how the specialism can raise achievement in curriculum areas other than PE – including the core subjects (English, Maths and Science) and languages
- how the specialism can raise achievement and contribute to the Every Child Matters and Extended Schools agendas
Partnership School Programme
The aim of this programme is to use effective Sports Colleges that have capacity to form partnerships to support other Sports Colleges with identified areas of need. The partnerships are based on the premise that both schools benefit from the experience and sharing of practice.
Sports Colleges must meet a set of criteria and apply to become ‘Partnership Schools’. It is these schools that lead the initial brokerage of the partnership. The two schools together decide what work to do and develop an action plan specifying activities and outcomes for both schools.
The programme has been developed in association with the National College for School Leadership to ensure that it has coherence with their National Leaders in Education programme.
Click here for application pack for 2007.
Affiliation for Sports Colleges
Joining our Affiliation scheme entitles you to a huge range of benefits, including membership to the Youth Sport Trust and our partner affiliation organisation for Sports Colleges, The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.Click here to find out more
Learning from each other through tailored professional development
As a Sports College you face many challenges every day, and some of the best people to help you find solutions to these are in other Sports Colleges.
To help you do this we make use of the following:
- Induction – we hope to support you in your first year as a sports college with specific regional and national opportunities for key post-holders in your school
- Partnership School Programme – a quality assured programme which harnesses the expertise of our most effective sports college
- Advanced practitioner seminars – some Sports Colleges are leading the way in their area of work. Advanced practitioner seminars provide a showcase for this success and also opportunities for others to learn from it
- Tailored support – unique challenges require a unique solution, which is why we use innovative tools and programmes to help you when you most need it
- Professional development programme- designed to support and challenge practice
Learning from each other through Networking
The network of Sports Colleges and Academies is a powerful vehicle to bring about change and progress for the whole movement. We provide a number of networking opportunities that enable you to share practice, challenges, seek solutions and innovate with other Sports Colleges/Academies. The types of networking are:
Outcome based networking
This is networking that takes place through 16 network areas across England. The Sports College outcomes are split into two different networks, these are:
- Raising standards in PE and School Sport – there is one place per Sports College/Academy at your local network for Subject Leads or key practitioners in PE
- Impact of the Specialism Whole School and Learning in the Community – there are two places for your Sports College/Academy at your local network. You decide who is best placed to attend depending on the theme of the network.
Each Sports College has two opportunities a year to engage in outcome based networking, and each network opportunity will have a minimum of two different themes.
School Based Networking
Most Sports Colleges/Academies find it valuable to visit other Sports Colleges/Academies, There will be opportunities throughout the year to do this
Learning and Innovating Together
Often Sports Colleges/Academies will face the same challenges or will have developed an innovative piece of work and want to share this with other Sports Colleges/Academies or schools in your School Sport Partnership. ‘Learning and Innovating Together’ Networking supports you to establish/ build on an existing network in support of Sports College/Academy outcomes. These networks will normally be small with the participating schools having total ownership of the network. A Sports College/Academy will normally be the lead for the Network
To find out key events for the coming year, visit our events section.
Head Teacher Dine and Discuss
An annual opportunity for Head teachers to network with other head teachers supported by The Youth Sport Trust Chair, Chief Executive's Office and Directors
Networking at Conferences
Networking is an important part of the Annual Sports Colleges Conference (see blow).
For more information contact your local SChool Support Unit contact for a full list of SSU contacts e-mail schoolsupportunit@youthsporttrust.org.
Sports Colleges Conference
The Sports Colleges Conference is held in February and is a national event which helps Sports Colleges learn from their colleagues across the country.
Click here to find out more
Sharing the Challenge
To help you learn from the great work going on in other sports colleges we have developed a range of publications and information sources, which you can use locally.These include:
Downloadable case studies
Video case studies
Webtracker
Inclusion
In addition to all of this support we are developing a website for teachers and coaches of young disabled people. In time this resource will focus on other targeted groups too.
Click here to visit the site