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All the national information you could possibly ever want about Sport, PE, Schools, Health, Government, Facilities, and much, much more.
Just click on the red links below to take you to the latest news and archive features.
2012 launches online education resource
London 2012 has launched 'On Your Marks!', a new online education resource for 7-14 year olds. Aiming to help children develop their knowledge and enthusiasm for the Olympic Games and Paralympic games, 'On your Marks!' is the first step in the Education Programme that will develop ahead of 2012.
Developed with partners including the Department for Education and Skills and national education departments, it features news articles, fact sheets and an image bank for teachers and pupils to download and use across the school curriculum. Topics include the history of the Games, health and fitness and plans for 2012.
Click here to go to London 2012 'On Your Marks!'
In the media - ISRM's child admissions policy for unprogrammed swimming
ISRM members who manage public swimming
pools have always had to make difficult decisions regarding
parent/child supervision ratios
in pools - balancing safety with
encouraging parents to involve their children in swimming and
physical activity. These decisions
have been made more difficult in recent
weeks as the subject of child admissions has attracted national
media interest.
Unfortunately, this increased scrutiny
by the media has arguably too often been characterised by a lack of
understanding as to what
ISRM is trying to achieve through its
policies on child admissions. In particular, the 'Homing Instinct'
column, written by Rebecca
Abrams in The Daily Telegraph on 5 June
2004 makes interesting reading.
British Heart
Foundation - Coronary Heart Statistics 2004
New British Heart Foundation statistics
show death rates from heart disease are falling - but the issue of
people becoming
overweight and succumbing to obesity is
posing a major threat. A staggering 2.7 million people are
estimated to be living with
coronary heart disease (CHD) in the UK -
a number that is rising year on year. The statistics have been
published by the British
Heart Foundation (BHF) at the start of
Heart Week 2004, running from 5-13 June.
Firms to be hit by junk
food levy for sports centres
Britain's biggest food companies are to
be told by the government to pay an "anti-obesity" levy to fund new
sports centre or face
punitive laws restricting advertising,
marketing and labelling. Firms such as McDonald's, Walkers and
Cadbury Schweppes are to be
asked to contribute tens of millions of
pounds towards the sports facilities. The government is set to
provide £1m for the scheme
for every £3m pledged by the food
industry. It will be used to build sports centres, gyms, football
pitches and tennis courts. The
food industry confirmed this weekend
that it was preparing to co-operate with ministers and could
provide hundreds of millions of
pounds to fend off regulation. Last week
the government suggested it was considering banning junk food
adverts during children's
television programmes, although this is
now unlikely.
Sport England 2004
Comprehensive Spending Review bid
Since the publication of "Game Plan, The
Government's Strategy for delivering sport and physical activity
objectives" the world of
sport has begun to transform itself. The
sporting sector in England is being modernised, creating effective
delivery structures and
maximising investment in front line
delivery. Significant progress has been made to ensure that the
structures and strategies are in
place to deliver on the ground: the new
framework for sport in England (published March 2004), 9 new
Regional Plans, 20 Whole Sport
Plans and the regional Sports Boards
set-up as a key part of the step-change. The challenge now is to
secure additional funding for
sport and the 2004 Comprehensive
Spending Review (CSR) bid is the first part of a new investment
strategy.
Commons Health Select
Committee report on obesity
The Commons Health Select Committee has
published its report on obesity, highlighting costs to the country
of £3.7bn a year and
warning about the impact on future
levels of diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The committee's
report, which makes 69
recommendations, indicates that levels
of obesity have risen 400 per cent in just 25 years, and could soon
surpass smoking as the
nation's biggest cause of premature
death.
Government
news
A new group chaired by the Sports
Minister Richard Caborn MP, will bring together government and
grassroots campaigners seeking new
and improved sports facilities. The move
was announced following the latest meeting of the playing fields
monitoring group, the body
set up in 2000 to examine latest
information on their use and any proposals to re-develop
facilities.
Parliamentary
news
The Secretary of State for Culture,
Media and Sport Tessa Jowell Mp, stated that a master plan prepared
earlier this year by the
London Development Agency set out plans
for the lower Lea Valley to accommodate staging the Olympics in
2012. Outline planning
permission is being sought for these
proposals.
Education
All Ethnic Groups Improve At
GCSE/GNVQ (24 Feb 2004)
Pupils from every ethnic group have
improved in their GCSE/GNVQ results
The Education and Skills Committee
(23 Feb 2004)
The second report on the activity of the
Education and Skills Committee throughout the year 2003 is now
available. At the forefront of the Committee's activities in 2003
was a wide-ranging review of Secondary Education. This contained
examination of Government policies including the major Specialist
Schools initiative, questioning the effectiveness of this strategy
as a means of school improvement.
Government Response to the
Committee's First Report: Public Expenditure: Schools'
Funding
The Government has published its
response to the Education and School's Committee First Report on
Public Expenditure: Schools' Funding Education, published in
December 2003, which looked at the changes introduced by the
Government to the funding system for schools for 2003-04.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmeduski/377/37704.htm
New guidance for schools on
developing High Quality PE and Sport (4 March
2004)
Following the publication of Learning
through PE and School Sport: A guide to the national PE, School
Sport and Club Links strategy in March 2003, new guidance is
now available for schools and clubs, which expands upon the initial
publication. High Quality PE and Sport for Young People
(published March 2004) is designed to help schools and clubs
evaluate, and then set about improving, the quality PE and/or sport
in schools and clubs. It sets out what high quality PE and sport
looks like and how schools can achieve it.
School Sport Partnerships
(4 March 2004)
More pupils are taking up PE and sport
as a result of school sport partnerships. A new survey has shown
that 68% of pupils in schools that have been in a partnership for
three years, are spending at least two hours each week on high
quality PE and school sport in and after school, rising to 90% at
Key Stage 3. This compares to 52% for schools new to the programme.
A summary of the survey is available from
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/subjects/pe/penews/newsimpact/
European Year of Education through
Sport Goes Live (10 February 2004)
Minister for Schools, Stephen Twigg MP
and Minister for Sport, Richard Caborn MP have launched the United
Kingdom's participation in the European Year of Education through
Sport (EYES) at Barking Abbey Sport College. EYES aims to bring
together learning and sport for the benefit of all young
people.
School/Club Links
Minister for Sport Makes Netball a
Priority (3 February 2004)
Minister for Sport Richard Cabourne
yesterday (2 February 2004) announced the inclusion of Netball in
the PE and School Sports Club Links programme (PESSCL), an
arrangement which provides opportunities for players in schools to
continue playing at clubs, following their introduction to the game
during the term.Netball is one of 15 new sports to be included in
the programme, which is a joint partnership with the Department for
Education and Sport (DfES) and Department for Culture, Media and
Sport (DCMS).
Improved opportunities for Children with
Special Educational Needs (11 Feb 2004)
A new drive to improve the opportunities
for the one in six children with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
was set out today by Education and Skills Secretary Charles Clarke
- Removing Barriers to Achievement, the Government's new long term
strategy to transform the education of children with
SEN
New School Improvement and Excellence
area launched on DfES Standards website. (2 Feb 2004)
The School Improvement and Excellence
Division (SIED) will be launching their new area on 04.02.04.This
brings together two existing areas:
· School Improvement
· Excellence in
Cities
The introduction of a monthly 'Hotseat'
will allow you to ask team leaders questions regarding their policy
areas. The address is www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/sie.
Additions to Specialist Schools
Network (29 Jan 2004)
More than half of all secondary schools
have now gained specialist status. School Standards Minister David
Miliband announced today that 238 schools have been successful in
their bid to join the 1448 schools that are already part of the
Specialist Schools Programme. 1,686 schools now have specialist
status some 54% of all secondary schools.
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2004_0017
New Global Gateway Launched (10 Feb
2004)
Education and Skills Secretary Charles
Clarke has launched a new website the Global Gateway site -
that will help schools make strong links with other countries. The
Global Gateway site, developed by the British Council for the
Department for Education and Skills, will enable pupils to learn
more about different cultures and be a significant boost to raising
standards in the classroom. To visit the new website go to
www.globalgateway.org.uk.
Partnership approaches to sharing
best practice (26 January
2004)
A new study by the NFER found that
despite the time and organisational demands of school partnership
working there were many benefits including opportunities for staff
training and professional development, sharing of good practice and
additional funding and resources.
Sponsorship (09 February
2004)
The Government has called on all City
firms to become involved in supporting Specialist Schools. City
businesses already donate millions of pounds each year towards the
Specialist Schools Programme. The Government wants to develop links
with business further so that every firm can sponsor a specialist
school or academy in the future.
TTA launch new e-newsletter (12 Feb
2004)
The Teacher Training Agency is pleased
to announce the launch of a new monthly e-newsletter service for
all stakeholders, accessed by free subscription. To subscribe go to
http://www.tta.gov.uk/php/read.php?sectionid=1&articleid=1222
New Powers to Tackle Truancy (26 Feb
2004)
New powers to tackle truancy and
misbehaviour in schools, and criminal and anti-social behaviour on
the streets will be available to local education authorities, youth
offending teams, police and the courts
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2004_0031
Child Protection
Children's Bill Published (4 March
2004)
The Government has published the
Children's Bill, which contains measures to transform services for
children and young people. For a brief overview of the Bill, and a
link to the main document, please visit:
Major changes to child protection
outlined include the creation of a Children's Commissioner to act
as a voice for all young people. The new post is part of a raft of
changes set out in the Children's Bill.
Early Years Progress in developing
high quality childcare and early education accessible to all (27
Feb 2004)
This report by the National Audit Office
examines childcare and education provision for children
below
compulsory school age in England and
specifically developments since the 1998 National Childcare
Strategy was introduced.
Building Schools for the Future (12
Feb 2004)
Prime Minister Tony Blair and School
Standards Minister David Miliband have unveiled the fourteen local
education authority projects that will spearhead the Government's
Building Schools for the Future programme to rebuild or refurbish
every secondary school in England.
£35million from Lottery puts
Sporty Schools in the Lead (9 March 2004)
Schools and communities across England
are celebrating following the announcement of more than £35
million of lottery good cause money from the New Opportunities Fund
to improve and develop PE and sport facilities. Ninety-five schools
and communities will benefit from today's announcement. The awards
will mean sports pitches, changing rooms and equipment will be
improved and state-of-the-art new facilities built from scratch.
The funding comes from a £750 million UK-wide lottery good
cause scheme supporting the creation of new, and modernisation of
existing, indoor and outdoor sports facilities for schools. It will
also be used to promote sport in the community and wider use of the
facilities provided. Outdoor adventure facilities for young people
will also get a facelift through the programme.
Families to get involved in
preventing crime (4 February 2004)
Children at high risk of getting into
crime will be targeted and their families involved in steering them
away from this path, thanks to over £1.36 million awarded to
the Youth Justice Board by the Government's Invest to Save
Budget.
http://www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk/YouthJusticeBoard/AboutUs/News/NewsArchive/FamilyGroupConferencing.htm
UK Sport England opens £10m Bisham Abbey
National Sports Centre (11 Feb 2004)
HRH The Princess Royal today officially
opened Sport England's Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre,
heralding a new holistic approach to sport designed to help elite
athletes achieve international success and provide world-class
sports facilities for the local community.
Clarke Announces Permanent Chair Of
Qualifications And Curriculum Authority (5 March
2004)
Education and Skills Secretary Charles
Clarke today announced the appointment of Sir Anthony Greener as
permanent Chairman of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
(QCA) with immediate effect. The appointment will run to 21 October
2005.
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