Sports and Physical Activity
Following a survey with the pupils, St Thomas' are increasing the amount of activities available as extra-curricular clubs. This is done by utilising the close community links we have with the Featherstone Rovers, as well as the contribution from members of staff to provide extra opportunities for the students in our care.
Pupil Voice in PESSPA
The pupil voice demonstrated in the PESSPA Survey has been instrumental in designing this year's extra-curricular provision. By listening to which activities the pupils themselves would like to be offered, we are able to provide clubs which will (i) offer all our pupils a broader experience of a range of sports and activities; (ii) assist in engaging pupils in regular physical activity, and (iii) provide opportunities for increased participation in competitive sport.
47.2% of the 212 pupils who responded to the survey had attended an after-school club involving physical activity. Our intention for 2023-24 is to increase that percentage to over 70%.
30.2% of the 212 pupils indicated that they were busy after school and so couldn't attend an after-school club - this is the reasoning behind the above target of increasing our attendance to 70%.
Of the other responses, 28.8% said that they wanted to attend but hadn't been selected. This is why we have now increased our provision - so that all children wanting to attend a club will have the opportunity to do so. Y3/4 Boy's Football has been heavily over-subscribed in this first half-term, so we have changed the provision plan to provide an additional Y3/4 Boy's Football club. Half of the boys will attend in Autumn 1 and the other half will attend in Autumn 2. Our aim is that by the end of this academic year, no-one can say that they wanted to do a club but weren't selected.
25.9% replied that they weren't interested in the clubs that were offered. By using pupil voice to discover which clubs the pupils wanted, this percentage will hopefully fall by the end of the academic year. You can't please everyone all of the time, but hopefully most pupils will be interested in at least one club this year.
15.1% of pupil responses indicated that they felt scared or nervous to take part in an after-school club. By raising the profile of after-school clubs through our Sports Leaders/Sports Parliament, PESSPA Newsletters, pupil interviews and displays around school, we aim to share the benefits of attending a club and remove any doubts or fears that our pupils may have and which are acting as a barrier to participation. Having listened to pupil's opinions, we offer separate football clubs for boys and girls. We know that some of our girls play football at weekends for clubs with or against boys, and these pupils would be happy to attend after-school football clubs alongside boys, but we were told that there were more girls who would like the opportunity to try football but were nervous about playing against boys. In response to this, we decided that separate girls' football clubs would appeal to a larger audience.
As mentioned earlier, pupil voice has been the driving force behind the decision of which clubs to offer this year. The data above shows the most popular responses - this information has used to create the extra-curricular provision for this year. Not all the clubs are offered after-school; some activities will be offered during lunchtimes, which hopefully will provide opportunities for children who have other commitments after school hours.
