FUNDING for school sports has been promised for three years – but its a legacy which must be protected after the Olympics, say campaigners.
Ministers have announced £65 million of funding to promote competitive sport in schools. That’s a cut on what had previously been expected, but Kirklees sports leaders have vowed to do all they can to maintain services.
Brenda Hilton of the Pennine Sports Partnership said the public’s support had made a difference.
She said: “The budget is tiny in comparison to what we had and we need to remember it’s over three years. It’s now around £20m a year and previously it’s been £160m a year.
“I’m pleased they’ve listened to what we’ve had to say. But we, like everyone, will make adjustments and do all we can within the budget.”
In October Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that he planned to abolish the £162 million-a-year School Sports Partnership.
It sparked protests from the sporting community and headteachers, including Kirkburton Middle School pupil Lucy Blackburn who wrote to her MP to complain about the cuts.
But a government U-turn has helped protect the service – the £65 million from the Department for Education’s budget for the period to 2013/14 will allow every secondary school to release one PE teacher for a day a week to embed the benefits from the scheme into its sports provision.
Brenda added: “I’ve got less money to be able to pay staff. Previously we could pay PE teachers two days a week to go into primary schools and the community, now it’s only going to be one day a week.
“But primary schools have said they’ve seen such a benefit from the work we’ve been doing so we hope they might find some money in their budget.”
The government announced revised plans for school sports funding after being forced into a U-turn over proposals to axe the network entirely.
Brenda added: “When we got the Olympics it was because they promised there would be a legacy for young people and that’s what we’ve been working on.
“The can’t renege on that and the legacy has to be throughout the country not just in London.”
She said the input of the community had helped make a difference, adding: “We had 16,000 signatures from Kirklees when we sent the petition, lots of people wrote letters to their MPs and MP Jason McCartney did take them on board.”
Every school in Kirklees is a member of one of the sports partnerships, which are based at Holmfirth High School, Newsome High School, St John Fisher Catholic High School in Dewsbury and Spen Valley High School in Liversedge.
