On 25th September over 120 representatives from 70 organisations gathered at Villa Park in Birmingham for the School Sport & Activity Sector Partnership (SSASP) summit. The event was held in response to the government’s School Sport & Activity Action Plan published earlier that year. David Marshall from British Gymnastics commented on the importance of the partnership: “This provides a great, unique opportunity for so many people across the sector to come together to talk about ways to improve school sport and activity. Individually we all do positive work in this area, but the Youth Sport Trust bringing people together with different backgrounds and perspectives is what makes days like this so worthwhile.”
The summit included an opening address from Ali Oliver, CEO of Youth Sport Trust, which highlighted some of the recent updates in the sector, including the recent OFSTED PE report that showed hours of PE dropping in secondary schools and the recent government strategy updates. Representatives from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Education were also present. Sally Bacon OBE from the Cultural Learning Alliance delivered a keynote speech, discussing the four key elements to help build sector support: Consultation, Coalition is king, Clarity is key and Crafting the value narrative out of a solid evidence base.
Members of the National Youth Sport Forum also joined in the sessions and breakout discussion to provide the youth voice and context. The day concluded with a call to action to challenge everyone in the room to continue driving that united voice, in order to align collectively and improve life chances for young people.
The School Sport & Activity Sector Partnership (SSASP) held its summit at Birmingham’s Villa Park on 25th September, with more than 120 representatives from 70 organisations in attendance. The aim of the event was to ensure a collective response and a united voice to government on the future of PE, physical activity and sport in schools. The summit included an opening address from Ali Oliver, CEO of Youth Sport Trust, who highlighted recent updates in the sector, and representatives from government departments. Sally Bacon OBE from the Cultural Learning Alliance delivered a keynote speech, discussing the four key elements to help build sector support. Members of the National Youth Sport Forum were also present to provide the youth voice and context. The day concluded with a call to action to challenge everyone in the room to continue driving that united voice, in order to align collectively and improve life chances for young people.
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