APPENDIX 42
Letter from the Headmaster, Wakefield
City High School to the Chairman of the Committee (OB 80)
Further to Fridays meeting at the Town Hall
and your request for comments in writing, we have listed below
some of the relevant issues that came out of the discussion.
1. Any scheme such as the one proposed must
run alongside a schools current extra-curricular provision. Potential
problem areas include the following:
— Clash of interests for pupils currently
involved in extra-curricular sport.
— Inadequate facilities to cope with
pupil numbers—on a small scale we experienced this problem
earlier in the year when Wakefield Harriers came into school for
a six week introductory Athletics course with Year 7 pupils. The
school gym was already being used for Netball practice at the
time. Because of the relatively small number of pupils involved
and the limited timescale, it was possible to ensure that both
activities were able to go ahead. However, with larger numbers
operating for prolonged periods, this could have posed serious
problems.
— The payment of coaches to run these
sessions could potentially cause conflict with members of staff
who are providing their time free of charge.
— It is crucial that common standards
are employed across all sporting activities in school. Close liaison
between RE staff and outside coaches is therefore essential. This
is likely to involve extra work for RE staff and raises possible
workload issues.
— Any scheme of the type proposed should
not impinge upon time already devoted to RE in school. Whereas
we currently provide 2 hours of RE to all pupils in Years 7, 8,
9, this is reduced to 1 hour in years 10, 11 because of other
pressures on the curriculum. By reducing these pressures, in their
many and varied forms, schools could then provide extra curriculum
time for RE and sport.
2. Enhanced sporting facilities in schools will
enable us to broaden both curricular and extra curricular provision.
In this way, more children are likely to find
an activity that suits their particular interests. This is vital
at KS4, since if they leave school actively following a particular
sport, they are more likely to continue this into adult life.
The proposed Sports Hall and fitness room at
City High will enable us to offer many more activities, both in
school and to the local community. However, as we pointed out
at the meeting, the paperwork required of us before the NOF funding
is released, is enormous. We are currently writing phase 2 of
the bid with a deadline of 31 May 2003.
A decision on this will then take some six months,
so even if we are successful and building starts early in 2004,
we are unlikely to have use of the facilities until 2005. Given
that all parties have seen the obvious need for a Sports Hall
at City High for some ten years, it does seem that unnecessary
hurdles are now being put in the way of a successful conclusion
to the project.
We would like to conclude by saying how much
we support your attempt to raise the issue of declining fitness
levels amongst the young. Schemes such as the one being pioneered
in North London are certainly worth considering along with any
other moves that can help raise the profile of PE within the education
debate as a whole.
We hope you find these comments helpful and
are of course available to expand on them further if you wish.
15 May 2003
|
