Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by The Youth Charter

(i) Executive Summary

1. The Youth Charter’s recommendations for a London 2012 School Sport legacy is the culmination of a 20 year legacy journey resulting from the bidding and hosting of major games in the UK and Globally. This submission sets out a unique contribution of questions, ideas and potential solutions to the challenges and opportunities to build a national London 2012 school sport legacy and to “inspire a generation”.

2. Many of the modern day sporting movements were developed in 19th Century Britain. With the development of urban and industrial populations, the poor health and education of working class people became issues of concern for philanthropic middle and upper classes. Sport, through the philosophy of “Muscular Christianity”, was a tool through which health and education programmes were delivered.

3. During this period the modern Olympic movement was also developing. The founder of the International Olympic Committee, Baron Pierre de Coubertin (an education campaigner), was inspired by his visit to the Wenlock Olympian Society. Dr William Brookes established the Agriculture Reading Society in 1841 to help local people learn to read, and in 1850 he began the Olympian Class of that Society which helped local people to improve their fitness. This became the Wenlock Olympian Society in 1859. A young Baron Pierre de Coubertin witnessed a specially arranged mock Games, during a stay with Dr William Brookes, and this inspired him to set up the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894.

4. The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were won on the promise to “Inspire a Generation” to play more sport and to live healthy lifestyles. The London 2012 Games is a direct legacy of the Manchester 2000 Olympic bid and the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games, and the Youth Charter has lead the social and human development agenda for each bidding and hosting process. Now the London 2012 Games have been successfully delivered the focus is the delivery of a lasting legacy; locally, nationally and globally.

5. The Youth Charter’s philosophy is based on the Olympic ideals and our 20 year journey has witnessed the birth of the modern day sport and social inclusion industry. This modern day movement brings sport to the centre of youth development and citizenship. A “London 2012 School Sport legacy for all” would help inspire future generations, as well as the current generation.

6. The Youth Charter has carried out an extensive consultation and detailed study of the current structures and delivery of youth sport in the UK as part of our recently launched Legacy Manifesto and our soon to be launched Legacywise Report. The Youth Charter has concluded that the current youth sport structures do not follow a cohesive, coherent and integrated approach. In order to address this, the Youth Charter has designed a Gameswise Cultural Framework, which provides a unified, strategic, methodical, well funded, inclusive and progressive approach to youth development through sport. The Youth Charter provides the following Gameswise frameworks for School Sport:

(1)The Youth Charters Gameswise Cultural Framework.

(2)The Youth Charters Gameswise Community Campus Model.

(3)The Youth Charter’s Model for Gameswise Youth Development Pathways.

(ii) Introduction & Background

7. The Youth Charter was born out of the social deprivation, alienation, disaffection, anti social and gang related activity that led to the death of 14 year old school boy Benji Stanley in January 1993. Benji’s death sparked a local, regional and national debate on the social causes, effects and impact of social deprivation and its consequences. What had not then been considered was how the then Manchester 2000 Olympic bidding process was going to offset the unwanted publicity of a city likened to “L.A. or Beirut!” in the Sunday Times.

8. As a member of the Manchester 2000 Olympic Bid Ambassadorial team, Youth Charter executive chair Geoff Thompson MBE, went back on the streets to see if he could recreate an opportunity for young people, not dissimilar to his own experiences, of social and cultural exclusion given an opportunity of sport, recreation and leisure activity. Throughout Geoff’s journey from street to stadium, track suit to lounge suit, he was to serve in public life and utilise his personal experience to benefit others. With 50 young people from the south and 50 young people from the north at Wembley Stadium, the Youth Charter was born with over 300 signatories from all walks of life, signing up to the mission to “provide young people with an opportunity through Sport, to develop in life…”.

9. With the Olympic rings as the unifying power of sport to transcend social and cultural barriers of religion, race, culture and national boundaries, the Youth Charter scroll representing the “royal family of sport” (British Olympic Association, Central Council of Physical Recreation, Sport England the then GB Sports Council and Sports Aid Foundation) was used to provide an all important link with the wider social interest groups identified in the education, health, social order and environmental needs of the young people and communities the Youth Charter was trying to assist.

10. Since that time, the Youth Charter’s philosophy, mission, aims and objectives have been reflected in a number of ways, with respective Governments now beginning to recognise the role of sport in its broadest social and cultural definition as a social vehicle of change.

11. In its 20th Anniversary year, the Youth Charter aims to contribute to that effort through its Gameswise Programmes. The legacy milestones of note that reflect this effort resulted from the 2002 Commonwealth Games legacy initiative, “Citizenship in Action”. Ten communities throughout the UK were engaged and motivated to benefit from the social and human development potential for a games to make a positive impact on the young people and communities in which they live. The Youth Charter’s contribution to the social and human development legacy of major games in the UK since 2002 Commonwealth Games has included the following:

2004—the “Call to Action”;

2005—Independent Sport Review;

2006—“Olympic Citizenship in Action” and the launch of the Youth Charter “12” Commonwealth Report;

2008 Liverpool City of Culture; and

2010—Legacy Summit, Roehampton University.

12. The Legacy Summit recommendations were given further impetus with the 2011 summer riots that, a year prior to the Games presented the social and cultural challenges we face with our young people and communities. This saw the Youth Charter launch its “Access for All” e-petition and in 2012 hold a Youth Legacy Debate at Media City. This work continues today with ongoing contributions made via our Facebook platform.

(iii) Factual Information

13. The educational attendance, attainment, behaviour and performance of all learning abilities, potential and educational setting both formal and informal can be greatly enhanced and improved with a cultural offer of sporting, physical and educational activity. This offer also needs to be consistent and delivered within a pre, during and post school environment in school and beyond the school gate. The benefits of a coordinated and integrated school sport, physical activity and cultural offer cannot be under-estimated and is crucial in establishing the personal, social, educational and human development in the behaviour and performance of pupils and teaching professionals alike.

14. School life is said to be the best years of our lives but for many this simply isn’t the case. There are nearly 120,000 primary school, and 200,000 secondary school, pupils who are persistently absent for more than 15% of the lessons they are supposed to attend. During the 2010–11 academic year there were 610 primary school, 4,370 secondary school, and 110 special school pupils permanently excluded. There were a further 38,000 primary school, 272,000 secondary school and 14,340 special school fixed period exclusions. Sport, arts and culture in school can play a significant, if not the largest, role in reducing these statistics and improving the life chances of our children and young people.

15. Primary School is where most children first start to participate consistently in organised sport and physical activity, however, the Inspire a Generation theme of the London 2012 Games has so far failed to reduce the obesity levels of children in primary schools. The games were won in 2005 and so seven years have passed, with the current primary school pupils having spent all of their school life growing up during this period. However, the rate of overweight and obese children starting primary schools has decreased slightly for England (-0.3%) between 2006–07 and 2011–12, but by the time pupils are ready to primary school in Year 6 there has been a 2.2% increase nationally, from 31.7% in 2006–07 to 33.9% 2012. In England there was an 11% increase in the rate of children measured as being overweight and obese from the reception cohort of 2006–07 (22.9%) to the year 6 cohort of 2011–12 (33.9%). Children growing up in the 10% most deprived areas were more likely to be obese than children growing up in 10% most affluent areas. Please the graph 1 below:

Graph 1

THE RATE OF INCREASE IN CHILD OBESITY RATES BETWEEN 2006–07 AND 2011–12 FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

16. School Sport participation peaks at around Year 6 (10- and 11-year-olds) of Primary School and then drops off from Year 7 of Secondary School and into adulthood, at key transitional stages in youth development. Please see Graph 2 below:

Graph 2

THE % OF PUPILS, PER YEAR GROUP, WHO PARTICIPATED IN AT LEAST THREE HOURS OF HIGH QUALITY PE AND OUT OF HOURS SCHOOL SPORT IN A TYPICAL WEEK

17. The London 2012 Games did inspire a myriad of legacy programmes aimed at school sport. These include:

—	Get Set	—	Mayor’s 2012 Education Programme
—	Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week	—	Sainsbury’s Schools Games
—	21st Century Legacy	—	Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust
—	Sky Sports Living for Sport	—	Premier League 4 Sport

18. However, the London 2012 Games have failed to inspire a cohesive, coherent and integrated programme for school sport in the UK. The myriad of legacy programmes will fail to deliver the “Inspire a Generation” legacy because of its fragmented approach.

19. This fragmented approach crosses over into the funding streams for youth and community sport. Sport England has pledge to invest £1 billion in the delivery of its 2013–17 Youth and Community Strategy. However, School Sport has suffered from the loss of its £162 million funding for a national network of school sports partnerships. The London 2012 borough, Tower Hamlets, attempted to offset these cut backs by investing the Pupil Premium funding from the it’s 90 primary and secondary in the Tower Hamlets Youth Sports Foundation, but this was not enough to save the jobs—in the year of the London 2012 Games the Olympic borough had to make five sports managers and coaches redundant.

20. The government has announced a new £150 million-a-year sports programme that will provide a typical primary of 250 pupils with £9,250 per year,1 or £37 per pupil. The funding does not mention secondary schools where sport participation’s drop’s off significantly. However, whilst this announcement of additional money for school sport is welcomed there is no mention of the all important and existing links to secondary school provisions. In order to see an efficient, effective and sustainable benefit of the additional resources realised, a more integrated and coordinated effort, in both policy and delivery is vital if the investment is to help address the significant “drop off” levels of participation, experienced in teenage years.

21. Sport England has allocated half (£493.9 million) of its 2013 to 2017 £1 billion investment package to 46 sports from as part of their Whole Sport Plan’s. The most cost effective way to ensure growth in participation and to reduce drop out in sport is to invest directly in school, college and university sport, rather than via 46 competing National Governing Bodies of Sport. Talent development programmes can be run on a representative basis from local to national levels. At a local level schools can provide community campuses that can be accessed by the local adult population who decide what sports and physical activities they would like to participate in from a range of options.

22. The government spent £44,473 million educating school pupils in England in 2010–11. This worked out at an average of £6,199 per pupil during 2010–11.2 But there is a large variance in how much is spent by schools in different regions and local authorities. Figures for 2009–10 showed that the average secondary school spent £5,200 per pupil, whilst the average primary school spent £4,284. The figures also showed that one secondary school had spent as much as £32,938 per pupil and another only £1,593. A number of primary schools spent more than £10,000 per pupil, whilst one only spent £1,370. The London borough of Hackney had the highest average expenditure of £8,528.50 for a local authority, where as Knowsley, in Merseyside, had the lowest average of £4,301.05.3

23. There are approximately 3.5 million primary and 2.9 million secondary pupils in England (not including Special Schools). If the government had allocated the £1 billion Sport England investment in school sport then this would have worked at £135 per pupil. How much of the £44,473 million government spending on school education is invested in school sport is unclear. But if the government ring fenced a PE Pupil Premium (for all pupils) of £1,000 this would work out at £7,400 million. The investment could pay for increased school, club and community sport programmes operating from schools, with adults also able to benefit. Additional investment for school sport can come:

Professional Sport.

Governing Bodies of Sport.

International, National and Local Government.

Corporate Sponsorship and Marketing.

Commercial activities for Youth Sport Federations.

(iv) The Youth Charters Recommendations for a London 2012 School Sport Legacy

24. The Youth Charter provides the following recommendations for a London 2012 School Sport Legacy:

(1)School pupils to be afforded a minimum of 5 hours of PE and sport a week as part of cross curriculum learning of numeracy, literacy, citizenship PSHE and humanities.

(2)A £1,000 PE Pupil Premium to pay for school sport.

(3)The implementation of a Gameswise Cultural Framework and Gameswise Community Campuses that are part of an Olympic Truce Centre peace network.

(4)Governing bodies of sport from international to local levels of sport to work in partnership with the government to develop an integrated school sport programme.

(5)Strategic development plans for Gameswise Youth Development Pathways through Sport that are unified, methodical, well funded, inclusive and progressive.

April 2013