Five Hour Sport Offer

24th July 2007

A £100m campaign to give every child the chance of five hours of sport every week was announced by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown last week. He called for a ‘united team effort’ in the run up to 2012 to make sport a part of every child’s day. Building a greater sporting nation and a fitter nation. Involving schools, parents, volunteers, coaches and the sports world to offer the equivalent of an hour of sport to every child, every day of the school week. The plans include greater emphasis on competition within and between schools, a network of competition managers and a new National School Sports Week.

Working in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust, Sport England’s role in the National School Sport Strategy has been to invest in creating new and stronger links between schools and sports clubs. Through the Step into Sport programme it has provided leadership and volunteering opportunities for older children and young people in schools and the wider community. This has increased the percentage of youngsters participating in club sport to 27% last year, up from 19% in 2003. The percentage of young people actively engaged in sports leadership and volunteering has risen from 9% in 2003 to 13% last year. The funding also builds on Sport Englands £20 million investment into a network of 3000 community sports coaches working with schools and clubs. Some of these coaches have been deployed through Cumbria Sport Partnership. Together this provides a firm foundation on which to take participation to the next level.