How are the Sainsbury's School Games managed?
The Sainsbury's School Games support network
The Sainsbury's School Games is organised and supported by a network of roles and organisations across the different levels of competition. The Youth Sport Trust has been commissioned by Sport England to provide developmental support to schools, National Governing Bodies of Sport and other local partners to help them develop, embed and run the Sainsbury's School Games successfully.
Two specific posts that work in and between schools to help them run the School Games are School Games Organisers (SGOs) and Teacher Release posts (more detail can be found below). Download Network diagram.
Level 1: intra-school competition
Teacher Release posts
The Department for Education has made funding available to every secondary school in England to enable a PE teacher to be released one day a week to provide support for PE and school sport, both within their own school and across their family of feeder primary schools. The core tasks of the Teacher Release post are to help schools:
- Create sustainable school sport competitions both within and between schools
- Involve their staff, parents, local people, young leaders and volunteers in the delivery of competitive sport
- Engage pupils in sport who are less active or who do not have equal access to opportunities to compete (e.g. disabled pupils).
School Sport Organising Committees
Young people can play a fundamental role throughout the School Games. School Sport Organising Committees are groups of young people who join together to lead the planning and delivery of school sport clubs and intra-school competition programmes in their school. They influence and shape the school sport offer for their peers through deciding on the types of competitions to be held, their structure and where and when they take place, making it more attractive and accessible for all young people.
Young people can take on many roles in the School Games: download diagram of examples.
Level 2: inter-school competition
School Games Organisers
School Games Organisers are roles funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health to drive, develop and deliver the School Games across groups of schools. Both departments lead and drive the co-ordination and management of both the School Games and Change4Life sports clubs at a local level. There are 450 School Games Organisers nationally, all based is host schools across the country.
School Games Organisers can login to the website using their username and password above.
Level 3: county/area sport festivals
Local Organising Committees
A Local Organising Committee (LOC) is a county or area-wide strategic group established to plan and stage a high quality School Games Level 3 festival linked to competition at Levels 1 and 2 of the School Games. The LOC should have as a minimum representation from:
- State and independent schools at a Head Teacher level
- The County Sports Partnership
- Local Government
- Young people
- NGBs and other local sports providers
- Local disability sport.
- School Games Organisers and Teacher Release posts should also have representation on this group.
Each LOC will be chaired by a Head Teacher and the group will be critical in identifying the opportunities to maximise the School Games and all it involves for the benefit of pupils, schools and the local community.
Local Organising Committees can login to the website using their username and password above.
Register for the School Games
Has your school registered yet? The School Games is a celebration of competitive sport that will involve all young people in years 3 to 13, of all abilities and backgrounds. Don’t miss out on your school being involved. Registration is open for schools in England.
Spotlight on the Partners
There are a number of partners behind the School Games including Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department of Health, the Department for Education and ParalympicsGB.
