Benefits of the School Games

Benefits for young people

Through taking part in the School Games, young people will:

• Have fun and enjoy themselves
• Develop friendships and meet new people
• Become more determined and demonstrate resilience
• Understand and demonstrate the importance of respect for others
• Learn to develop self control and manage emotions
• Experience being part of a team and understand their contribution to it
• Win with pride and lose with grace
• Learn the importance of practice and preparation
• Learn how to set realistic goals and work towards achieving them
• Consider the impact participating in the School Games has on their surroundings including wider environmental issues
• Aspire to improve and challenge themselves.

Learn more about the benefits of the School Games:

Benefits for teachers and schools

By registering to take part in the School Games in your area, teachers and schools can:

• Access exclusive content, including a range of tools, resources, videos, and case studies which support the delivery of the School Games
• Get in contact with your local School Games Organiser, who will be able to:
  • Offer support to harness the power of increasing the amount of physical activity across your school day
  • Share an annual calendar of competition for members of your school to access
• Apply for the School Games Mark, the award scheme which rewards schools for their commitment to the development of activity opportunities across their school
• Publicise sporting events at your school via your own school profile page; share this profile with students, parents, and others in the local community
• Learn how to use sport as a catalyst across the curriculum using our resources for wider impact across the curriculum
• Utilise Change4Life inspired clubs to help ensure young people get active for at least 60 minutes every day, tackling childhood obesity.

Benefits for School Games Organisers (SGOs) and Active Partnerships

As a School Games Organiser or Active Partnership, you will be able to:

• Access exclusive content and make use of our growing resource library, containing lots of useful materials to make your job easier
• Manage those in your area to track the progress of your local schools, both through the annual School Games Mark application process and their daily website activity
• Create a calendar of events to manage all local inter-school (SGOs) or county level (Active Partnerships) events, and create a calendar that you can use and share with others
• Stay up to date with news and offers from the Youth Sport Trust – we will advertise exclusive offers to our network throughout the year and it’s only by checking your dashboard regularly that you can stay up to date with the latest opportunities
• Ensure your local area feeds into the national picture of the School Games impact.

Tackling Inequality

There are significant inequalities in sports and physical activity, meaning some young people aren't engaged by traditional school sports. These include:

• Young people with special educational needs or disabilities
• Children from lower socio-economic backgrounds
• Girls, who are generally less active than boys
• Young people from Asian and Black backgrounds, who are more likely to be inactive compared to White young people.

Addressing these inequalities is a key goal of the School Games. By focusing on these groups, removing barriers, and creating opportunities for them to be active, the School Games help create positive experiences that can last a lifetime.

Sport England’s Active Lives report (2022/23) shows that the gap in activity levels between the wealthiest and least wealthy families has slightly narrowed. However, children from lower-income families are still the least likely to be active, with only 44% meeting the Chief Medical Officers' guidelines, compared to 55% of children from wealthier families.

This data highlights the challenge but also shows that local networks will focus on understanding and addressing the specific needs of their communities.

Support for 60 Active Minutes

The Chief Medical Officer recommends that children aged 5-18 should get 60 minutes of physical activity a day, or 20 minutes for disabled children and young people. This should include different types of activity to:

• Develop movement skills
• Strengthen muscles and bones
• Reduce time spent sitting
• Break up long periods of inactivity
• Spread activity throughout the day.

Schools should aim for 30 minutes of physical activity for each child and help them get another 30 minutes outside of school. The School Games supports this by:

• Offering events to engage those who need to be more active
• Creating strategies to involve the least active groups
• Sharing successful practices through training, awards, and case studies.

Physical Literacy

Physical Literacy is how we engage with movement and physical activity throughout life. The new Physical Literacy consensus statement for England (launched in September 2023) encourages us to think about how we move, feel, think, and connect through movement, and how our past experiences affect our relationship with physical activity. It highlights the importance of creating positive experiences in physical education, school sport, and physical activity.

The School Games helps support Physical Literacy by offering targeted events that create positive experiences and encouraging children to be active throughout the day. Schools can work with their School Games Organiser (SGO) to explore how to promote Physical Literacy among staff and the wider community. More information on the Physical Literacy consensus statement is available online. Schools can also use student feedback to guide their future work on Physical Literacy.

Youth Engagement

The School Games provides PE, school sport and physical activity opportunities that have positive impact for all young people. Meaningful Youth Engagement is crucial to help us achieve this as it enables us to engage young people in a variety of roles and to seek, listen and respond to the voices and needs of young people who are underserved and/or who have low levels of participation.

In the coming year the Youth Sport Trust will offer a comprehensive Youth Voice Plan, alongside a Youth Voice Toolkit which can support Schools, School Games Organisers, Active Partnerships and other partners to deliver more meaningful activity for the targeted young people they are working with.

Further information can be found by clicking here.