Context, Intent and Target Group
Background Information
The local authority in Wigan has a workforce which aims to inspire and empower local people to be more active, make healthier informed choices and get the most out of life. Sitting under the Public Health team is the directorate for children, young people and families which the BeWell 'Lets Get Moving' team are part of.
The 'Lets Get Moving' team operate on a neighborhoods basis with a member of staff deployed to support the schools in each neighborhood with health and well being priorities and includes a referral service for young people to be referred into the services to receive support on healthy weight and lifestyle choices.
What was the aim of work?
The Lets Get Moving team have supported School Games events from a delivery side for a number of years however it was noted that whilst they have been doing a great job they potentially weren't fully equipped with knowledge of the School Games and its outcomes and intents for the events we have been providing. The events supported are targeted to tackle inequalities and offer a community exit route for young people to continue their activity journey, as such it is really key that everyone involved on the day is fully informed on the intent and intended outcomes of the day.
The new set up of neighborhood members of staff provided a further opportunity to have a wider network of people working with schools who could also influence and share the messaging around School Games . An off shoot from this set up would be that some schools currently disengaged from School Games were engaging with this service and as such the staff could support their school games engagement now that they had the full knowledge to do so.
In the work that the team does, they could benefit hugely from CPD on physical literacy to allow them to offer the best possible support to young people and their families.
Which outcome(s) did it focus on?
- 5. To advocate and engage key stakeholders on the value of School Games to support local provision and improve the experience for young people and their families
Which expectation(s) did it meet?
- Using the development plan to show how community connections will be made for young people to continue their participation.
- Developing a case study to show where you have made the most impact against local priorities, and through effective storytelling share your learning locally and nationally.
- Collaborating with key partners to inform the local and county offer to tackle inequalities and ensuring inclusive and safe practice.
- Developing strategies to improve knowledge and understanding of the School Games for key stakeholders.
- Work with schools to maintain and grow their active engagement in School Games.
- Identify schools that are not engaged and developing strategies to improve this.
Community links
- Local authority
Intent
The intent of this piece of work was to engage with key stakeholders locally on the value of School Games to gain the greatest impact from target events which they support whilst also providing a CPD opportunity on physical literacy to support the work done by the team with young people and their families.
Target group
- All Young People
Implementation
During the first team meeting for the 'Lets Get Moving' team for this academic year, a 1 hour workshop was delivered which showcased School Games,it's vision mission and priorities and explained the 5 outcomes and how our School Games event calendar supports this and how schools use the outcomes to support their provision in school. This was followed by a physical literacy workshop which was a combination of information from the workshops delivered at School Games conferences and national summit, plus the positive experiences CPD delivered to school staff.
Impact
The full staff team took part in the session which was informative and productive. Staff were given an insight into the aims and intents of the work School Games does, which allowed them to further understand the benefits and the importance of the events they support. It also allowed them to understand the schools side and gave them ideas of how they could support a schools individual work on School Games as a delivery provider.
Following this session the staff have worked on an impact document which will be used at supported events which will allow us to look more deeply into the connection the young people are making with activity provided through our events and if they are truly meeting our intent. This has developed from them having a greater understanding about the intent and how a physically literate approach is used to design these events and future events.
The impact of this on myself, as a 3 day SGO, has been hugely beneficial as I now have more people working to the same intent who can share the workload in not only creating positive event exxperinces but in engaging schools into School Games.
The staff have reported how they now feel better informed when preparing to deliver at one of the events, they have a greater understanding of the why and the reason behind those young people being selected to be there. This has influenced the way in which they deliver as they now have greater knowledge and understanding about the connections we are trying to create for physical activity for these young people.
Staff have also used their knowledge of School games to influence disengaged schools which has resulted in the autumn term along of 2 long standing disengaged schools attending their first School Games event with groups of SEND children experiencing their first opportunity. This can now be followed up back at school by the member of staff assigned to the school neighborhood to support future engagement.
"Sharon recently visited our Be Well Let’s Get Movin’ team meeting to discuss School Games and the impact it has on children and young people’s physical literacy. The meeting gave the team a deeper understanding of School Games aims and objectives within the borough and how our input and collaboration can positively impact on schools and young people. The insight gave the team understanding on the reasons why our partnership is so important to create opportunities for children and young people to lead healthy, happy lives" - BeWell Lets Get Movin Manager
Challenges
The workshop delivered in this piece of work was greatly received, one challenge moving forwards is to ensure that the information delivered is now used to influence the work of the team. Regular touch points with the manager have been scheduled in and one member of the team has been designated to work on the projects delivered with School Games moving forward.
Sustainability
This collaboration with BeWell and the team is ever evolving for us, our next collaborative events coming up in Spring term are now a focus to ensure we have plans in place to clearly identify which inequalities we wish to tackle through the events and how this is then communicated to schools. With a greater understanding from the partner organisation around the School games priorities this piece of work is now more achievable as there is a wider team now working on it to support me as the SGO.
Top tips
Top tips
My top tip would be to find out the organisations within your area who are also working to the same outcomes and targeting the same young people or schools and joining forces. As a 3- day a week SGO, the support of this local authority team is invaluble and the partnership has been strengthened greatly by carrying out these workshops and CPD opportunities for their staff.