Tackling Inequality

There are deep-rooted inequalities in sport and physical activity, which mean there are some young people who aren’t engaged by traditional, broad approaches to school sport. Evidence shows that these include young people such as:

• those with a special educational need or disabilities.
• children from a lower socio-economic groups.
• girls as they are shown to be less active than boys from a very young age.
• young people from Asian and Black backgrounds who are far more likely to be physically inactive than people who are White.

Tackling these inequalities and thereby supporting even more young people to benefit from the positive impact of physical activity is a core purpose of the School Games. By focusing support on these groups, removing the barriers they face and working with them to create opportunities to be active the School Games creates positive experiences which have the potential to last a lifetime.

Sport England’s Active Lives report (2022/23) tells us that the gap in activity levels between those from the most and least affluent families has narrowed slightly. Whilst acknowledging this it’s important to recognise thar children and young people from the least affluent families are the least likely to be active, with only 44% meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines - compared to 55% of those from the most affluent families.

This national data helps us understand the scale of the challenge but it’s clear that not everywhere is identical and the SGO network will be working with local evidence about the needs of their children.