The school games, which is free for primary and secondary schools to access, allows children and young people to take part in targeted opportunities from a plethora of sports and activities. It creates experiences based on their motivations, competence and confidence ensuring the environment is inclusive, accessible and meaningful.

Through the school games Active Lincolnshire position tackling inequalities at the forefront, constantly seeking opportunities to support our school games organisers. To truly develop a county school games offer that is accessible, inclusive and provides positive experiences for all children and young people we support in various ways. We provide our school games organisers with insight, collaboration, meaningful connections, advocacy and support/advise where necessary.

Alan Grantham, schools’ games organiser for the Wolds School Sport Partnership has recently completed a project supporting children with special needs and disabilities and those from low socio-economic groups in their ability and confidence to swim:

84 year 6 children from 8 primary schools took part in weekly swimming sessions in a bid to help increase their swimming proficiency to be able to meet the minimum swimming distance of 25m unaided.

Through conversations with local leisure centres, primary schools and using data and insight from that of the CYP Active Lives survey it was identified that a targeted approach was needed to develop confidence in the water and enhance some children’s understanding of water safety. In order to ensure the programme was designed to reflect the needs of the individuals, the year 6 children selected for the programme were consulted on their motivations, thoughts, feelings and competence.

The programme took took place at Meridian Leisure Centre in Louth and Ancholme Leisure Centre in Brigg. Sessions were developed in collaboration with all parties involved to ensure maximum impact, some children took part in 1:1 sessions, whereas others thrived in a group environment. Over 90% of the children at the end of the programme were able to swim, with 35% being able to confidently swim 25m unaided.

The benefits of the programme were further enhanced by putting plans in place to ensure children could continue to swim outside of school. The children involved and their families were given access to leisure memberships which meant they could use the pool outside of school hours. This allowed the children to develop their confidence and competence and also share with their families the remarkable improvements they had made.

Find out more about the School Games and how your school can get involved here.