All young people should have the opportunity to live healthy and active lives. A positive experience of sport and physical activity at a young age can build a lifetime habit of participation and is central to meeting the government's ambitions for a world-class education system.

Physical activity has numerous benefits for children and young people's physical health, as well as their mental wellbeing (increasing self-esteem and emotional wellbeing and lowering anxiety and depression), and children who are physically active are happier, more resilient and more trusting of their peers. Ensuring that pupils have access to sufficient daily activity can also have wider benefits for pupils and schools, improving behaviour as well as enhancing academic achievement.

The School Sport and Activity Action Plan set out government's commitment to ensuring that children and young people have access to at least 60 minutes of sport and physical activity per day, with a recommendation of 30 minutes of this delivered during the school day (in line with the Chief Medical Officers guidelines which recommend an average of at least 60 minutes per day across the week).

The PE and sport premium can help primary schools to achieve this aim, providing primary schools with £320m of government funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, physical activity and sport offered through their core budgets. It is allocated directly to schools so they have the flexibility to use it in the way that works best for their pupils. The PE and sport premium survey highlighted the significant impact which PE and Sport has had in many primary schools across England.

Due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus this year, the government released a statement earlier in the year, informing schools that money could be carried over into the 2020/21 academic year. Following this, On 30th October 2020 the Department for Education updated their guidance on the PE and Sport Premium for Primary Schools across the country. The new details shared on the government website includes how much PE and sport premium funding schools will receive and advice on how it should be spent.

For the new updates and full guidance from the Department for Education on how this money can be spent click HERE

In addition to the latest updates, the Association for PE have compiled a list of top tips, helping schools to consider ways in which they can make the most of their PE and sport premium. Their suggestions include: Sustainability, Whole School Improvement, Outdoor Learning, Active Travel and Ensuring high quality PE provision.

To read these top tips in detail click HERE