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The Youth Charter’s submission to the Game On: Community and School Sport call for written evidence provides the following key recommendations:

 

  1. 2hrs per day of Sport and Physical Activity delivered through Community Campuses
  2. National Youth Strategy to include the provision of sport, art, cultural and digital activities
  3. Youthwise Citizenship Reward System using sport, art, cultural and digital activities
  4. National Sport Facility Audit identifying gaps in provision and quality
  5. Universal Physical Activity Pass for preventative Social Prescribing and direct investment

 

The Youth Charter has contributed to the design, development and delivery of the UK’s Sport and Physical Activity projects and programmes since 1993. However, a truly holistic and integrated approach is still lacking. The Youth Charter’s primary focus is children and young people, but includes intergenerational activity for all ages, as part of a community wide holistic and integrated approach.

 

State schools are currently aiming to provide a minimum of 2 hours per week of PE lessons, however, with growing class sizes and increasing rates of persistently absent pupils and exclusions, how many pupils are not participating in any PE lessons per week? Whilst pupils attending Independent Schools - with smaller class sizes and better access to sport facilities are participating in 2 hours per day of sport and physical activity, representing a stark inequality that is also represented in health inequalities, such as child obesity and premature death rates. The Youth Charter’s Community Campus Model provides the opportunity to bring stakeholder partners and facilities together to deliver 2 hours a day of sport and physical activity for children and young people in the classroom, playground and beyond the school gate.

 

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is currently producing a new National Youth Strategy. The Youth Charter called for a National Youth Development Plan in its 2019 Youth Manifesto and National Call 2 Action (see section 3.0) and recommends that the National Youth Strategy includes the provision of sport, art, cultural and digital activities in the classroom, playground and beyond the school gate, please see section C for more detail for how this can be delivered. As part of the National Youth Strategy, the Youth Charter recommends a Youthwise Citizenship Reward System that uses sport, art, cultural and digital activities as incentives to improve school attendance, reduce exclusions and to promote active citizenship and positive community contributions by children and young people, as well as, improving health and wellbeing, please see section 5.3. 

 

The first submission question asks, ‘what is the current quality and availability of facilities for grassroots sport?’. However, the data for this is not currently available, thus, the Youth Charter recommends a National Sport Facility Audit be carried out to identify gaps in provision and quality.

 

Finally, a Universal Physical Activity Pass linked to Social Prescribing for prevention - rather than just intervention and rehabilitation - would be a cost-effective way of directly supporting individuals and grass roots sport, with people free to choose what sport and physical activity opportunities they would like to participate in. This submission provides additional evidence of UK Sport and Sport England’s investment in Olympic and Paralympic Sports in relation to their potential for Social Impact, which should be a key feature of sport and physical activity funding models

Youth Charter DCMS Game On Submission

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