Inspiring Dreams: Creating Opportunities
Monday 1 – Tuesday 2 December 2008
East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham
The Youth Sport Trust is delighted to announce the 3rd national conference for those delivering PE and Sport opportunities to young disabled people and Special Educational Needs pupils.
With the Government’s commitment to ensuring all young people have access to five hours high quality PE and sport per week and the success of TeamGB at the Beijing Games, this is a unique time for PE and school sport. With London 2012 only four years away, the theme for this year’s conference focuses on how PE and sport can inspire young disabled people to maximise their potential, including educational attainment, personal skill development, or to realise their sporting potential.
The conference will consider the various roles that special schools and wider partners play from delivering high quality PE and sport to supporting and influencing others to fully include all young disabled people. The conference also provides opportunities for the extended network of county disability officers and other education and sports agencies to consider how, through working with special schools, clearer pathways can be created from school to community sport so creating meaningful and sustainable opportunities.
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This year’s conference includes the first National SEN Specialist Schools Physical and Sensory workshop for Headteachers, Senior Management Team and Directors of Specialism. |
Download conference flyer
Based on feedback from last year the main conference is to be held on Tuesday 2 December, however Monday 1 December provides an opportunity for 150 delegates to attend a practical session.
Some of the key areas and topics to be covered are:
Monday 1 December
Practical activities include multi-skills and multi-sport activities, swimming and aquatics learning environments, dance and an opportunity to qualify as a sportsleadersUK tutor.
Tuesday 2 December
The conference is broken into five key strands:
Inspirational keynotes: from Alistair Smith on developing individual skills to enhance learning, through to mini-keynotes on how SEN pupils can benefit from the new diploma routes, understanding the 5 hour offer, and how playground to podium can support a national disability sport pathway.
Understanding your key skills and leadership styles in order to influence change: three unique workshops based on understanding your skills and influencing styles, so as to lead and inspire others to support and work towards a greater range of opportunities.
Workshop sessions: covering key themes from using 2012 as an inspiration for delivering PE and sport, using PE to support wider pupil learning, developing effective links with businesses to support learning, collecting and using pupil data to inform pupil engagement, designing buildings for better learning, and engaging parents and investing in others to support school sport.
Update sessions: covering multi-sport clubs, ability identification days, competition pathways, officiating, and school lead sessions looking at successful strategies to deliver to a range of young people including those with learning, physical and sensory impairments.
Exhibition and free time: provides time for delegates to explore good practice with a range of agencies including National Disability Sport Organisations, National Governing Bodies of Sport and Educational Agencies, or alternatively take time to view or share practice with a colleague.
Click here for conference programme, further information and to book on-line.
2008 Special Schools PE and Sport Innovation Award
Special schools have always valued and developed links with wider agencies to improve pupil attainment and achievement through bringing PE and sport to life, accessing additional expertise, and supporting whole school development. As with all partnerships these links have also had a positive impact on the agencies involved, be that disability awareness training or expertise in developing more inclusive approaches.
Over the next few years, as more applied learning and vocational learning opportunities such as the Sport and Leisure diploma are developed, so the role of businesses (sports clubs through to national companies) will become even more important. To celebrate the role of businesses linking with special schools, Skills Active is delighted to support the 2008 Special Schools Innovation Award.
First prize - 50 free skills passports (active passports) for the winning school worth £500, plus a day's support to set learners up with their passports, and £1000.
Second prize - 25 free skills passports worth £250, plus support to set them up, and £500
The UK skills passport for the active leisure and learning sector is a unique, web-based facility for recording all the skills, qualifications and achievements of your staff. More information can be found at http://www.skillsactive.com/resources/skills-passport.
Schools wishing to apply should submit no more than 2 000 words on their links with one or more businesses and how this has impacted on PE and school sport and pupil learning outcomes. The submission should cover aspects such as the rationale for the developments, what work was undertaken, and the impact on the school and pupils, as well as the business. Wider evidence such as pupil stories and photographs can be used to highlight the information provided.
Entries should be sent to: frances.brown@youthsportrust.org entitled ‘special schools innovation award 2008 – school name’
Closing date for the competition is 14 November 2008 and winners will be announced at the Special Schools Conference.
