Angus Council works in partnership with Sportscotland to invest in and support the Active Schools Network. In Angus we have a team of 14 staff dedicated to developing and supporting the delivery of quality sporting opportunities for children and young people. More details on our programmes and other resources.
Active Schools aims to provide more and higher quality opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity before school, during lunchtime & after school and develop effective pathways between schools and community sports clubs.
We strive to ensure the physical activity and sporting opportunities within schools are inclusive and accessible to all children. We work closely with a range of partners to overcome barriers to participation and encourage more school-aged children to be more active. We work with our partners such as ANGUSalive and Scottish Disability Sport to organise and promote events across the authority. We provide training for senior pupils to lead clubs for pupils with disabilities. and we engage with our schools and community clubs to reduce the number of inactive children and increase opportunities available to those in more deprived areas of the authority.
As well as providing school-based opportunities for our pupils, we also work with a variety of volunteers, coaches and local community clubs. We aim to improve the leadership opportunities for young people, and work with clubs to ensure they can provide quality experiences for our children beyond the school environment.
Secondary School Pupils:
A key aspect of developing school sport and creating physical activity opportunities is the engagement of secondary school senior pupils. This is achieved through programmes such as Young Ambassador and Sports Leader.
- Young Ambassadors are like junior Active School Coordinators and are responsible for driving secondary school sport and supporting the organisation of school sports events.
- The Sports Leader programme teaches senior pupils to be better sports coaches, the programme develops their skills and confidence to be able to deliver extra-curricular sports clubs at both secondary and primary level.
Sportscotland School Sport Award
To enable Active Schools to continue the development of physical activity and sport in schools, Sportscotland introduced the School Sport Award. This award is aimed at helping schools to continually evaluate and improve their PEPAS (Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport) agenda. Several schools across Angus have now achieved their Gold Award, with many others using this as a tool to strengthen school sport in their school.
Community Sports Hubs
One of the key partners for community engagement is the Community Sports Hubs. The hubs bring together sport clubs and key local partners who want to develop and grow the sporting offering in the community. They focus on sustainable, community-led approaches that get clubs working together to develop welcoming, safe and fun environments for sport.
If you want to know more about local opportunities for your children or are keen to help as a volunteer somewhere in Angus, please contact the appropriate Active Schools Coordinator for your area.
Secondary Framework for School Sport Competition
The framework lays out a vision for school sport and competition for all young people, where events are inclusive, celebrate excellence, help young people raise their aspirations and are delivered with equality at the forefront of the planning.
Andy Garnett, Active Schools Lead Coordinator explains, “we passionately believe that school sport competition should be available to all young people, and the benefits and outcomes can be wide ranging. People who play sport feel part of something, have pride in representing their school, club, or even country. The fringe benefits are countless, confidence, focus, friendship, responsibility, decision making, the ethos of being part of a team and representing others. If we can provide the right level of school sport competition and the appropriate opportunities for our young people, at the right times, then hopefully more of our young people across Angus can reap the rewards. Sport can be the vehicle for meeting many other outcomes and the benefits could be felt in other areas of school life, as well across our wider community.”
The framework will be used as the basis for planning all future school sport in Angus, with the aim of increasing participation, removing barriers for this who currently don’t or can’t take part, and ensuring more pupils have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
