Lottery building links for sportier Scotland

Thursday 1 November 2001

Another three secondary schools in Aberdeenshire are set to benefit from a School Sport Co-ordinator thanks to an award of £18,900 over two years from the sportscotland Lottery Fund.  The schools, Aboyne Academy, Alford Academy and The Gordon Schools, bring the total to seven Aberdeenshire secondary schools working within the initiative.

The School Sport Co-ordinator Programme is designed to develop extra curricular sport and establish links from secondary school sport into the wider community so that young people will have more opportunities to participate and develop their skills.

Co-ordinators are generally PE teachers who ensure that establishing lunchtime and after-school sporting activities or facilitating junior participation at local clubs and sports groups for their students becomes an integral part of their work commitments.

Although their primary responsibilities are centred on developing extra-curricular school sport, the co-ordinators will also work to enhance coach development and education programmes as part of their work linking with Aberdeenshire’s Sports Development and Active Lifestyles team.

Graham Thomson, Rector of Alford Academy said: “We have been looking forward to joining this initiative for some time and we are delighted to be able to start making a difference to the activity levels of our pupils through exciting opportunities and activities. Our challenge is to ensure the programmes put in place are sustainable in the long term and create a positive and lifelong change of lifestyle for the children. This is a long term objective and we welcome the opportunity.”

Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland, said: “Providing more opportunities for youngsters to play a wide variety of sports, in and out of school, is an important part of what we are trying to achieve at sportscotland. The School Sport Co-ordinator Programme is a great example of our ambition to create the ‘more active, more often’ sporting habit.

“We are also confident this investment to create strong pathways from school to club will be central in bringing the best of the nation’s young athletes to the forefront at an early age, helping us to develop their potential, and hopefully ensuring we continue to produce world class athletes.”

• To date the sportscotland Lottery Fund has awarded over £3m to the School Sport Co-ordinator Programme to fund posts in over 300 schools throughout Scotland. Both local authorities and secondary schools are eligible to apply for funding.
• These Phase One awards cover 50 per cent of the employers' salary costs up to £2,600 per year for one day per week up to 40 weeks per year, and operational expenses such as travel, promotional material, community programmes and coaching up to £500 per year.
• The types of duties undertaken by co-ordinators may include: co-ordinating the extra curricular school sport programme; organising teacher and coach development and education programmes; working closely with community clubs and associated primary schools; working with appropriate local authority and national governing body staff and volunteers; and monitoring participation levels.
• Local authorities and schools already in the scheme will soon be able to apply for Phase Two funding. Phase Two will provide local authorities and schools with the opportunity to double current co-ordinator cover from one to two days per week with a particular focus on developing school to club links. The new programme will also provide eligible applicants with the opportunity to recruit a full time School Sport Co-ordinator Manager.
• School Sports Co-ordinator Schools in Aberdeenshire are Aboyne Academy, Alford Academy, The Gordon Schools, Banchory Academy, Ellon Academy, Portlethen Academy and Mintlaw Academy.