Targeting

Within Active Schools, our pupils are ‘the customer’.  And, as in any walk of life, it’s important to give the customer what they want!!

Within every school there are groups of pupils that, for a variety of reasons, are less inclined to participate in sport. As Active Schools develops, more of the Coordinator's focus is going into targeting these 'hard to reach' groups in order to try and engage with them.

A key remit of the Active Schools Coordinator is to consult with these pupils on the types of activities they would like to participate in. Where possible the Coordinator will put in place a schedule of activities to try and address their preferences.  It’s not always that easy – there are challenges and constraints in every school!  – but involving pupils in developing schedules of activity does give them a sense of ownership which in turn, encourages them to take part.  Whilst these groups will be unique from school to school, teams are asked to consider the following specific groups within these plans:

• Girls and young women
• Young people with a disability
• Young people from minority ethnic backgrounds
• Young people from areas of socio-economic disadvantage
• Young people not currently involved in physical activity and sport

Working in Partnership

Targeting ‘difficult to reach’ groups is - by definition - challenging and labour intensive.  In order to maximise our impact in this area, it’s therefore critical that we work in partnership with other organisations at a national and local level to ensure that plans are coordinated and that good ideas are shared.

As the lead agency for Active Schools sportscotland has put in place a number of resources designed to facilitate these partnerships and sharing of best practice.  These include:

1. The Active Schools Network Community – an independent online resource for Network staff which is designed to help people share knowledge, solve problems and stay in touch with their colleagues around the country.
2. Active Schools Managers Networking Days – these events take place regularly throughout the year and allow sportscotland and other partner organisations to update Managers on issues of importance to the work of the Network, and allow them time to get together to discuss issues of importance to them individually.
3. Fit For Girls Programme – The Fit For Girls programme offers developing specifically tailored activities for girls (both in schools and outside the curriculum).  Secondly, for those completing the training it will offer an operational budget to put in place a programme of activity designed to get girls more active.  For more information visit the Fit For Girls page.