Self evaluation: Boost your own Performance, from Estyn

Estyn is the office of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales and inspects quality and standards in education and training providers in Wales.

Here, they detail why the School Sport Survey is an important tool for the future of sport at schools in Wales.

If you’ve ever won a medal in any activity and at any level you will remember the immense feeling of pride and excitement it conjures. At 2012, TeamGB and ParalympicsGB excelled particularly in such diverse events  as cycling, equestrianism, rowing, and sailing as well as track and field athletics.

Leading the way with gold medals for Wales were Geraint Thomas in the men’s Team Pursuit, Tom James in the men’s Rowing Four team and Jade Jones in Taekwondo. But what does an Olympic and Paralympic medal really mean? Well, it’s a mark of excellence and an indication to the rest of the world and to yourself as to just how good you are.   However, your performance on the day you win a medal is not a one-off occurrence and does not happen by chance.  It is the result of many months and years of dedication and commitment.  Many of our athletes will have achieved personal best performances and broken  various records time and time again during training sessions and in competitions building up to the Olympic finals. These  people already know that they are the best because they have been measuring, and striving to improve, their performance for weeks, months and years.  And these athletes work with often large teams of experts – including skills coaches, fitness trainers, nutritionists, sports psychologists and managers – to evaluate and monitor constantly their performance. 

Self-evaluation in schools should be no different.  On the day that Estyn inspectors visit, schools should already know how good they are.  But crucial to effective self-evaluation, whether it’s looking at standards and provision for literacy, numeracy or physical education and sport, is using the right information and data. That’s why Estyn recognises the School Sports Survey as such a potentially valuable source of information for self-evaluation.

Effective self-evaluation helps schools to assess their strengths but also to identify their priorities for development.   The Olympic athlete and any elite sportsman or sportswoman knows the areas of performance he/she needs to improve and plans his/her training to achieve these specific targets.  Similarly, by using the range of information and data available to them, schools can plan how to strengthen provision and improve the standards pupils achieve.  Gathering pupils’ views, using the findings of external reviews and available benchmarking data are crucial to effective self-evaluation.

Schools can find out more about using the School Sport Survey to support self-evaluation in Estyn’s self-evaluation manuals. These documents are designed for schools to support their self-evaluation and improvement planning arrangements. The Estyn website also showcases best practice through case studies and thematic reports. 

So, with a strong support team, effective self-evaluation and of course, dedication and hard work, there could be a gold medal inside us all!

www.estyn.gov.uk

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Os ydych chi wedi ennill medal mewn unrhyw weithgaredd erioed ar unrhyw lefel, byddwch yn cofio’r teimlad mawr o falchder a chyffro rwy’n siŵr. Yng Ngemau Olympaidd 2012, enillodd TeamGB 65 medal aur, arian neu efydd, gan ragori mewn campau mor amrywiol â beicio, marchogaeth, rhwyfo a hwylio, yn ogystal ag athletau trac a chae.       

           

Yn arwain y ffordd gyda medalau aur i Gymru roedd Geraint Thomas yn Nhîm Gweithgaredd y Dynion, Tom James yn nhîm Pedwarawd Rhwyfo’r dynion a Jade Jones mewn Taekwondo. Ond beth mae medal Olympaidd wir yn ei olygu? Wel, mae’n arwydd o ragoriaeth ac mae’n dangos i weddill y byd ac i chi eich hun pa mor dda ydych chi. Er hynny, nid digwyddiad unigryw yw eich perfformiad chi ar y diwrnod pryd rydych yn ennill eich medal, ac nid yw’n digwydd ar siawns. Mae’n ganlyniad i fisoedd a blynyddoedd lawer o ymrwymiad ac ymroddiad. Bydd llawer o’n hathletwyr ni wedi gwneud perfformiadau gorau personol ac wedi torri sawl record dro ar ôl tro yn ystod y sesiynau ymarfer ac mewn cystadlaethau sy’n arwain at y rowndiau terfynol Olympaidd. Mae’r bobl hyn eisoes yn gwybod mai nhw yw’r gorau oherwydd maent wedi bod yn mesur ac yn ceisio gwella eu perfformiadau ers wythnosau, misoedd a blynyddoedd. Mae’r athletwyr hyn yn gweithio gyda thimau mawr o arbenigwyr yn aml – gan gynnwys hyfforddwyr sgiliau, hyfforddwyr ffitrwydd, maethegwyr, seicolegwyr chwaraeon a rheolwyr – i werthuso a monitro eu perfformiad drwy’r amser.      

             

Ni ddylai hunanarfarnu mewn ysgolion fod yn wahanol. Ar ddiwrnod ymweliad arolygwyr Estyn, dylai’r ysgolion wybod eisoes pa mor dda ydyn nhw. Ond un elfen allweddol o hunanarfarnu effeithiol, boed yn edrych ar y safonau a’r ddarpariaeth ar gyfer llythrennedd, rhifedd neu addysg gorfforol a chwaraeon, yw defnyddio’r wybodaeth a’r data cywir. Dyma pam mae Estyn yn cydnabod yr Arolwg ar Chwaraeon Ysgol fel ffynhonnell wybodaeth werthfawr bosib ar gyfer hunanarfarnu. 

Mae hunanarfarnu effeithiol yn helpu ysgolion i asesu eu cryfderau a hefyd datgan eu blaenoriaethau ar gyfer datblygu. Mae’r athletwr Olympaidd, a phob athletwr elitaidd arall, yn gwybod pa feysydd perfformio y mae’n rhaid iddo ef/hi eu gwella ac mae’n cynllunio ei hyfforddiant ef/hi i gyrraedd y targedau penodol hyn. Yn yr un modd, drwy ddefnyddio’r ystod o wybodaeth a data sydd ar gael iddynt, gall ysgolion gynllunio i gryfhau eu darpariaeth a gwella safonau’r disgyblion. Mae casglu safbwyntiau’r disgyblion gan ddefnyddio darganfyddiadau adolygiadau allanol a data meincnodi sydd ar gael yn allweddol i hunanarfanu effeithiol. 

Gall ysgolion gael rhagor o wybodaeth am ddefnyddio’r Arolwg ar Chwaraeon Ysgol i gefnogi hunanarfarnu yn llawlyfrau hunanarfarnu Estyn. Nod y dogfennau hyn yw helpu ysgolion i gefnogi eu trefniadau hunanarfarnu a chynllunio gwelliannau. Hefyd, mae gwefan Estyn yn dangos yr arferion gorau drwy gyfrwng astudiaethau achos ac adroddiadau thematig.

Felly, gyda thîm cefnogi cadarn, hunanarfarnu effeithiol ac, wrth gwrs, ymrwymiad a gwaith caled, efallai fod medal aur o fewn cyrraedd pob un ohonom!!

www.estyn.gov.uk

School Sport Survey – an important piece of the jigsaw that will shape the future of Hockey in Wales

Hockey Wales CEO, Helen Bushell explains why the School Sport Survey is highly important when looking at the future of Hockey in Wales.

“The School Sport Survey is a really important piece of the jigsaw that we use when making decisions about the future of hockey in Wales. 

It is essential that we understand the thoughts of young people in relation to our sport, to ensure that we get things right in the future.  The school sport survey provides a significant and relevant part of the picture that helps us to do just this.

In the past sport has not traditionally been particularly effective at using evidence based data to develop and progress.  The School Sport Survey, amongst other pieces of research and data, brings us away from this situation, meaning that we no longer have to rely on assumptions, and can be certain that we are in touch with demand and current trends.

The previous survey’s data has allowed us to challenge our traditional views and perspectives, helping us to break down barriers that may have previously stopped us from addressing specific issues or targeting efforts in a particular way.

From gaining that insight into participation levels and demand across different areas of the country we have been able to identify where resources need to be targeted and relationships built.

For example the last survey highlighted that there was very limited participation on the Isle of Anglesey, targeting efforts and resources such as Hockey Agent time and focussed effort from the North Wales team and clubs since these results has helped us engage schools into our primary school participation opportunities through 4689 – the new route into Hockey.

We are all well aware of the crucial element that links between schools and community clubs have in allowing a child to progress within a sport.  The survey also allows us to target and better develop these networks between community clubs and schools, helping to identify where new relations need to be created, or where partnerships can be furthered.

The last survey’s data gave us a good starting point in gaining a real understanding of our landscape and helped motion change for significant improvements.   We are now looking forward the results from this year’s survey, so we can track our progress and continue developing our plans.

Pitching in to Support the School Sport Survey

The Football Association of Wales is the governing body of football in Wales and, in addition to its administration responsibilities for football, has the responsibility of running the international teams. Alongside the FAW, the Welsh Football Trust (WFT) is the charitable organisation responsible for developing the grassroots game, including working with coaches and volunteers and increasing opportunities for young players to play and improve.

Here, FAW Research and Evaluation Officer Llŷr Roberts, and the WFT’s Operations Manager Kevin Moon describe how the School Sport Survey can make a difference for Welsh football.

There are many different elements to our work but ultimately we want Wales to become a more successful football nation at grassroots and international level.

Among our high level targets are for Wales to achieve a Seven Star Rating for the UEFA Grass Roots Charter, and to qualify for major international tournaments.

Football is by far the most watch and played sport in the country but, to keep it that way and continue to grow and improve, we need to have a picture of the participation and views of the people who we want to play and enjoy the game.

At a grassroots level, the Sport Wales School Sport Survey gives us a valuable suite of data that we can use as evidence and background to guide our work and target our resources.

Using the data from 2011, we wanted to establish baseline figures of both club membership and also wider participation in football. We have information relating to club membership but needed assistance in obtaining indicators of informal participation so that we know exactly what types of footballing opportunities young people are taking part in.

We have been working with Data Unit Wales to undertake initial research and recommendations, but the School Sport Survey provides both membership and participation data and prevents duplication of work.

We will also be using School Sport Survey as the data source for our annual reporting and making use of the forthcoming adult survey data for the senior game.

The term ‘school’ in the title of the survey masks how much pupils filling in the questionnaire can influence how the game of football in Wales is planned. That is why we would urge schools to complete the survey and ensure that all of us working in sport have the knowledge and information to provide the best possible opportunities we can.

Llŷr Roberts and Kevin Moon.

For more information on the Sport Wales School Sport Survey visit www.schoolsportsurvey.org.uk.

Peter Drew on why the School Sport Survey is hugely important to Tennis Wales.

 

 Peter Drew, CEO Tennis Wales

 

Introducing tennis to children at school is probably the most important part of Tennis Wales’ 2020 Vision Plan to grow the game.  Tennis Wales is aiming to double tennis participation over the next few years and introducing children to tennis at school is a very important part of that objective.  We want every child in Wales to have the opportunity to be introduced to tennis when they are at school and the School Sport Survey helps us greatly to understand how successful we are being with that, and helps us to identify where the gaps are and where we need to be better at that. 

The data that we got from the 2011 School Sport Survey was extremely useful to us when we came to develop our 2020 Vision Plan in 2012.  Some of the key themes that we saw from the data were that 60% of Primary Schools provided tennis, 53% of Secondary Schools provided tennis, and 40% of children Year 3 to 6 played tennis.  This is very valuable information for us because by 2020 we want all of these numbers to be as close to 100% as possible.  The 2013 survey will help us to know how successful our current strategies are for trying to achieve this.  The 2011 data also showed several other very interesting and useful trends for us.  It showed us that at Primary School there are roughly equal numbers of boys and girls playing tennis, but at Secondary School there is a significant drop-off in girls relative to boys.  As a result of this we have now introduced two new programmes aimed at retaining and attracting more teenage girls to tennis.  The 2011 data also showed us that there was a big increase in school tennis participation in 2009 coinciding with a big push in the schools tennis programme the year before when a lot of our current schools tennis initiatives were launched.  We also saw that there is a really huge latent demand for children at school who would like to play more tennis.  Tennis has one of the highest levels of latent demand in school children out of all the sports in Wales.  So this means we know that investing significant resources into our schools tennis programme is going to have a big impact on tennis participation.  This is very valuable information both for Tennis Wales and for its other funding partners, namely Sport Wales and the Tennis Foundation.  From this data Tennis Wales, Sport Wales, and the Tennis Foundation can all be very confident that investing resources into schools tennis in Wales is going to have a very positive impact on getting every child in Wales hooked on sport.

 Tennis Wales is increasingly using a very focussed, evidence based approach to developing and implementing its strategies, and determining where to prioritise its resources. The School Sport Survey is absolutely critical for this purpose and is one of our most useful strategic tools.

Professor Laura McAllister talks Conference 2013

I’m very excited to announce that our Annual Conference will be held on Monday 17 June at Cardiff City Stadium.

Designed to unite key stakeholders from across sectors for one day to discuss, debate and identify practical ways to deliver our shared agenda, it’s a crucial event in the Sport Wales diary in ensuring that we remain a strong and united sporting nation.

It’s a great opportunity to reach out to different sectors who may be able to use the influence of sport to their advantage – I believe in a multi-agency, multi-partner approach to creating a more active, healthy and confident population. Whether it’s across local authority departments, sectors such as health and education and even in business, we all have a responsibility to shape the future for our next generation.

The programme for this year reflects this view and will focus on a theme of leadership and legacy - we have invited leading professionals from inside and outside of the sector to stimulate important debates and discussions.

As part of the programme, we are thrilled to welcome Lord Sebastian Coe to the stage - not only one of the world’s greatest ever athletes, he also helped lead the way in exceeding our expectations for London 2012. It will be interesting to hear his thoughts on how we can strengthen the connections between the work at UK and home nation level to build on the success of the Olympics and Paralympics to keep the momentum going as we look towards Glasgow 2014.

We also welcome John Griffiths AM – his debut as Minister for Culture and Sport. I know that John is someone who has a personal love of sport and exercise, but more than that I know he will bring a drive and enthusiasm to the clear direction we have set out for the sports sector in Wales. I look forward to hearing his address.

We’ve had a record-breaking year for Wales and for GB sport with the national rugby side defending their RBS 6 Nations crown, Cardiff City FC lifting the Championship trophy, Swansea City winning the League Cup, Becky James winning two cycling World medals and a host of other successes.

This means that more than ever we need to be challenging the sector. I’m very proud of what we in Wales have achieved as a nation but we can always push ourselves further – the conference has an important role to play in this.

This is an event not to be missed - I urge those who have received an invitation to make sure they attend. The day is an undeniably important opportunity to drive sport forward in Wales.

Worth, Pride and Ambition, by Keith Towler (Children's Commissioner for Wales)

Keith Towler is the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. His job is to stand up and speak out for children and young people. He works to make sure that children and young people are kept safe and that they know about and can access their rights.

Here, he sets out why the School Sport Survey is such an important tool to empower young people in Wales.

How many of you watched last summer’s Olympics and Paralympics? How many of you were glued to the TV, or even lucky enough to watch an event in person? I don’t think that I’m alone in saying that I was glued to every bit of it. And six months later the events of the summer are still having an effect on children and young people here in Wales. Just this week I met a disabled young person who was feeling inspired by what he had seen in the Summer, telling me that his greatest ambition was to be on Team GB’s wheelchair basketball team at the next Olympics in 2016. 

It just goes to show the power of sport to inspire and unite people – around clubs, communities and countries. It’s this passion that Sport Wales wants us all to harness to create an environment where every child and young person in Wales can live in communities without barriers, without fears, without prejudices. Whilst access to play and recreational activity is a child’s fundamental right, let’s look at this as a wider opportunity to instil a sense of worth, pride and ambition in our children. It provides them with a sense of belonging – perthyn.

This is why I am supporting Sport Wales’ plans to undertake a national School Sport Survey here in Wales almost a year after the Olympics and Paralympics began. In 2011 their survey found out what nearly 40,000 of our children aged between 3 and 11 thought about sport in their schools. And this year they hope to find out the opinions of even more children. It is vital that every child in Wales has the opportunity to tell us what they think about sport, what they like and dislike about different sports, which sports they would like to an opportunity to take part in and what their attitudes are towards health, fitness and well-being.

The survey will help provide vital information to schools, education departments and our policy makers. It will help us to understand the role that physical education and sport plays in contributing to the physical, social and emotional well-being of all pupils. If we are to build on the sporting legacy of 2012 and to achieve Sports Wales’ ambition of “getting every child hooked on sport for life” then we must have a clear picture of what our sporting landscape looks like to children. We have to listen to what they are telling us and then use this information to plan strategically for the future of sport in our schools. 

For more visit www.schoolsportsurvey.org.uk and www.childcom.org.uk 

Schools at Heart of Active Nation, by Professor Laura McAllister

In her latest blog, as the Sport Wales School Sport Survey goes live,Professor Laura McAllister talks about how schools in Wales form such a vital part of our sporting future.

The 2013 School Sport Survey went live yesterday and we are eagerly anticipating an even greater response than that seen in 2011.

A record number of responses were gained in 2011, with the details of 40,000 youngsters captured, making it the largest ever survey of school pupils in Wales.

At the time, this was extremely encouraging.  Local authorities and schools were able to use the data to insight developments and changes, from which we have since seen improved opportunities for youngsters to lead more active and healthy lifestyles.

This said, there were however, also many local authorities and schools who did not achieve the sufficient response rates to gain appropriate data from the survey.

In these cases, it is a fair question for us to ask: how does an organisation plan to grow, resource and invest successfully without a detailed picture of what the sporting landscape looks like for young people as a starting point?

It is for this reason, that this year we must raise the response rate and ensure that every child stands to benefit from the wealth of knowledge that can be gained from this survey.  If we do this, we are one step closer to making Wales world leading in school sport.

It is our vision at Sport Wales to get every child hooked on sport for life.  This is not only to build a future nation of sporting champions to carry on the great feats being achieved by the likes of Becky James and Elinor Barker, our Six Nations Rugby squad, or our numerous football teams (Swansea City winning the League Cup, Wrexham bringing home the FA Trophy, the hopeful promotion of Cardiff City and Newport County, alongside the recent success seen by the national team) but also to create healthier and more active future generations.

Young people who have the skills and confidence to participate in sport and physical activity, who are provided with a variety of engaging sporting experiences that combine elements of competitiveness and fun, delivered by motivating people will result in them participating in regular, physical activity for the rest of their lives.

To ensure that we are achieving this and that the correct improvements and developments can be made, it is vital that we gain feedback from our younger generations, to acquire an accurate account of school sport from their perspective, and also from those currently in charge of managing school sport.

The greatest value of the 2013 School Sport Survey will be in allowing us to make considerable headway in building this understanding of what is happening on the ground, alongside understanding pupils’ attitudes towards sport and physical recreation. 

It will be vital to informing the decisions we at Sport Wales make on planning and resources, it should also therefore be utilised as the valuable resource it is to inform the decisions that our partners make within these areas.

We have seen hugely encouraging developments from individual schools who have managed to use the 2011 school sport survey data to improve levels of learner engagement in sport, to successfully target groups previously excluded from sport, to share resources and infrastructure to provide a more comprehensive and appealing offering of sport and to generally improve participation levels. 

All of which would not have progressed without the clear starting point that the 2011 data provided.  We want to see more of this progress emerging from the 2013 data.  Schools are at the heart of an active nation and every school will be urged to look at making sport a priority area in the future. 

As many of you will know the Joint Ministerial Task and Finish Group is very soon due to report recommendations on how to develop sporting skills and increase the sporting opportunities for children within schools. 

I have argued within the Task and Finish group that we have been charged by our Ministers for Education and Sport to discharge the Government’s commitment to ensuring that physical literacy is equal to reading and writing in our schools. The group will need to consider exactly how that might be delivered and how we alter the status and profile of PE within the national curriculum to award it the same status as that of numeracy and literacy.

In both cases, participation in the school sport survey could provide the first positive step for a school in the process to gain data that will become invaluable in planning how to attain these recommendations.  Recommendations which consequently could put Wales as world leaders in school sport.

It must also not be forgotten that Estyn have for the first time agreed to recognise that data from the School Sport Survey can contribute to a school’s self-evaluation arrangements.  This again recognising how the survey can inform strategic and improvement plans, helping schools to focus on their priorities for development.

I have identified schools as being at the heart of an active nation.  Our vision of getting every child hooked on sport for life would not however be possible without the significant role also played by local authorities.

In 2011, local authorities performed an important and influential role in encouraging schools to complete the survey.  The ability of individual authorities to marry the efforts of both sport and leisure with education departments, to support schools in the completion of the survey, resulted in a return of data which has also resulted in significant improvements at a county level.

I am pleased to have seen evidence where local authorities who were able to gain data in 2011, have been able to identify and address gaps in participation, unite schools and clubs to ensure resources and equipment are shared to create additional opportunities and also to ensure that extracurricular activities being offered outside of schools are meeting the needs of youngsters.

This last point is crucial.  We cannot expect a child to fully commit to a sport that is not available to them outside of school. Local authorities need to therefore ensure that the correct sporting opportunities are also available outside of school for youngsters to progress into.  Data from the survey can provide a great amount of insight into this area to ensure that plans are put in place to develop the required areas.

I cannot foresee a situation in which the data provided by the 2013 school sport survey would not become an extremely invaluable tool for all of those involved in helping to shape the future sporting landscape of Wales.  We all hopefully by now recognise the importance of physical literacy, and getting every child hooked on sport for life, so let’s work together to push Wales as a world leader in terms of providing sporting opportunities for its youngsters.