Primary PE and School Sport Conference is a resounding success

Dedicated to the delivery of high quality physical education and school sport to support whole school improvement, the conference featured a mixture of inspirational keynote speakers and practical and theoretical workshops as well as a bustling marketplace of primary-related products and services.

The conference began with a welcome by county cllr Teresa Heritage, chair of Hertfordshire’s Public Health & Localism Cabinet Panel, and the keynote address presented in tandem by Ali Oliver of the Youth Sport Trust and Sue Wilkinson of the Association for Physical Education.

The informative, lively, topical and interesting double-act focused on the how schools can achieve whole school improvement through the delivery of high quality PE and school sport.

The diverse programme of workshops included the use of the Herts School Games programme to increase opportunities for pupils to take part in competitive school sport; a guide to the new physical education curriculum; inclusive PE lessons for young people with a disability; and how schools can support pupils to become physically literate.

All workshops were well attended by the 260 or so delegates who left the conference inspired to go back to their schools and implement some of the lessons learnt.

The conference was organised by the Herts Sports Partnership in partnership with Herts for Learning, the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, and hosted at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. The HSP team was delighted that Hertfordshire based CComm IT Solutions were the event sponsor.

Conference organiser and HSP project officer for primary schools, Lucy Barratt, was delighted with the event

She said: “The interest and enthusiasm from everyone who attended today was fantastic. Every workshop was well attended and stimulated lots of lively discussion.

“With prior input from our team of headteacher advocates, the topics covered clearly matched the needs of the delegates. There was a positive buzz to the whole day.

“Over lunch, the Marketplace was also popular with delegates who interacted with the 46 promotional stalls offering primary related products and services.”

Information about the January conference and the presentations used can be viewed on the Primary Schools tab at www.sportinherts.org.uk