The ring-fenced money will be given directly to schools across the borough as part of a nationwide scheme which will see £150 million a year devoted to school sport and PE.
The new support is funded by the Department for Education, Department of Health and Department for Culture, Media & Sport, coming in the wake of criticism of the government for cuts made to school sport.
Each of Haringey’s 43 primary schools will receive an estimated £9,250 per year, equating to a total cash injection across the borough of about £397,000. Each school will be able to pay for extra coaching sessions to improve the quality of sports and PE provision.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the Olympic and Paralympic Games last year showed what Britain can do, and he wants to capitalise on youngsters’ inspiration from the Games.
Dave Thomas, chairman of Haringey Schools Sport Partnership, welcomed the news, but warned that the funding must be spent wisely, and invested in training teachers to deliver effective PE lessons.
“It is a fantastic boost, exactly what was needed, and exactly where it was needed in primary school sport,” he told the Journal. “But it must be sustainable, and the important thing is that this money is now used correctly, otherwise it’s just a waste of time.
“That means training and up-skilling primary school teachers who as part of their teacher training have only had six to eight hours physical education training.”
Last month a four-year long Ofsted report showed that at many primary schools across the country, teachers lacked specialist training, delivering PE lessons which were not sufficiently challenging for children.
In response, a new teacher training programme will be introduced as part of the scheme, which it is hoped will encourage an increase in the number of primary school teachers with a specialism in PE.
In Haringey, Mr Thomas will meet with the PE and Schools Sport Steering Group after Easter, specifically to advise primary school head-teachers on how best to use the money.
He underlined that the money should not be used specifically to bring coaches into schools, but to provide pupils with basic physical education ability through PE lessons. He added: “There’s a danger that the money will be invested in coaches so that teachers don’t have to teach. If that happens, it’s a waste. Coaches have their place in primary schools, but pupils need a basic physical ability and must understand the fundamentals of movement.”
The policy comes after Haringey, like most other boroughs in London, suffered from the government decision two years ago to abolish £162m of ring-fenced funding for the national school sport partnerships (SSPs).
Burk Gravis, of Haringey Sport Development Trust, said Haringey was still feeling the effects of those cuts. He said: “We now have no sports co-ordinators, no competition managers, sport took a hammering.” It was a big deficit and I think we’re still playing catch-up
