Primary School Sports Funding

The Government provides funding of £150 million per annum to provide new, substantial ‘primary school sport funding’. This funding is being jointly provided by the Departments for Education, Health and Culture, Media and Sport, and will see money going directly to primary school head teachers to spend on improving the quality of sport and PE for all their children.

The sport funding can only be spent on sport and PE provision in schools.

Eligible Schools

Funding for schools will be calculated by the number of primary-aged pupils (between the ages of 5 and 11) as at the annual schools census in January.

All schools with 17 or more primary-aged pupils will receive a lump sum plus a premium per pupil. Smaller schools will receive £500 per pupil.

Purpose of Funding

Schools will have to spend the sport funding on improving their provision of PE and sport, but they will have the freedom to choose how they do this.

Possible uses for the funding include:

  • hiring specialist PE teachers or qualified sports coaches to work alongside primary teachers when teaching PE
  • new or additional Change4Life sport clubs
  • paying for professional development opportunities in PE/sport
  • providing cover to release primary teachers for professional development in PE/sport
  • running sport competitions, or increasing participation in the school games
  • buying quality assured professional development modules or materials for PE/sport
  • providing places for pupils on after school sport clubs and holiday clubs.

Accountability

Schools will be held to account for how they spend the sport funding. Ofsted will strengthen its coverage of sport and PE within the Inspectors’ Handbook and supporting guidance, so that schools and inspectors know how sport and PE will be assessed in future as part of the school’s overall provision offered.

Schools will be required to include details about their sporting provision on their school website, alongside their curriculum details, so parents can compare sports provision between schools, both within and beyond the school day.

Best Practice

Schools will be able to draw on information on effective practice taken from case studies provided by the very best schools. One year on, Ofsted will carry out a survey reporting on the first year’s expenditure and its impact.

Funding Review

Click on the image to open a PDF