Striving to end physical inactivity among children and young people with Aspire Active Education Group
Aspire Active Education Group are an organisation driven by a deep passion to engage children and young people in physical activity and inspire active lives.
We caught up with Letitia Lea, Marketing Manager, Nikki Clamp, Training Solutions Manager, and Luke Johnson, Partnerships Manager, to talk about how Aspire Active Education Group are aiming to combat inactivity through shifting attitudes and participation trends, both at home and at school.
Luke kicked off by elaborating on the goals of Aspire Active Education Group:
“Since our inception back in 2005, our goal has always been to deliver services that engage children and young people through physical activity. We’re committed to getting more than one million young people moving and enjoying the benefits of physical activity by the end of the year.
“To achieve that goal, we utilise the four arms of our business to engage children and young people both directly and indirectly in physical activity.
“Being awarded the CIMSPA ‘Enhancing’ quality assurance status is a testament to the work we have put in”
Nikki went on to outline the approach from a training solutions point of view, emphasising the role Aspire play in ensuring the availability of relevant and quality assured training opportunities.
“We work with organisations like CIMSPA to ensure that we provide sector-wide opportunities for staff to be upskilled via training courses that align to our sector’s professional standards.
“We want people to have the utmost confidence in the quality of our training and be able to make educated decisions in the career pathway they choose, whether that be those coming into the sector for the first time or those looking to excel further within their current roles.
“Being awarded the CIMSPA ‘Enhancing’ quality assurance status and being featured on the Training Academy is a real testament to the work we have put in to ensure we provide the very best training that drives increases in the number and quality of opportunities for children and young people to be physically active.”
Aspire Active Education Group
The four arms of Aspire Active Education Group offer a range of services to support children and young people:
Aspire Training Solutions
Providing a broad range of opportunities, this includes apprenticeships, qualifications and online courses to help young adults acquire the skills and training to engage children in positive physical activity experiences.
Aspire Active Camps
Aspire’s camps provide safe and enjoyable activities that promote physical health and wellbeing via some of the best Ofsted-registered school holiday childcare services.
Aspire Active Partnerships
Active partnerships are a community that brings together 50 coaching providers from across the UK to work together to deliver inclusive and innovative physical activities that improve physical literacy, health, and overall wellbeing.
Aspire Active Education
This arm of the organisation is a vehicle for delivering expert PE, sport and physical activity support and development programmes directly to schools to inspire active lives.
What is an “Enhancing” Training Provider Partner?
Enhancing is the highest quality assurance outcome for our training and education partners.
Enhancing partners have evidenced best practice within most of their operations, processes, and procedures.
They are seen to be offering the highest quality provision to their learners by CIMSPA.
Learn more about CIMSPA Education Partners Quality Assurance
“Being awarded the CIMSPA ‘Enhancing’ quality assurance status is a testament to the work we have put in”
Nikki went on to outline the approach from a training solutions point of view, emphasising the role Aspire play in ensuring the availability of relevant and quality assured training opportunities.
“We work with organisations like CIMSPA to ensure that we provide sector-wide opportunities for staff to be upskilled via training courses that align to our sector’s professional standards.
“We want people to have the utmost confidence in the quality of our training and be able to make educated decisions in the career pathway they choose, whether that be those coming into the sector for the first time or those looking to excel further within their current roles.
“Being awarded the CIMSPA ‘Enhancing’ quality assurance status and being featured on the Training Academy is a real testament to the work we have put in to ensure we provide the very best training that drives increases in the number and quality of opportunities for children and young people to be physically active.”
“Only a few weeks to prepare and allocate out funding”
It was evident throughout the conversation that whilst Aspire Active Education Group were very proactive in their approach, there were a number of barriers that had significant ramifications on the work they were attempting to carry out.
To this point, Luke told us how Aspire had come up against issues in terms of funding for schools and the tight timelines this creates.
“We work with between 80 and 100 schools across various programmes every year, whether that be supporting teachers, pupils or providing wrap around provision.
“However, schools are waiting longer and longer for details of funding and therefore are often left insufficient time, sometimes only a few weeks, to prepare and allocate out funding in the most appropriate ways for the following year.
“As you can imagine, this has a knock-on effect for us as we are also restricted in terms of time to prepare all the support and resources required.”
“Offer children a safe space to learn, socialise, stay active and form friendships”
Luke continued talking about budgets and the impact this has on holiday camp customers.
“Many working parents have tight budgets and therefore price will always be a factor, however some providers that offer holiday camp services are not Ofsted registered. As such, whilst the price may be appealing, there are no guarantees as to the quality of the provision and the care and safety of the children.
“Our Active Camps are Ofsted registered and as such offer children a safe space to learn, socialise, stay active, form friendships, develop interests, build confidence and create lifelong memories.
“It’s about educating parents and schools about the benefits of seeking quality assured options. For parents, it’s also driving awareness of what to look out for when it comes to identifying legitimate Ofsted approved providers.”
“It’s proving difficult to ensure sub-standard provision isn’t entering schools”
Another challenge for Aspire is the lack of knowledge around the requirements for schools to adhere to in terms of the level of coaching qualification required to ensure minimum levels of delivery within the school environment are met.
“CIMSPA have done a lot of good work in terms of driving minimum standards to work in a school setting and support teachers in activities such as delivering PE.
“The challenge from our end is in disseminating this guidance to every school and for them to understand it. As with holiday clubs, schools will often look at price as a significant factor to determine provision.
“Again, I think it comes down to a bit of a knowledge gap in terms of schools. Knowing the appropriate standards of prospective providers and therefore being able to ask the right questions of them to ensure they are making informed decisions will benefit the children, ensure an acceptable level of quality and most importantly offer a safe experience.
“Whilst we can, and do, ensure all our coaches and practitioners are at or exceed the appropriate standards, it’s proving difficult to ensure sub-standard provision isn’t entering schools, which ultimately can have a negative impact upon a child’s experience and leave a lasting negative impact on their relationship with physical activity.”
Aspire Training Academy courses – the highest quality assured training opportunities
1st4sport Level 2 Certificate in Coaching Multi-Skills Development in Sport
Upon completion of this qualification, learners will gain the knowledge and tools to coach multi-skills and enhance sessions with the principles of fundamental movement and sports skills.
CPD short course – Common Core Skills: School Holiday Childcare
This course focuses on the ‘Common Core of Skills and Knowledge’ development programme – a set of principles and values, setting out the fundamental skills and knowledge for individuals whose profession involves regular interaction with children, young people and families.
CPD short course – Introduction to Outdoor Adventurous Activities
This course introduces the ‘Outdoor Adventurous Activity’ (OAA) curriculum in primary PE, highlighting its importance and providing practical examples for activities and resources suitable for Key Stage 2.
Inclusion and SEND in PE and School Sport
Offering practical ideas and strategies for inclusive activities, this comprehensive course will help to build confidence in delivering engaging and supportive lessons.
Through learning how to support students with diverse abilities and needs, learners will gain valuable insights into the challenges of delivering inclusive lessons and how to overcome them.
Keeping children happy, healthy and having fun over the school holidays with Ofsted-registered holiday clubs
Whilst general physical health and wellbeing are two of the core benefits of increased physical activity amongst children and young people, Nikki outlined other benefits that proved a motivation:
“Schools are facing more and more challenges in terms of being able to engage pupils in areas of the curriculum, and COVID-19 has only served to exacerbate this.
“We’ve found that physical activity can be a very effective vehicle to promote better levels of engagement. For instance, Maths on the Move and English on the Move are proving really effective for children who struggle with conventional curriculum delivery.
Children flourish in different environments; not all kids like to go down the conventional route of perhaps a football club. So, having a wider, more creative variety of opportunities in which children can be active will ensure we engage a wider group of children in sport and physical activity.
As well as achieving good academic progress, children are having more opportunities to be physically active.”
Maths on the Move – Moving to achieve more
A physically active learning programme that’s designed by teachers, aligned to the national curriculum and tailored to your pupils’ needs.
English on the Move – Moving to achieve more
Suitable for all abilities and tailored to meet your school’s requirements, innovative and engaging activities are used to enhance spelling, punctuation and grammar.
“One in four children could not swim 25 meters upon leaving primary school”
Conversation then moved on to one of Aspire Active Education Group’s most successful initiatives to be launched in recent years, the Swim:ED programme.
Luke shared the motivations behind the programme and the almost countless benefits it provides both schools and children alike:
“You only have to look at the statistics: a 2021 Sport England study revealed that one in four children could not swim 25 meters upon leaving primary school. As you would expect, that stat rang alarm bells and without intervention, the figure could have risen towards 60% by 2025.
“Add to this the fact that childhood drowning rates increased by 46% in 2022 and it was no exaggeration to call it a safety crisis.
“There were many contributing factors, such as cultural obstacles, a cost-of-living crisis and a decline in pool numbers, all of which meant regular swim instruction was and still is becoming out of reach for an increasing number of children.
“For so many children, school swimming lessons are their only opportunity to learn what is a vital life skill. So, we thought what better way than taking the pool and the instructors to the schools in the form of a pop-up pool.
“We take care of everything, including the structure that the pool is housed in, building the pool, filling, heating and chemicalisation through to the teaching, the lifeguards and the monitoring of the learning.
“Revolutionising the way primary schools offer swimming and water safety education”
“Not only are children guaranteed the quality provision, from a schools perspective we could guarantee it met national curriculum outcomes, there was no lost learning time through travelling to and from leisure centres, no travel costs and no demands on teaching staff.
“The programme is revolutionising the way primary schools offer swimming and water safety education, and to date has engaged over 27,000 children. That’s something we are really proud of and will continue to drive forwards.”
Swim:ED – Making waves in primary education
A programme tailored specifically for primary schools that ensures lost learning time is kept to an absolute minimum and swimming proficiency is improved.
Convenient pop-up pools are installed and managed on school sites, providing high-quality swimming lessons for students.
Adding to this, Letitia offered some insights into one of the less obvious but equally significant benefits:
“Schools saw notable improvements in children’s behaviour, along with vastly increased attendance figures when the pool is on site3.
“It creates a tangible incentive for pupils to be able to do something they enjoy and, like we’ve said before, gain a fundamental life skill.”
“In 2016, we were at 80,000 children engaged in physical activity – that’s now at 450,000”
To conclude, Luke shared some headline figures that emphasised the impact Aspire Active are having and the subsequent upturn in engagement with physical activity for children and young people.
“In 2016, we were at 80,000 children engaged in physical activity. That’s now at 450,000. That figure is constantly on the up. We are really making progress and gaining traction.
“Through different periods of time we’ve seen definitive spikes related to activity and initiatives we have introduced. A prime example of which would be the introduction of Swim:ED and the year-on-year increase in uptake among schools.”
In conclusion
It’s evident that Aspire Active Education Group have made great strides when it comes to improving provision of the training opportunities for those looking to help children become more active. They have also progressed significantly in expanding the availability of platforms to enable young people to move more in an environment where they feel comfortable and one that enables them to prosper.
Continuing sector wide collaboration will be critical in maintaining and evolving professional standards, educating schools and other practitioners of standards to uphold, driving awareness of the training courses to help them achieve those standards, and making the wider public aware of the vast number of quality assured opportunities available and the numerous benefits of ensuring children and young people are physically active.
Whilst there are, and will continue to be, barriers along the way, the potential impact Aspire Active Education Group can have on the lives, health and wellbeing of children and future generations is profound.
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Striving to end physical inactivity among children and young people with Aspire Active Education Group
Aspire Active Education Group are an organisation driven by a deep passion to engage children and young people in physical activity and inspire active lives.
