In This Section
Role of South Yorkshire Sport and our targets
I am a teacher and I want to find out more about linking with a local club
I am a local club representative and want to make links with my local schools

Role of South Yorkshire Sport and our targets
The provision of high quality sporting opportunities within the school curriculum and through after school clubs and school club links is a key area of work for the sports sector in South Yorkshire.

South Yorkshire Sport are working closely with local School Sports Partnerships and the Youth Sport Trust to support the delivery of PE and School Sport Club Links (PESSCL) – enabling young people to easily find out about and access their local sports club, whatever their chosen sport and level of play.

South Yorkshire Sport helps to facilitate partnership working between schools and their local sports clubs, and encourage schools and clubs to draw up a written PESSCL agreement, identifying each others needs, and how best to work together to encourage more young people to continue in sport beyond the school environment.

The South Yorkshire Sports Partnership and Sport England share the following Public Service Agreement Targets with the Youth Sport Trust and the Department for Education and Skills:

PSA Target 1: Enhance the take-up of sporting opportunities by 5 to 16 year-olds so that the percentage of school children in England who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum increases from 25% in 2002 to 75% by 2006 and to 85% by 2008, and to at least 75% in each School Sport partnership by 2008. (Measured through the Annual Survey of School Sports Partnerships)

PSA Target 2: Halt the year on year increase in obesity among children under 11 by 2010, in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole. (Measured through Health Survey for England (other options being considered for more local level information))

I am a teacher and I want to find out more about linking with a local club
Every secondary and primary school belongs to a School Sports Partnership – a cluster of schools working together to increase sporting opportunities and quality for their students. If you are a secondary school teacher, contact your School Sports Co-ordinator or Partnership Development Manager (for details see the SSP web pages), who will be able to help.

South Yorkshire Sport are working with SSCOs and PDMs to help them create links with local clubs across a range of sports. The identified clubs work with the school to draw up a PESSCL agreement, detailing how they will work together to promote the sport and club and feed young people into appropriate sessions and contribute to the local community. Clubs working with their local schools have all achieved or are working towards ClubMark, so teachers can be certain that they are referring pupils into a safe and friendly environment.

I am a local club representative and want to make links with my local schools
To make effective links with your local schools, your club needs to identify areas of capacity and ways in which it would like to work in order to increase junior membership. You should then contact either your local NGB development officer, or James Ross at South Yorkshire Sport, who will be able to help you make links with appropriate School Sports Partnerships, and guide you through the PESSCL agreement process.

As a club, you should be working towards ClubMark, which will demonstrate to schools that you are a safe and child friendly club, and is a quality standard which schools can rely on when referring children to your club.