Department For Education
About the PE and sport premium
All children and young people should live healthy active lives. The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that all children and young people should take part in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes every day, with the recommendation for?disabled children and young people being 20 minutes of physical activity per day.
It is important that schools are supporting children and young people to achieve this aim. This is particularly true of primary schools where the foundations of positive and enjoyable participation in regular physical activity are embedded.
The Department for Education (DfE) wants all children to have equal access to high-quality?PE?provision and opportunities to experience and participate in a wide range of sports and physical activities. Schools should aim to provide high-quality?PE?and sport for at least 2 hours a week, complemented by a wide range of extracurricular sport and competitive opportunities. By providing this it can help improve childrens health and wellbeing, personal development as well as academic attainment.
Schools should use the?PE?and sport premium funding to support children to meet 60 active minutes and achieve the above aims. This funding must not be used for core-type school activities. Schools should use it to:?
- make additional and sustainable improvements to the?PE, sport and physical activity they provide
- provide or improve equal access to sport for boys and girls
- ensure teachers have the relevant skills and knowledge to confidently teach PE in a structured way, prioritising continued professional development (CPD) and training where needed
Eligibility
Most schools with primary-age pupils receive the PE and sport premium. The exceptions are:
- nursery schools
- studio schools
- university technical colleges
- independent schools, except for non-maintained special schools
How funding is calculated and the amounts payable for 2024 to 2025
Schools receive PE and sport premium funding based on the number of pupils they have in years 1 to 6.In cases where schools may not have set year groups (for example, in some special schools), pupils aged 5 to 10 attract the funding.
In most cases, we determine funding by using data from the January 2024 school census. For a new school, or a school teaching eligible pupils for the first time in the academic year 2024 to 2025, funding is based on data from the autumn 2024 school census.
For the year 2024 to 2025, the amounts payable will be:
- schools with 16 or fewer eligible pupils will receive 1,000 per pupil
- schools with 17 or more eligible pupils will receive 16,000 and an additional payment of 10 per pupil
Payment dates for 2024 to 2025
Maintained schools, includingPRUsand hospital schools
Maintained schools, includingpupil referral units (PRUs)and hospital schools, do not receive funding directly from DfE. We give the funding to the local authority and they pass it on to the school.
We give local authorities PE and sport premium funding in 2 separate payments. They will receive:
- 7/12 of the funding allocation on 31 October 2024
- 5/12 of the funding allocation on 30 April 2025
For a new maintained school or one that is teaching eligible pupils for the first time in the 2024 to 2025 academic year, local authorities will receive:
- 7/12 of the schools funding allocation on 28 February 2025
- 5/12 of the schools funding allocation on 30 April 2025
Academies and free schools
We send academies (including free schools) the PE and sport premium funding in 2 separate payments. They will receive:
- 7/12 of the funding allocation on 8 November 2024
- 5/12 of the funding allocation on 9 May 2025
An academy (including a free school) which is new, or teaching eligible pupils for the first time in the 2024 to 2025 academic year, will receive:
- 7/12 of the funding allocation on 10 March 2025
- 5/12 of the funding allocation on 9 May 2025
Each qualifying school within a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) will receive an allocation of PE and sport premium grant funding. If this funding is then pooled by the MAT, it does not remove the requirement for it to be used for the benefit of the children in every primary school in the MAT.
Non-maintained special schools
We send non-maintained special schools the PE and sport premium funding in 2 separate payments. They will receive:
- 7/12 of the funding allocation on 18 December 2024
- 5/12 of the funding allocation on 18 April 2025
Using the PE and sport premium
Any use of the PE and sport premium must be in accordance with the terms outlined in the conditions of grant document. This means schools must use the PE and sport premium to:
- build capacity and capability in the school and make sure that improvements made to the quality of PE, sport and physical activity provision now are sustainable and will benefit pupils joining the school in future
- develop or add to the PE, sport and physical activity that the school provides
Effective ways to spend the premium?
It is important that schools make the most effective use of the premium. To best achieve this, spending should focus on making improvements in 5 key areas, to assist in:?
- increasing confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching?PE?and sporting activities
- increasing engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity and sporting activities
- raising the profile of?PE?and sport across the school, to support whole school improvement
- offer a broader and more equal experience of a range of sports and physical activities to all pupils
- increasing participation in competitive sport
These may be achieved by:
- embedding physical activity into the school day by encouraging active travel to and from school and having active break times
- providing targeted activities or support to involve and encourage the least active children
- helping to provide equal access for all pupils to the range of sports and physical activities that the school offers
- providing continued professional development (CPD) for all staff (as outlined previously)
- providing extra-curricular opportunities for children to enable them to access other sporting activities or specialist sport instruction
- providing top-up swimming and water safety lessons for those pupils that do not meet national curriculum requirements after they have completed core swimming and water safety lessons
- providing specialist support to help children with additional needs to access and participate fully in PE lessons
- entering local school competitions and holding inter-house competitions in the school to encourage participation
Weve collated real-life working ] to help understand ways this can be implemented.
Continuing professional development
Achieving sustainable outcomes is