Active Essex work in close partnership with Panathlon, a national charity that aims to give young people with disabilities and additional needs the chance to get involved with competitive sport. During the pandemic, opportunities were delivered both virtually and in person – restrictions permitting. Gill Newlyn, Inclusion Lead at Active Essex said: “We have been working to increase the numbers of schools taking part in Panathlon activities, particularly mainstream Primary schools who are keen to develop opportunities for their children with additional needs.”
The Panathlon activities have been a huge hit with the children taking part. With fun activities and the receiving of medals and certificates; they had lots to say about how much they enjoyed it. One child said: “It was my favourite day ever” and another commented: “Doing the activities makes your muscles happy”.
Doing the Panathlon activities virtually has also enabled more children to take part in them. Gill said: “Being able to do the activities at school without having to travel, which is often a barrier to attendance at events, was a real plus for some schools and this is certainly something to consider moving forwards.”
Alongside the Panathlon activities, School Games Organisers (SGO’s) have continued to work hard in delivering activities to children of all abilities over the past year. Throughout lockdown, the SGO’s have been engaging schools with virtual competitions and challenges. They have provided a wealth of physical activities designed for children to take part in, both at home and at school.
Gill has worked closely with SGOs to ensure that the activities were inclusive for all children, encouraging more to take part. She considers herself lucky when it comes to the SGO’s she’s had the pleasure of working with. She said: “Many of the YST County Inclusion leads have difficulty engaging their SGOs and working with them to promote Inclusive sport. However, right from the start, the Partnership staff have always been extremely supportive and we have worked collaboratively alongside Active Essex to develop the Essex School Games Offer to ensure all young people can take part at their own level.”
Gill added: “SGOs are continually reviewing their SEND opportunities and adding to their events as well as offering CPD training for school staff on Inclusion in Sport and Physical activity.”
Moving services more permanently online to ensure that they are accessible for all who need them, and utilising technology to support teaching staff across Essex in developing their Physical Activity provision, is an exciting prospect for us. Gill said: “A number of school staff have said that they have found it easier to access CPD when it is virtual or online and there has been an uptake in numbers of staff taking advantage of some of the Inclusive PE training.”
Gill has also been working with the Multi-Schools Council and Education Practitioner, Anthony Seaman during the pandemic, taking part in their podcast, discussing the importance of school sport and physical activity for all children and speaking about the Active Essex and MSC Special School Games. She has delivered online ‘Concentration and Well-being’ Zoom sessions for children to help keep them active and well in these turbulent times, in partnership with the MSC.
The rapid and necessary changes to the way sporting opportunities are delivered to all children countywide has given us an insight in how best to support them going forward. The great collaborative work that we at Active Essex have been a part of, alongside SGO’s and other fantastic organisations, both virtually and in person, stands to help many more children in future. Gill said: “These have been challenging but interesting times!”
Although the past year has been a tough one for us all in our community, it’s great to see some fantastic work taking place in keeping the children of Greater Essex happy and active. We’d like to thank everyone involved for their brilliant and hard efforts.
