An important week for the PE and school sport sector...

Tom Gibbins, the LTA's Head of Education and Community Tennis, shares his thoughts on what is an important week for the PE and school sport sector and how our collective work in this area is more important than ever, and provides an update on how a fantastic response to the new LTA Youth Schools programme is helping to ensure that tennis plays its part...

I’m writing this blog to highlight three important events taking place this week in the PE and school sport sector, but also to reflect on how our collective work in this area is more important than ever for children’s physical and mental wellbeing.

National School Sport Week

Our friends at the Youth Sport Trust have been running ‘National School Sport Week’ since 2008 and this year’s campaign will celebrate the return of youth sport and its power to bring people back together with a week of school sports days held up and down the country. 

I’m hoping many primary schools will be utilising our new LTA Youth Schools programme throughout the week. We launched the programme on 17th March and have had a fantastic response. Just shy of 10,000 teachers have now registered and more than 4,000 of them have completed our teacher training course.

The programme includes inclusive, curriculum-linked PE lesson plans, competition formats and personal development content focussed on key character qualities such as perseverance, resilience and respect. There’s also a cross-curricular module themed on the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is great for schools to deliver in the run up to Tokyo.

The positive response to the launch shows the importance that many schools are placing on wellbeing within their recovery plans. The LTA wants to continue supporting as many schools as possible and we’re looking forward to our new secondary programme launching in September, too.

National Thank a Teacher Day

it is all the more important that children, parents and the wider community take a moment to recognise teachers close to them

This Wednesday is ‘National Thank a Teacher Day’, a campaign run by The Teaching Awards Trust to celebrate the professionalism, passion and commitment of teachers.

My wife is an Assistant Head Teacher, I’m a Governor of a small junior school and Vice Chair of CORE Education Trust which runs four schools in Birmingham, so I’ve seen first-hand the significant challenges teachers have faced, and overcome, this year. Therefore, it is all the more important that children, parents and the wider community take a moment to recognise teachers close to them.

About 20 years too late perhaps, but I’d now like to take the opportunity to thank two of my secondary school teachers (unsurprisingly, they were PE teachers): Mr Morey and Mr Swan – they inspired me a lot and the opportunities they provided me and the other students with were invaluable.

Slightly stretching the topic, but this is also a good opportunity to recognise and thank all the LTA Accredited Coaches who have supported schools with their PE & school sport provision, as they have also gone through an incredibly challenging year as well.

LTA ‘School of the Year’

Finally, keep an eye out for the LTA Awards this Thursday evening, where among many other (less important, obviously!) categories, we’ll be announcing the ‘School of the Year’ -and it’s a thoroughly deserving winner for 2021. The event will be broadcast on the LTA website, YouTube channel and Facebook page on Thursday 24th June at 8pm!

Tom

You can hear more from Tom talking about LTA Youth Schools form his appearance on the 'My Tennis Journey' podcast in May - click here to listen