Herefordshire School Sport in the top three nationally

Children and young people in Herefordshire get some of the best opportunities for school sport in the country according to figures released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families this month.

The figures shows that in England school targets on sport have been met a year early with 86 per cent of pupils now participating in at least two hours of physical education ( PE) and school sport per week. In Herefordshire, this figure is 93.5 per cent, an increase of six per cent from last year and the third highest figure in the country.

In nearly every performance indicator set by the government for PE and sport in schools, the Whitecross and Minster School Sport Partnerships who work with the county's schools to achieve national targets, are well above the average. The county has the third highest percentage of children taking part in inter-school competitive sports with 70 per cent taking part in internal school competitions. On top of that, all Herefordshire schools have a sports day where pupils come together in differing forms of competition.

Herefordshire also has twice the number of pupils involved in leadership and volunteering than the national average. The county has the third highest percentage of pupils involved in leading parts of lessons, running activities at lunchtimes and after school as well as running and supporting competitive events and festivals.

Herefordshire Council and the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sports Partnership are working together to encourage young people to continue with their sports and activities in the evenings and weekends by providing opportunities to join local clubs in their locality. In a rural county, transport issues and the location of clubs has made this challenging, but both school sport partnerships have made progress and on average schools link to six or seven clubs.

Work with gifted and talented pupils has continued to grow with eight per cent of young people now identified and multi-skill academies established earlier this year.

Councillor Jennny Hyde, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "I am delighted that so many of our children are getting involved in school sport. Being healthy and physically active is very much part of the Every Child Matters agenda.

"The PE curriculum has changed considerably over the last few years so that children can try a broader range of activities than ever before which is good news as traditional school sports don't appeal to everyone.

"Herefordshire's success in exceeding government targets is down to excellent partnership working between schools, sports clubs and the school sports partnerships. I congratulate them for raising sporting activity levels across the county and helping our children enjoy more active lifestyles."