Burnley Primary School of the Year 2021

Barden really has seen a significant period of change in terms of sport. It is clear to see how it has become a vital part of the school’s DNA. Through the tireless efforts of the staff and the enthusiasm of the children involved, we have been able to maintain the gold sports mark and uphold the standards that are required for this achievement. Throughout the lockdowns of 2020/2021, we have continued to keep sport and physical activity as a key focus at Barden Primary School, whilst ensuring the staff knew the importance of delivering P.E. to a good standard, regardless of the method of delivery. Within the last 12 months, we have seen staff members and children alike going above and beyond to ensure physical activity was maintained in a creative and enjoyable way. During the lockdowns, we held various activity days focussing on a range of different activities such as bring you bike/scooter to school days, sports such as archery, tri golf and a range of more traditional games, such as football, cricket, rounders and tennis to name a few. This ensured we were able to provide the children with a wide breadth of sports to participate in.

When the period of lockdown ended, our main focus in school never changed – to ensure we use physical activity as a tool to promote positive wellbeing. We were able to engage with Action for Children for the active families. In school, we targeted children who have been most affected by COVID restrictions, the children who came back severely inactive and children that receive pupil premium. We were very proud of ensuring Sports day went ahead, with children competing in a circuit on the school grounds completing the different stations in their bubbles. We are very fortunate to receive the sport premium funding and ensure each year whatever we spend goes towards making a positive impact on not only the development of the children, but also the overall quality of delivery of sport and exercise at Barden Primary School. The biggest part of the funding has been geared towards the inclusion of a sports specialist in school. The sports specialist has also effectively implemented high quality intervention to a number of different groups of children, including those that are lacking certain fundamental skills, Change for life groups and inactive children. We have been ensuring the children’s experience of school life has not been affected too greatly by the onset of Covid-19, trying to ensure we are able to provide them with as many different opportunities as possible to engage in sports, including representing the school where ever possible. As much as we pride ourselves on allowing every child the chance to participate, we also admire the value of competition and the positive affects it can have on the development of a child. We strived to ensure we maintained high levels of participation, both during and after lockdown.