Inclusion in Sport

Making Sport Fit are just starting to get themselves ‘out there’ after being lucky enough to be part of the Coca-Cola 5by 20 and Creative Accelerator Perth programmes last year – business skills are a fine art so it seems, so revealing the business to the community is gradually building momentum!  The website is nearing completion as I speak and just the other day, I put together an FAQ for anticipated questions, with a very relevant one below:

You have a list of services on the website – is this everything you do?

No! In fact anything delivered to date probably hasn’t been advertised as a particular service but has been a response to very specific requests.  So don’t be put off – the website outlines a general overview of the types of services we offer but everything can be considered.

This particular project fits perfectly!  RDM Primary School, Scone made contact to ask if I could develop a workshop for their primary Sports Committee in the school to explore Inclusion in Sport.  Such a forward thinking request and great to know that these young people will be inclusive leaders of the future.  So I prepared a bit of background knowledge in simplified terms for them to understand and challenged them to think about how to include children who required extra support in their school community, and who these children might be e.g. children with disabilities, children who have moved recently to the school or even children with a primary language different to theirs.  We then moved into the hall where they were provided with leadership opportunities to explore different activities and how to adapt them.  All 15 pupils were fantastically enthusiastic and I look forward to revisiting the school in the future to watch them support their fellow pupils, particularly in the autistic base in the school.  I received the following feedback from the school after the workshop:

“Caroline from Making Sport Fit, recently delivered a training session for our P4-7 Sports Committee as part of our whole-school wider achievement afternoons. The focus of the training, and the project the committee are currently working on, centres on inclusion in sport.  Having recently been awarded our Gold School Sport Award, we had identified inclusion in sport as an area for further development within our on-going action plan. Caroline was very flexible in tailoring the training to meet the objectives of our project and delivered a session which sensitively encouraged pupils to understand that we all have the same motivations for engaging in sport, yet some of us need a bit of help from others to reduce potential barriers to inclusion. The practical part of the session allowed pupils to experience different sporting activities such as Boccia and encouraged them to think about how to adapt sessions safely to allow everyone to take part. Opportunity was also given for the pupils to plan and lead small games-based activities to their peers; encouraging them to be creative and to begin to develop their own leadership in sport skills. Thank you, Caroline, for very thought-provoking session and for the fantastic resources which pupils will now refer to when planning sessions for their peers in the Specialist Provision”

The plan is to now use this experience and feedback to approach Education Services to encourage a roll out across all schools!  Making Sport Fit offers tailored solutions and we certainly hit the spot on this occasion!

Credit to RDM Primary School for the photograph