The Government has confirmed a two-year plan to boost quality and equal access to PE and sport in schools across England. The School Sport and Activity Action Plan will support teachers and schools to deliver two hours of high-quality PE and provide extra-curricular opportunities to both girls and boys.

Alongside the action plan, new guidance includes details of the digital tool to help schools spend their allocation of the PE and Sport Premium to the best advantage of pupils. Headteachers can use this money to improve teacher training and expand the range of sports on offer at school.

On top of funding for the PE and Sport Premium, an extra £57m is already supporting over one thousand schools across England to open sports facilities outside of the school day. This fund is targeted at girls, disadvantaged pupils, and pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Commenting is Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.

“Our School Sport and Activity Action Plan sets out how we will support schools to make sure girls and boys alike have those same great opportunities. The plan crystallises our commitment to equal access to all sports and two hours of PE per week and will help instil a lifelong passion for sport and fitness in each and every young person.”

Guidance will be published later this year to support the delivery of equal access and two hours of PE per week. Included in the guidance on providing high-quality PE and sport will be practical and detailed case studies from schools. The Government will also share new resources and findings from targeted programmes that support children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The announcement comes ahead of the Government publishing its new sports strategy, which will set the long-term plan for sport in the UK and focus on addressing inactivity levels at all ages and making the sport sector more sustainable.