BRISTOL SPORT FOUNDATION SUPPORTING PRIMARY PUPILS IN SOUTH GLOS Hundreds of children from across South Gloucestershire have learned the value of physical and mental health in school this year thanks to a partnership between South Gloucestershire Council and the Bristol Sport Foundation (BSF). With physical exercise and mental health and wellbeing being so closely connected, the council teamed up with the Foundation, the charity wing of the organisation behind Bristol Bears Rugby, Bristol City FC and Bristol Flyers Basketball, to deliver educational sports sessions helping local children bounce back from the pandemic when opportunities for children to take part in physical exercise were more limited. As part of this year’s Budget, the Council pledged £20,000 from the Recovery and Innovation Fund, with BSF match-funding this, in partnership with St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, to bring extra sessions into disadvantaged schools, which emphasise the importance of health and wellbeing and encourage all children to participate.
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Over the past year this has seen more than 1,000 children from primary schools across South Gloucestershire get involved with the sessions, designed to increase physical activity levels, alongside other attitudinal, behavioural and educational change. The Leader of the Council, Councillor Toby Savage, visited Coniston Primary School to see the work in action and how the programme complimented both the PE and recovery curriculum, and how it is leading to children from all backgrounds and at all ability levels growing in confidence and competence, helping them also achieving more in lessons outside sport. He saw coaches from BSF working alongside staff from the school, running a fun and inclusive basketball session, in which all the children played a full part. The Recovery and Innovation Fund has supported a range of priorities to support children who have been affected by the restrictions caused by Covid-19, from transition between primary and secondary levels, to academic support and significant social, emotional, mental health and well-being development, as well as physical development. .
