Children’s charity the Youth Sport Trust has reported worrying statistics to show that children studying their GCSEs are less likely than other secondary school pupils to access the transformative power of PE.
This is despite a growing evidence base that physically active children achieve higher levels of academic attainment than their less physically active peers (Youth Sport Trust, 2021).
New analysis of government data by the Youth Sport Trust has revealed that a squeeze to PE hours over the last ten years have seen 36,244 hours lost with 73% of this drop against children in key stage 4 alone.
A further survey conducted by the charity this academic term and launched today suggests secondary schools are only offering an average of 92 minutes to this age group – well below Ofsted’s recommended 120 minutes of PE a week.