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What PE can Learn from Maths

Posted Thursday, 23 June 2016

Maths and PE have some things in common. Every pupil, in just about every school in the world, is compelled to take part in both from the moment they start school until - usually - the age of 16. That& #39 ;s 11 or more years in most countries. This...

Why I’m advocating Bio-Banding for rugby

Posted Thursday, 9 June 2016

It has been a busy few weeks for me after I voiced my concerns on the future of rugby union in schools in an article published by Rob Kittson in the Guardian on 5th February this year. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/feb/05/england-six-nations-r... Since that initial article I’ve been mentioned in various newspapers from ‘The...

Software is More Important than Hardware

Posted Thursday, 9 June 2016

The most significant development in school sports provision in the last twenty years has been in facility enhancement. In a previous era, all schools had playing fields and a single badminton court gym equipped with ropes, beams and a host of other little used and understood features. Then an arms...

Replacing Compulsion with Culture

Posted Friday, 20 May 2016

There has been much recent consternation about the future of potentially dangerous sports in schools, largely fuelled by Professor Pollock’s widely articulated assessment of the dangers of physical contact. Her campaign appears confined to an attack on Rugby Football, in defiance of the science that shows that, before the age...

The Importance of the Overweight, Unathletic PE Teacher

Posted Thursday, 5 May 2016

PE teachers have a lot in common. They were the sensational sporting heroes of their own school careers. In every team. Leading goalscorer. Able to run 100m in a time that is good for 100m, or bowl a leg break, or drag flick. Parading round school in the trophy kit...

Why have a Director of Sport?

Posted Thursday, 21 April 2016

It’s the time of year when Director of Sport positions are being advertised right, left and centre, as schools scramble to appoint before the notice deadline. This is to avoid the unimaginable prospect of starting the Autumn Term with no Director of Sport in place. Presumably, therefore, these people have...