����Vlog

The PE and sport premium will be scrapped and replaced by a new school sports “partnerships network” as part of plans to redirect £1 billion of spending.

The move - described as “deeply concerning” by the NAHT school leaders’ union - means funding worth £320 million a year will no longer be handed directly to schools.

Instead, most of it will go to a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, which will, in turn, provide “targeted support” to schools.

The Department for Education said the network, backed by £580 million and due to be fully operational from spring 2027, will “put an end to the one-size-fits-all model”.

The PE and sport premium is aimed at helping primary schools to make “sustainable improvements” to the quality of PE, physical activity and sport offered through their core budgets. It was worth £320 million last year.

However, the DfE said less than half of young people are meeting recommended daily activity levels, despite “billions of pounds” being invested through the premium since 2013.

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and children from disadvantaged backgrounds are among those most likely to miss out on physical activity, it added.

New enrichment benchmarks

The announcement comes before schools will be inspected on their enrichment offer under Ofsted’s updated inspection framework from September.

Schools will be expected to ensure that every child has access to activities across five categories, including sport.

Schools to get transition payment

The school sports partnerships were by Sir Keir Starmer in June last year, but it was not clear at that point that they would replace the premium.

Under the plans announced today, £1 billion will be spent over three years. More than half - £580 million - will be spent on the network.

Another £200 million will go on capital funding, which the government said could be used to make facilities more accessible for children with SEND or to buy additional equipment.

Another £100 million will be spent on transitional support for primary schools.

This is in addition to £166 million in the 2026-27 financial year for the second payment of the PE premium for the 2025-26 academic year and funding for school games organisations.

����Vlog has asked the DfE for clarification on how these funding streams will be allocated.

Concern from heads

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said school leaders will be “deeply concerned at the loss of a well-established funding stream”.

He called on the government to provide more clarity on how the partnerships will work in practice.

“School leaders will want assurances that these networks will reach every part of the country and that all the funding will get to the frontline and not be spent on new layers of bureaucracy,” he said.

Targeted support

The new partnerships network will provide both universal and targeted support to schools, with a national delivery partner working alongside national governing bodies, the DfE said.

Targeted support could include expert coaches, top-up swimming lessons and extracurricular opportunities, while the universal offer will include online training for all schools.

The government said the model will be tailored to local needs, such as providing cricket equipment and links with local clubs where demand exists, or pool access and specialist teaching where data shows low swimming attainment.

The government said the new model will “modernise” the school sport partnerships approach that operated in the early 2000s before being scrapped in 2011.

����Vlog has asked the DfE how schools will be selected for targeted support and what accountability there will be for organisations funded through the network.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “School sport builds confidence, belonging and wellbeing: priceless gifts that put kids on the path to getting on in life - and can even uncover the elite sports stars of the future.

“Yet too many children have been missing out. Our new approach will see every child - across both primary and secondary - more physically active, regardless of their circumstances, background, ability or where they go to school.”

��

��