Testimonials
“When the Government closed schools to all but the children of key workers, we had a number of decisions to make in a very short space of time. One of the decisions was about the sports coaches that we use to provide both teaching time and after school/lunchtime clubs. The Senior Leadership Team decided very quickly that we wanted to support these small businesses. Their coaches have provided brilliant services to the school in the past – and will do so in the future – and many of our pupils have grown in confidence and ability under their guidance. We felt that the ethical decision was to pay sports coaches for the sessions they would have run had the school been fully open as normal.
The Government has confirmed that maintained schools will receive their budget allocations in full and, as the costs of these sports coaches had already been included in our expenditure plans, we will not be disadvantaged financially by our decision. Derbyshire County Council has underlined the need to treat casual staff fairly; recommending that they should be kept in post and paid where there is an agreed assignment, and supported if they are unable to work. They note that it is “within the gift” of each school to pay casual workers, with the aim of retaining them for the future.
This decision was wholeheartedly backed by our Governors when they met in April. As a Christian school, they felt it was very important that we support our community, these businesses and individuals in such uncertain times.”
Fiona Wilcock, School Business Officer – Taxal & Fernilee Primary School
“Wild Bank Community School have worked in partnership with Peak Active Sports for several years. During these challenging times we have greatly appreciated that they are still able to support the children in our care. Having the same coach each week reassures our children that they know the coach, the coach knows the types of activities the children enjoy, and they are also able to identify changes in the children’s demeanour which is crucial. The coach continues to bring a plethora of equipment and has established routines to maintain social-distancing. It is important that our children are outside and active as much as possible: it helps their physical and emotional well-being. Being outside is important for dealing with stress and anxiety—the exact emotions in overdrive right now. The PAS coach leads activities and challenges that are a valuable tools to help us remain calm and continue to protect our health during this time.”
Mrs Callaghan, Head Teacher – Wild Bank Community School
“We have been really impressed with the support PAS have continued to offer our schools during the recent challenging weeks. We are of course working differently, with less children on site. However, the fantastic coaches have continued to deliver not only high quality PE sessions, but also worked closely with school staff and offered brilliant pastoral support as well. The children especially look forward to days when PAS are in school too. Funds had already been approved for PAS (and other external providers) to add value to children’s learning experiences during the Summer 2020 Term and, as expected, PAS continue to deliver excellent value for money.”
Mr Parry, Head Teacher – Executive Head Teacher – High Peak Federation – Thornsett Primary School & Newtown Primary School
“I support PAS in these times for many reasons: they bring specialist coaching to children; they offer respite for my teaching staff during difficult times; but most importantly for me it is important to maintain these links. I am from a background of utilising every resource possible for the benefit of the children and we are living in times of ‘use it or lose it’ and it would be great to see PAS continue to help with the future exit to the lockdown and further down the line when we get back to normality (whatever that looks like). Support local companies for local people.”
Mr Bertram, Head Teacher – Buxworth Primary School
“I have been asked to explain why I am continuing to honour school’s use of PAS during the partial closure of school. We have an agreement with PAS to provide PE lessons and lunchtime physical activity and so will continue to honour that agreement at the present time. We still receive the sugar tax sports funding through this period so I feel we should still use this money to pay for what we agreed to pay for. We are in the fortunate position that our funding is not being cut because we are not providing face to face teaching to our students and where possible we should pass this good fortune on to our partner organisations. If we do not honour our agreements now when we reopen our partner providers may not still be in business. So I am doing it for altruistic reasons – I believe it is the right thing to do and for selfish reasons I still want quality sports coaching to be available when things are more back to normal.”
Mrs Littlehailes, Head Teacher – St. Luke’s Primary School
“I think our long standing relationship speaks volumes. There is no other organisation with whom we have had such a commitment. We have used other companies along with yourself to offer variety, but they have fallen by the wayside. Nothing is too much trouble and you don’t complain, on those odd occasions, when I have failed to inform you of an INSET day or a School Fair, and you show up on the doorstep (sorry!). You work really hard with your sports delivery and you are always looking to improve provision year on year. Thank you”
Mr Quirk, Head Teacher – Kettleshulme Primary School
