This summer, Paris will host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The world’s top athletes will compete on a global stage – and your pupils can get an unforgettable piece of the action!

Our Road 2 Paris Workshop provides a full day of Games-themed activities, delivered by qualified coaches and designed to introduce KS1 and KS2 pupils to brand-new sports.

You’ll also receive a huge range of extras, including downloadable session plans, digital assemblies, and the chance to win a school visit from an Olympian or Paralympian!

BRING OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC VALUES TO LIFE
We kicked off our ‘Road 2’ workshops in 2012, bringing the buzz of the London Games to schools across the UK. Since then, we’ve helped pupils celebrate the spirit of Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Along the way, we’ve motivated thousands of children to try new sports and live the Olympic and Paralympic values of excellence, determination, courage, equality, respect, friendship, and inspiration.

ACTIVE LEARNING AND READY-MADE RESOURCES
Our one-day Road 2 Paris Workshop is our best yet. Your pupils get stuck into inclusive sports rarely experienced at primary school age – with enthusiastic, qualified coaches by their side for every leap, laugh, and lightbulb moment.
After the session, our curriculum-focused resources carry the Games-inspired magic through History, Geography, PE, and more.
Here’s a snapshot of what’s in store:

Archery – Soft archery sets, achievable distances, and plenty of bullseyes!
Athletics – Experience the thrill of speed bounce and standing long jump.
Boccia – The ultimate target sport to test muscle control and accuracy.
Boxing – Build mental and physical strength with pads, gloves, and combat-style challenges.
Goalball – Blackout masks, a bell-filled ball, and the chance to boost awareness of visual impairment.
Wheelchair race – Navigate the course and see who finishes first!
Shooting – Focus, hand-eye coordination, and fun-fuelled Nerf targets.

Tailored teaching tools included with every workshop:
An interactive digital assembly
Session plan downloads for Games-themed extracurricular clubs
Inclusive sports day plans
A FREE curriculum booklet with 24 ways to celebrate the Paris 2024 Games in your school

SIMPLE, SEAMLESS, AND BURSTING WITH BENEFITS
We provide all the equipment, resources, and staff to run the day for you. Our expert coaches get your school Games-ready with clear benefits for a range of stakeholders.
Headteachers

Fitting seamlessly into your school day, Road 2 Paris Workshop Days:

Introduce children to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, bringing them closer to the most inclusive, fair, and progressive multi-sport event in the world.
Contribute towards your PE and sport premium goals.
Offer enrichment activities for the whole school.
Address elements of health and wellbeing education.
Promote School Games via intra-school competition.
Are affordable and hassle-free for your school – we provide everything!

PE Leaders

Offering a fun, fresh way to introduce new sporting activities, Road 2 Paris Workshop Days:

Are planned and delivered by our team, with all resources and equipment provided.
Teach the importance of physical activity for a healthy lifestyle.
Involve children in the magic of the Olympic and Paralympic Games – the world’s most inclusive and forward-thinking multi-sport event.
Help you address the School Games agenda via intra-school competition.
Support your PE and sport premium outcomes.

Parents

Road 2 Paris School Workshops give your child the opportunity to:

Participate in new sporting activities.
Boost their confidence and physical activity levels.
Learn about the Olympic and Paralympic Games and be inspired by the world’s most inclusive, fair, and enlightened multi-sport event.

Win a school visit from an Olympian or Paralympian!
This year, we’re taking one lucky school’s Paris 2024 celebrations to the next level. When you book a Paris 2024 Workshop, we’ll enter your school into a free prize draw to win a visit from an Olympian or Paralympian!
To learn more and book your Road 2 Paris Workshop, get in touch on 0121 663 1979 or visit road2paris.co.uk.

Pupils’ maths performance in KS2 is closely linked to their eventual GCSE result. In fact, this connection between KS2 and GCSE performance is stronger in maths than in other subjects, to read more on this please follow the link.

When it comes to trying to catch up with their peers by age 16, those who are behind in maths in primary school will find it harder than those who are behind in other subjects. 

We know that pandemic-related learning loss in maths was higher than in other subjects, to look at last years report please click here.

And so, it’s vital that action is taken to improve children’s understanding and confidence in maths to support both their present and future success.

One programme that is proven to increase pupils’ understanding and confidence in maths is Maths on the Move (MOTM). Maths on the Move – Discovery Sports Coaching

7,752 children took part in MOTM last year and this was the impact.

 

What is Maths on the Move?

MOTM is a physically active learning programme that’s designed by teachers and aligned to the national curriculum. 

Expert educators teach maths concepts through movement-based games and challenges. The activities are suitable for all abilities and tailored to meet your school’s requirements.

In 2021 – 2022:

How did Maths on the Move impact pupils’ performance in maths?

During each MOTM session, children in Key Stage 1 complete 3 questions at the start of the lesson and 3 questions at the end of the lesson. Children in Key Stage 2 complete 5 questions at the start of the lesson and 5 questions at the end.

Their scores are collected and the average results across all the schools are shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did Maths on the Move impact pupils’ confidence in maths?

The children were asked to self-assess their perceived confidence when faced with a maths question. Scale 0-10. (0 – low, 10 – high)

 

On average the children increased their confidence scores by 29.8%. The average pre course confidence score was 5.7 and the average post course confidence score was 7.4.

 

Times Tables

 

The Maths on the Move Times Tables programme aims to support children in their recall of times tables. Each week children attempt to answer 50 times tables questions in 1 minute. The average number of correct responses in the first week (27.4) and in the final week (37.4) are shown below.

 

What do pupils and teachers think of Maths on the Move?

“We started in school with a Maths on the Move trial. The impact these sessions had upon the children’s maths learning and confidence was phenomenal. We now have one afternoon a week of Maths on the Move interventions and have recently requested another session for our Year 6 children.”

  • St Mary’s C of E Primary School, Hampshire

“In class we were not really understanding the maths, so we always need an adult to explain things to us, but I have noticed that all of us that attend Maths on the Move have been working much harder and we have needed less support during lessons.”

  • Year 5 pupil

“Maths on the Move has had a significant impact on a child in my class who was quite fearful of maths. Since she started these sessions she now comes happily to complete maths tasks and often asks for more work! Her confidence has increased tremendously and she no longer worries! The fun, active element has made the written part much easier and now she is always fully engaged!”

  • Headteacher, Ashcott Primary School

 

Download your copy of the 2021-2022 MOTM impact report here

 

Experience a 6-week free trial of Maths on the Move

Words and numbers can only prove so much. You need to experience MOTM first-hand to know if it would benefit your school.

That’s why we offer a 6-week free trial of the programme that includes:

  • 1 x 1 hour session per week
  • School identifies a group of children (Up to 16 in KS2 and up to 10 in KS1) to take part in the trial
  • School selects a relevant booklet from the MOTM programme that suits the children’s needs
  • We deliver all sessions and provide all booklets, equipment and resources
  • The MOTM portal is used to record and analyse data and create reports
  • Joint observation – In week 3 or 4 we review delivery with the key personnel from your school
  • Impact review – We meet with the key personnel from your school to look at the programme’s impact 
  • Collaborate on how the programme could impact the whole school moving forwards, in relation to any of the following:
  • Positively impacting maths attainment
  • Positively impacting maths confidence
  • Increased physical activity across the school during curriculum time
  • Increase the importance and ethos of PE, sport and physical activity across the school
  • Increase the range of activities pupils are exposed to through the programme
  • Increased opportunity for competition between classes, groups, individuals and competition with self
  • Closing the attainment gap between pupils
  • Addressing knowledge gaps and catching up
  • Impacting the attainment and performance of ALL pupils across the school

To arrange your 6-week free trial of Maths on the Move, call us on [insert number] or email [insert email].

 

FREE SATs maths revision resource

We all know that learning is most effective when children are having fun.

But when we think of SATs prep, fun isn’t exactly what springs to mind.

Until now.

We’ve created a FREE Maths on the Move SATs revision resource.

How does a game of bingo with a twist sound?

Here’s how to play:

  • Download and print the question and answer cards.
  • Hand out the answer cards to your pupils, you could do team or individual bingo.
  • Place the question cards around the hall, playground or field.
  • And then it’s a race to get a complete line, two lines, and finally a full house!

 

The questions in the resource are developed by assessment experts, taken from every KS2 programme of study. Just like SATs.

Download your FREE SATs maths revision bingo here. Free Resources – Discovery Sports Coaching

 

So much can be achieved when movement is combined with maths. If you’re interested in a 6-week free trial or would like to chat further about physically active learning and MOTM, you can call us on 07960 853 398  or email dan@discoverysportscoaching.co.uk.

Are all of your teachers and support staff confident to deliver high-quality PE? 

Are you sure you’ve spent your primary PE and Sport Premium effectively?

These are difficult questions, and they can’t always be answered with a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. 

PE Curriculum Support (PECS) is a proven solution to the need for CPD that has a lasting impact. It also meets the criteria for spending the PE and Sport Premium (link to https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pe-and-sport-premium-for-primary-schools). 

Sounds good, doesn’t it? 

 

What is PECS? 

PECS is a holistic approach to embedding PE across your entire school and is the only programme of its kind recognised by the Association for Physical Education (afPE) Professional Development Board (link to https://www.afpe.org.uk/physical-education/professional-development-board/).

Primarily a mentoring process, PECS offers regular and ongoing support to empower teachers to raise physical education and activity levels in a way that lasts.

But what does the process actually look like? 

  • Teachers who sign up to the programme will be assigned an expert mentor who will provide ongoing support, modeling and challenge.
  • Teachers and mentors work together to identify the areas for development and the programme’s flexibility means each participant’s starting point will be unique, matching their needs. 
  • There is no need to rearrange your school timetable to accommodate the PECS programme as mentoring sessions take the form of team teaching. This way, children as well as the teacher benefit from expert guidance. 
  • PECS is focused on improving and evaluating pupil outcomes. The programme involves activities designed to sustain and embed practice, including collaborative teacher activity, formative planning and assessment, and expert primary school PE input.

 

How do we know it works? 

We measured the impact of PECS on 162 primary school teachers in 2021/2022, asking them to rate themselves on a ten-point scale on the following aspects pre- and post-programme:

  • Planning
  • Tracking pupil progress
  • Report writing
  • Confidence in PE
  • PE subject knowledge

Prior to the programme the overall average score was 5.47. When asked to rate themselves at the end of the programme, the average score was 7.83 revealing a significant 43.1% increase in performance. 

The data tells its own story:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the full report, download the PDF here

 

Don’t just take our word for it 

 

The data shows that PECS works, but if number crunching isn’t telling you enough, here are some real opinions from real people who have tried PECS. 

To find out more about PECS or to discuss implementing the programme in your school, contact us via dan@discoverysportscoaching.co.uk or on 07960 853 3978

Indoor break is no fun for teachers. This is partly because it’s harder to set up the classroom for the next lesson or get some marking done, but mainly because teachers instinctively understand that children need the time to move around and prepare their brains for learning.

A growing body of research by cognitive neurologists backs this up, showing that there is increased brain activity and improved on-task behaviours when tackling cognitive tasks following a period of being physically active.

Even with these known benefits, it can be difficult to provide children with regular opportunities to be physically active within the school day, and even harder to ensure they achieve the recommended 30 minutes of in-school moderate-to-vigorous activity every day. One solution is physically active learning (PAL) – an innovative teaching and learning approach which integrates movement into the learning experience.

Maths on the Move (MOTM) is an example of PAL, and covers the KS1 and KS2 National Curriculum for Maths in a physically active manner. In 2019/2020, Leeds Beckett University (LBU) carried out an independent evaluation of the programme, with the following themes emerging through their research.

1) PAL boosts physical activity and reduces sedentary time
Unfortunately, reports suggest that physical activity levels in children are at an all-time low. In order to combat sedentary behaviour, PAL sessions integrate curriculum-based content with physical activities.

The LBU evaluation showed that a single 45-minute MOTM session allowed children to accumulate 6.4 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity and 19.8 minutes of light physical activity, whilst reducing sedentary activity by 9.5 minutes. This meant that 28% more children met the recommended amount of activity on a day which includes a PAL session.

2) Facilitates learning and understanding
The LBU evaluation of MOTM was unique in that it examined whether children made progress in a defined area of the KS2 Maths National Curriculum.

By undertaking the MOTM Year 5 Fractions and Decimals programme for 6 weeks, children who attended improved their test scores from 11.3 out of 25 to 18 out of 25. In contrast, the children who continued with their normal classroom-based lessons improved from 10.1 out of 25 to 11 out of 25 – a marked difference.

3) Increases concentration and time on task in other lessons
Many teachers already use brain breaks or energisers to reinvigorate the children in their class and even a short amount of physical activity has been seen to have a positive impact on concentration and attention.

Teachers felt that MOTM sessions provided a similar reprieve to an active break: “They come back in really calm, and it’s nice to see actually they’ve had that energy, but they’ve concentrated.” This indicates that embedding physically active learning sessions in the curriculum can benefit other timetabled lessons in the day.

4) Increases confidence and reduces anxiety
For children who fear maths or have low self-esteem in their ability to think mathematically, changing the learning environment can have a profound effect. By placing the emphasis on learning through games in PAL sessions, children feel more at ease getting involved, allowing them to grow in confidence.

Back in the classroom, children were able to make links between the understanding gained in the PAL lesson and classroom-based learning. Children expressed that they now had more confidence in answering questions, feeling that they knew the answers.

5) Improves resilience
Building resilience in children is of vital importance and there are many advocates for the role of physical activity in supporting children in becoming resilient.

Teachers observed noticeable changes back in the classroom for pupils who had attended MOTM sessions: “In terms of their attitudes towards learning, they seem more resilient and a lot more confident, and they don’t have any tears if they can’t answer any of the questions. They just persevere with it.”

6) A more inclusive approach
Combining maths and physical activity allows children to become more immersed in both the physical activities and the maths challenges. Teachers felt that children who usually engaged with physical activity but not maths, were more involved and vice versa: “Those that don’t like Maths, they’re hooked by the moving, and those that like Maths anyway, they’re just happy to do Maths as well as something else.”

Some pupils who usually believed they were “not that good at sport” felt that they were included more than usual. With that in mind, PAL can prevent isolation by “allowing everyone to get involved and take part in the sessions”.

7) Allows for collaboration and team work
PE lessons often provide opportunities for children to work together but maths lessons tend to involve less teamwork. By grouping children in PAL sessions, you can offer the chance for children to discuss and share their maths understanding, allowing them to give and receive feedback and understand different perspectives.

It also provides healthy competition between teams which draws out the importance of working as a team: “We had to work as a team because you had to interact with other people to know what they got.”

8) Fun, exciting and enjoyable
Any intervention that is not well received by the children will struggle to maintain its position in a busy timetable and is unlikely to have a positive impact.

Children who took part in the MOTM programme really wanted to continue with the sessions after the programme had concluded, saying: “I think it would be really good if it continues because it’s really fun and always gets me awake for the day” and “If it continues, it will help us learn more Maths, it would help us generate even better grades”.

In summary, the data to support physically active learning is compelling, and the accompanying feedback from both children and teachers provides a deep and insightful exploration into how this can work in schools practically.

If you would like to know more about the research conducted on MOTM or would like to see how it could work for your school, you can find more details at https://discoverysportscoaching.co.uk/maths-on-the-move/ or contact us on 07960853398 and dan@discoverysportscoaching.co.uk and our team of experts can discuss your options.

Learning maths whilst being physically active. It definitely sounds like fun, but does it really work? The short answer is yes, it does. A six-week study conducted by academics at Leeds Beckett University has concluded that the Maths on the Move (MOTM) programme both improves maths attainment and increases physical activity levels.

The study, conducted prior to lockdown at the end of 2019, compared outcomes for children taking part in a MOTM programme against control groups who continued with traditional classroom-style maths lessons. All MOTM sessions were delivered by experienced Aspire-trained educators.

Children wore accelerometers during the school day to measure their physical activity.
This enabled researchers to find out how MOTM affected children’s chances of meeting the in-school activity target of 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day.

Compared to the control group:

● 28% more children achieved the recommended physical activity levels in a school day.
● On average children secured an additional 5 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and
5.7 minutes of light physical activity.
● There was a reduction of 9.5 minutes of inactive time.

Even prior to lockdown, less than half of children were achieving the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations around physical activity and the figure has worsened throughout the pandemic. The results of this study show that physically active learning can help to fix this problem.

So, we can increase activity, but what about maths performance?

Researchers measured maths performance using tests before and at the end of the programme. Maths attainment test performance significantly improved over time for children on the MOTM programme when compared to the control groups.

The scores for children on the MOTM programme increased from a baseline average score of 11.3/25 (45.2%) to 18.1/25 (72.4%). The scores for the control groups increased from 10.1/25 (40.4%) to 11/25 (44%) over the same period of time.

These findings support our own year-long study across the academic year 2019 – 2020, where

● 93% of children demonstrated an improvement in maths performance
● 80% of children also reported an increase in confidence relating to maths.
You can read more about that study here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uI_73kJ65lpXEbxP0Db7hrH9bx6PyPF_/view?usp=drivesdk

Researchers found that MOTM was an overwhelmingly positive experience for schools. Here’s what some of the children and their teachers had to say:

“I feel excited and happy, I feel this because we get to do fun activities and learn about Maths.” – Aisha, Year 5 “I like sports but … I also like Maths a bit… I like them all together and it’s really fun because you … challenge
each other”
– Sana, Year 5
“If Maths on the Move is part of your curriculum, it would have an impact on the general enjoyment of Maths”
– Shannon, Teacher
“In terms of their attitudes towards learning, they seem more resilient and a lot more confident, and they don’t have any tears if they can’t answer any of the questions. They just persevere with it.” – Zuri, Teacher
Why do we need physically active learning?
Pandemic or no pandemic, all schools face the dual challenges of keeping children healthy through physical activity and ensuring their academic success.

Structured, active learning programmes enable teachers to cut the time children are expected to sit at a desk whilst still covering the academic curriculum.

Children respond positively to an active learning environment. It can boost confidence and improve academic performance.

Physical activity in school can be integrated into daily routines rather than positioned as an optional extra.

Why is Maths on the Move a good choice?
● Aspire has been delivering physically active learning programmes since 2010 and MOTM for five
years. It’s a well-developed programme that is proven to really work.
● The programme has been designed to provide total flexibility to schools. It is suitable for all abilities and can be tailored to suit your pupils’ individual requirements.
● MOTM has been designed to meet the funding criteria laid out by both the PE and Sports Premium, and the Pupil Premium.

What’s next?
Following the success of MOTM, Aspire, MOTM programme creators, are now developing English on the Move. We expect that this programme will be available in schools from January 2022.

Find out more
We’re running a free webinar on Thursday 17th June at 4:30pm for anyone who is interested in hearing more about the latest study. The webinar, featuring Dr Jade Morris who carried out the research, will look at how and why to introduce physically active learning into your primary school.
Reserve your place now. https://www.aspire-sports.co.uk/webinar-5-ways-introduce-physically-active-learning-your-primary-school

Maths on the Move is ready to relaunch


Planning the return of all students will be tough, especially how we will support those who have missed so much classroom learning

Lockdown saw teachers transform the way they teach, going above and beyond for their pupils. Yet the implications of lockdowns without face-to-face learning are inescapable over the last 2 academic years.

• Children on average have spent 2.5 hours a day doing schoolwork during lockdown.

• Only 17% have put in more than four hours a day.

• Over two million have done no schoolwork, or less than an hour a day.

When you think that a typical school day is between six and seven hours, combine this with the fact that lockdown lasted for months, the reality hits of just how much learning time has been lost.

With the switch to home learning comes the risk of widening the attainment gap, exacerbating existing inequalities as access to resources, home set-up and level of family support all have a role to play in children’s home learning experience.

So, the question is now, what can be done to ensure this impact is not felt long-term?


What the government is doing:

The government has announced a one-off universal £650 million catch-up premium for the 2020 to 2021 academic year as well as extra £200 million funding for face to face summer school.

And with schools having flexibility with the funding, its use can be tailored to the school’s most pressing needs.

A guide for schools has been published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), providing evidence-based approaches that effectively support pupils when it comes to the task of catching up.


What Discovery Sports Coaching are doing:

With each new guideline and each new piece of advice, DSC have made sure to ask:

How can we adapt, change and evolve to support schools, teachers and pupils?

The threat of lifelong implications on children’s educational development demands readily available, evidence-based programmes of support.

And it just so happens we have one.

A suggested use of the catch-up premium is intervention programmes that meet a specific need, can be delivered to small groups, include regular sessions maintained
over a sustained period, are carefully timetabled and allow for the monitoring of pupil progress.

Turns out our programme checks all of these boxes.

All new groups kicks off with educators delivering a six to 12 week programme of study focusing on mental maths covering several objectives from the national curriculum. So, there’s your well-targeted, regular sessions over a sustained period of time covered.

Experienced educators, learning materials and an online platform are all part of the programme with each child receiving a termly progress report. Monitoring of pupils’ progress: check. Accountability and justification for Ofsted: check and check.


What we can do together:

Deliver MOTM in your school.

Your safety, pupils’ safety and our team’s safety is top priority. So, what adjustments have we made?

Resources required for each lesson are reduced to only those that are essential. Meaning? Sessions can take place outside where possible. We have faith in the British weather (we think!)

Each child will also be given a personal whiteboard and pen in order to limit the sharing of resources (and the debates over who gets to write…).

As so frequently highlighted during lockdown (as well as the irony of it), the months we were to stay apart were months in which we came together (figuratively speaking) to support one another.

Lockdown may be ending, but to prevent long-term consequences, this unity needs to continue.

If you would like to chat through how we can collaborate to best support you and your pupils, you can call us on;
07960853398 or email dan@discoverysportscoaching.co.uk

We’ll update our blog shortly – please check back soon!