Olympic legacy failure: access to school sport is now a postcode lottery
Michael Gove’s controversial decision to cut £162m of funding has left sport at the whim of headteachers and secondary schools receive no money to pay for it • Jowell attacks ‘wicked’ coalition...
View ArticleLost generation of children deprived of school sports | Letters
We agree wholeheartedly with Tessa Jowell and share her concerns, especially those relating to children and young people (Coalition wasted Olympic school sport legacy: Jowell, 6 July). Schools are...
View ArticleWho could be surprised by our children’s unhappiness? | Letters
Improving the happiness of children in this country will not happen solely with “bandages” such as counselling (Report, 19 August). We need a change of culture which values people rather than treats...
View ArticleFit for learning: what research says about the benefits of sport
Getting students active helps to tackle obesity – but it can also improve achievement and behaviour. We find out howWith one in three children obese or overweight when they leave primary school, there...
View ArticlePremier League to expand primary school sport scheme
David Cameron says league will roll out scheme to every primary school in England and Wales and reveals plan for joint grassroots sport initiative The Premier League has agreed to expand its school...
View ArticleRugby faces mauling as private schools report suggests zumba could replace...
Headteacher conference to hear study suggesting team sports do not build character and that parents may withdraw consentCompulsory participation in activities such as rugby may soon be a thing of the...
View ArticleWhy are state school students left on the sidelines in elite sport?
A look at the English Rugby World Cup squad proves that private schools are winning when it comes to creating athletesThe Rugby World Cup should be an opportunity for UK schools to get more young...
View ArticleBad kits and homophobic bullying: a student's view of PE
Here’s how to stop us scaling the school gates instead of turning up on the sports fieldThe bell rings and once again I have to make the decision whether to climb the school gates or walk to my...
View ArticleUK health experts call for ban on tackling in school rugby
Open letter urges schools to move to touch or non-contact rugby to avoid serious injuries, such as concussion and fracturesMore than 70 doctors and health experts have called for a ban on tackling in...
View ArticleThe great rugby union debate: should tackling be banned at school level?
More than 70 doctors and health experts have called for a ban on tackling in school games. Here two medical experts give their opposing sides of the argumentRugby, like many other competitive team...
View ArticleIs rugby too dangerous? Children need to be free to take risks | Gaby Hinsliff
Sport should be available to all in our schools, but that’s not the same as making it compulsorySchool’s out, and the boys explode through the gate like corks from a popgun. After a day of being forced...
View ArticleSchool rugby-tackling ban campaigners receive 'vile' abuse
One signatory of the open letter from health experts and academics receives homophobic abuse while another has been asked not to attend an eventCampaigners seeking a ban on tackling in school rugby...
View ArticleBit of a ruck over the safety of school rugby | Letters
Professors Eric Anderson and Allyson Pollock raise an important issue relating to the escalation of school rugby injuries and concussion in particular (Make rugby in schools non-contact, 70 health...
View ArticleSex, violence, class, power, politics – the school rugby row has it all |...
The idea of a ban on tackling in school rugby is easy enough to defend or decry – but my experiences of the scrum on a grammar school playing field in 1970s Birmingham tells me this can be a truly...
View ArticleMake mine a large Buckie before they ban that too | Kevin McKenna
The Scottish political classes don’t just want to regulate what we eat and drink and how we choose to play our sports. They now also want to regulate how we thinkIt has been several weeks now since...
View ArticleSome teenage rugby injuries as bad as in road crashes, study finds
Researchers suggest rule changes or size restrictions at youth level to avoid serious harm, but disagree with tackling banTeenage rugby players have started to suffer serious injuries of the type...
View ArticleI was paralysed playing youth rugby – but a tackle ban is not the answer |...
As a 16-year-old prop, I fractured my neck when a scrum collapsed on me. But taking away contact in school games could actually make things worseI was 16 when my life changed for ever. I was playing...
View ArticleExercise helps children learn, say experts
Brain development and long-term health benefit from vigorous activity at a young age, according to academics from eight countriesPupils who do sport or physical activity during school hours do not see...
View ArticleParents are paying the price for raising Olympic stars
A chronic lack of funding means Britain’s next generation of top athletes need families who can afford the cost of developing their talentWhen Britain’s youngest Olympian, gymnast Amy Tinkler, 16,...
View ArticleThe Observer view on Team GB’s Rio success | Observer editorial
Our athletes’ glorious medal haul shouldn’t overshadow problems at the grassroots of sport in the UKA columnist for Australia’s Courier-Mail newspaper wrote on Saturday of his despair at the trouncing...
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