2018/2019 academic year has been about the girls! 

There has been a real drive in girls and womens football with the North Tyneside PE & School Sport Team becoming the FA Girls’ Football School Partnership for the area & working alongside schools and the local FE college to provide programmes to engage, excite and encourage girls to make football part of their lives & create the next generation of female footballers, coaches and volunteers.

John Spence Community High School have played a huge role in this, they have really ran with it and it’s impact has been astounding!

• Starting with the ‘Game of Our Own’ Teacher Training event where staff from across the county explored the development of character and life skills through KS3 curriculum PE and how girls can be supported to lead football related activity for others.
• This was then rolled out in various schools throughout the autumn and spring terms & 6-10 girls from each school involved were selected to attend a one day Camp which helped to develop their understanding of a being a Football Activator, exploring the motivations of girls and considering creative ways to engage more girls through football related activity. It also aimed to increase their confidence in undertaking a range of leadership roles.
• The selected girls - "Girls Football Activtors" established and lead 6 weeks of extra curricular Girls' Football Acitivites for pupils back at their schools.
• All girls involved in the programme were then brought together at a celebration day ran by John Spence.

A National case study is currently being produced on the fantastic work that John Spence have understaken as part of this programme in the 2018/19 academic year.  We would like to thank them for all their continued hard work and commitment.

A second training course & was targeted at staff who work with 5-8 year olds. This was the FA’s Active Play Through Storytelling course.

• This supported staff to work with ‘beginner girls’ to develop their physical literacy, speaking and listening skills through creative play and storytelling.
• This feeds into the Wildcats Girls Football centres across North Tyneside, as girls that enjoy engaging with this programme can be sign-posted to these sessions.
• They provide a safe environment where girls can try football for the first time. They aim to inspire participants to engage with football, meet new friends, develop fundamental skills, learn new things and create the foundation for a lifelong love of football.
• There are sessions that are held at both John Spence but also the local FE college, Tyne Met. For further information please visit http://www.thefa.com/womens-girls-football/get-involved/sse-wildcats-girls-football-clubs 

To then create further development from this programme, to Wildcats sessions and into extra curricular activities  to then playing football competitively, staff from John Spence took on the Under 11 Girls Football league again this year, which had a total of 24 teams, attending three nights with over 160 young girls playing in competitive matches! TheFootball Activators were fully involved in this league, supporting with the organisation, refereeing games and encouraging the younger girls, being their role models with the hope of maintaining their engagement in the sport.

Further news! … It has been confirmed that the PE & School Sport team are now a Strategic Lead following the collaboration between the Football Association & Barclays, to drive the growth of the women’s game at a grassroots level even further to further develop the access that girls have to football at school.