School Leavers
Programme
In order to help reduce the huge
drop out rates of young females from sport and physical activity,
the London Borough of Newham Sports and Activities Team put
together a School Leavers Programme in partnership with
GLL.
The programme which is part funded by Sport England
provides every secondary school and college in Newham with two free
physical activity sessions per week (throughout the academic year)
of their choice aimed at girls aged 14-19 years of age.
The programme offers sports and physical activities that are not
currently available to them in schools such as cheerleading,
aerobics, step aerobics, spinning, trampolining, street
dance.
The London Borough of Newhams' Sports and Activities Team work
closely with Greenwich
Leisure Limited and
Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders to ensure that there are exit
routes from schools participation into existing and new community
sessions which are held at each of the four leisure centres across
the borough and at Talent Central (Gallions Reach) the new home of
Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders.
Ascension Eagles run a number of sessions during the evenings and
weekends which a number of girls are now accessing. These include
holiday programmes and the new Talent Central All Star Team which
was set up to provide an exit route for talented individuals and
identified leaders.
GLL also run a female only fitness programme as part of the School
Leavers project during the school holiday periods providing a
number of activities including the gym, spinning, aerobics, step
aerobics and street dance.
Newham Leisure Centre also provides a free female only gym
session on a Tuesday from 3:30-5:00pm to allow the girls to get
into the habit of attending the centre in their free time.
The programme is having a huge impact on the number of girls
taking part in sport and physical activity shown in the extremely
positive feedback from schools as well as GLL and Ascension
Eagles.
To find out more information on the programme, please contact
Nicole Napier, Team Leader, Sports & Activities Team at
nicole.napier@newham.gov.uk