For the Active Schools staff in Aberdeen, work isn’t just about helping young people get active, it’s about helping young people change their lives.
Throughout the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic Active Schools teams across the country have faced challenges and have continually adapted their approach to keep supporting communities across Scotland.
Aberdeen’s Active Schools team was no different. When schools were forced to close during lockdown, the Active Schools Aberdeen team were deployed into local education childcare hubs and then local schools to support children of key workers and those who were deemed to be vulnerable or at risk.
This allowed the team to build relationships with some young people who had previously not engaged with Active Schools activities and for the team to further understand their needs. These young people became really engaged in sport and physical activity as a result. Working closely with Aberdeen City Council’s Integrated Children and Family Services created a strong relationship and the Active Schools work was well received.
A new approach
Since then a more targeted, inclusive approach has been adopted and thanks to a £200,000 investment from Aberdeen City Council’s Education Recovery Fund, 13 Active Schools assistants are supporting specific pupils during curriculum time.
Having a strong presence across the city provides an inclusive approach, making sure pupils reap the benefits of sport for positive change.
Every primary and secondary school in Aberdeen has an Active Schools assistant for one day a week, providing physical activity opportunities either on a one-to-one basis or in small groups with pupils, bridging the gap into extracurricular activities.
sportscotland works in partnership with all 32 local authorities to invest in and support the Active Schools Network. The network consists of over 400 managers and coordinators dedicated to developing and supporting the delivery of quality physical activity and sporting opportunities for children and young people.
sportscotland has partnership agreements with all 32 LAs to identify key areas of work and development with an investment contributing towards Active Schools and Community Sports Hubs. In 2021-22 sportsctland contributed £359,136 to Aberdeen City for Active Schools
Kim McRobbie, Active Schools Inclusion Manager in Aberdeen, said:
“It’s all about building lasting relationships – we aim to remove barriers and support young individuals to improve their physical health, emotional wellbeing and enhance key life skills.
“It gives our team time with these young people to work with them, build relationships and hopefully get them more involved in the programme. The 13 assistants work directly with our coordinators to identify those young people to then get them engaged in the Active Schools programme.
“Our delivery model implements a child-centred approach, enabling each to receive a bespoke programme of support.”
Impact
Young people across the Aberdeen area are benefitting from the team’s work. Care-experienced young people, vulnerable young people and pupils with other challenges who might find it hard to be engaged in school are reaping the benefits of sport and physical activity – the impact has been stark.
Kim explained: “The 13 assistants have only been in place since Easter and it’s going really well so far.
"We’ve seen increased attendance in school and we’re seeing children coming to school specifically on that day because it’s the day their assistant is there. We’ve seen decreased school exclusions amongst our care-experienced young people.”
Run in partnership with Aberdeen City Council’s Virtual School, Sport Aberdeen delivers its SPACE (Supported Physical Activity for Care Experienced) programme.
SPACE is designed to support care experienced children and young people in Aberdeen towards a brighter future and ensures every child has a voice to shape the project. Building on the success of the former ‘Looked After Programme’, SPACE has been integrated into the Active Schools team, providing further benefits through shared resources and closer collaboration.
An impressive 85% of children and young people have increased their school attendance after participating in SPACE for a minimum of 12 weeks.
Life-changing
One care-experienced young person’s life has changed completely thanks to the help of the Active Schools team.
A 14-year-old was referred, this young person had very low confidence, poor mental health, was overweight and had a disability which made taking part in sport even more daunting.
Kim describes the remarkable impact: “He started working with one of our project activators on a one-to-one basis and just through building that relationship his confidence grew and grew.
“He took an interest in going for a walk and this soon became very important to him. He saw the benefits of walking from a socialising perspective and for keeping fit. He enjoyed walking so much that he wanted to set up a walking group in his area for older adults so that he could have an impact on those who were feeling lonely or isolated.
“He’s developed the confidence to try other sports like football and rugby. He’s taken part in PE at school and the teachers have commented on how much his mobility and fitness have improved.
“PE became a bit of a safe space for him, he developed a good relationship with his teacher and he now attends extra-curricular clubs. From that he’s developed friendships, he’s now going to the gym with his friends in his spare time and has joined several different Active Schools clubs and other clubs in his community.”
Kim advocates her team’s passion for their work and recognises that each of them is truly dedicated to making an impact on the lives of the young people they work with.
To recognise the improvement in those young people every day is the payoff for all the hard work, she added: “Reduced exclusions and higher attendance at schools is great but we’ve had young people who started with us with a range of different issues. Like low confidence, low self-esteem, in some cases self-harming, some serious mental health challenges and others who are inactive.
“To see these young people walking through the door with their head held high is incredible.
"We’ve got young people who can now go and speak to an adult where they would’ve shied away before. They are learning the social skills that will support them for the rest of their lives. It’s about how we set them up for success away from the classroom as well.”
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