School Games organisers from Lancaster and Heysham celebrate national win at inaugural award ceremony

Lancaster and Heysham-based School Games organisers Steven Jamieson and Tim Fletcher have been announced as one of the first winners of the School Games Impact Awards for an innovative project that targeted young people and encouraged them to be physically active.
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A network of School Games Organisers and School Games County Alliances have worked alongside children’s charity the Youth Sport Trust in delivering three distinct levels of competition since the Games' inception in 2010 - ranging from intra - inter school activity.

The Impact Awards are designed to celebrate the impact achieved for young people by the network of local School Games organisers, active partnerships and schools.

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There are five categories based on the overall School Games’ outcomes, plus a special category for 2020/21 based on the Commonwealth Games.

Steven Jamieson and Tim Fletcher at the Impact Awards.Steven Jamieson and Tim Fletcher at the Impact Awards.
Steven Jamieson and Tim Fletcher at the Impact Awards.

The winners were announced at the Youth Sport Trust House in Birmingham on August 3, as part of a celebration of all activity that had been made possible thanks to a £2m investment from Sport England from Birmingham 2022 legacy funding.

Steven Jamieson and Tim Fletcher won the Secondary School Focus Award, which recognises activities that directly engages with children of secondary school age.

Steven and Tim consistently saw the same group of pupils and schools taking part in sport opportunities and decided to counter this by highlighting and encouraging wider student involvement.

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They worked with various PE departments to create and incorporate a mix of competitive events and non-traditional activities into their schools or club’s curriculum.

The objective was to encourage more students to be physically active and increase the numbers of pupils getting involved in the School Games.

Steven said: “The positive impact we’ve had on our local children and young people involved in the activity is reward enough, however we are delighted to have won an Impact Award.

"Hopefully the activity we created will now be replicated by others across the network, or inspire them to try something similar to help increase children and young people’s physical activity. A special thanks to Chris Chambers from Carnforth High for their support and engagement.

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Clare Warburton, development manager at Youth Sport Trust and Impact Awards judge, said: “We received over 100 entries across the academic year but Steven Jamieson and Tim Fletcher’s really stood out.

“It was clear from the results of the activity and feedback from the panel of judges that real positive impact had been made.

"By working with children and young people and wider partners, they have created an innovative opportunity to engage with their target audience, support children to feel a sense of belonging and it’s a great example worthy of celebration.”

Charlie Crane, senior manager in the Children and Young People team at Sport England and Impact Awards judge, said: "The School Games network does incredible work in schools across the country, which has an amazing impact on the lives of children and young people.

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“It’s so important that we celebrate and shout about the fantastic work those in the network, such as Steve and Tim do. Not just so we can all see the scope of what the network achieve together, but also to allow the School Games to continue to grow and adapt to changing needs of young people.”

To find out more about the School Games Impact Awards, go online here.

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