Active Schools Series - Ravenscliffe Is Redefining Physical Activity

Ravenscliffe High School is a specialist school for students aged 11–19 with clearly identified special educational needs.

People with special educational needs and disabilities often have lower-than-average rates of participation in physical activity. To support pupils and their families, the school was approached to become an Active School. Their expertise was also sought to help adapt the Calderdale Active Schools (CAS) Framework to suit the needs of a specialist setting.

A meeting was held with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to identify which parts of the CAS framework required changes or adaptations.

Alterations were made to the active travel and extra-curricular elements to better accommodate young people with mobility and sensory issues.

Using the adapted framework, a workshop was held with 26 teaching staff, including SLT. During the session, staff contributed 49 suggestions to increase opportunities for pupils to be active. These ideas formed the basis of an action plan to introduce new initiatives and interventions.

“I felt that staff were really engaged and focused on the theme of the session. In fact, there have been several occasions this week when teaching staff have stopped me to share extra active strategies they’ve used in addition to their scheduled learning sessions. We are nothing if not creative! I’ll share this with staff. Thanks again for a useful and thought-provoking session.” - Assistant Headteacher, Ravenscliffe High School

Within just seven weeks of the action plan being produced, 12 interventions and initiatives were introduced. These ranged from changes to timetables and lesson plans to expanding the enrichment and extra-curricular offer, including increasing the number of free clubs available. Staff wellbeing was also considered, with activities introduced specifically for staff.

Existing opportunities were enhanced with daily dance and biking sessions, and active learning was embedded into lessons.

All initiatives take place either daily or weekly and are delivered across the whole school, with every year group taking part.

As part of the short-term goals, a CAS Lead was appointed - someone with previous experience in the role at another school. The long-term goal of improved

fitness will be measured through teacher reporting.

Already, teachers are seeing success in the medium-term goal: pupils are becoming more aware of the importance of physical activity for health and wellbeing, and are showing increased confidence, improved coordination, and stronger friendships.