1. sportscotland
School Sport Award
Gold Award Validation guidelines

2. Gold Award Validation
Guidance on the validation process for schools looking to continue their Gold status beyond the initial 2 year period.

3. Gold Award Validation
The School Sport Award is designed to encourage schools to self evaluate and continuously improve their physical education and school sport offer. This should be an ongoing process even for schools that have achieved Gold. Gold Award status lasts for 2 academic years, at the end of which, your school will be expected to re-apply to validate their Gold status for a further 2 years. For example if you gained a Gold Award in the academic year 2014/15 your current award will expire in June Through the Gold Award Validation process we want schools to reflect on the journey they have been on over the past 2 academic years and tell us how they have continued to meet the 3 aims of the School Sport Award.

4. School Sport Award Aims
To encourage schools to self reflect and continuously improve
To recognise and celebrate successful PE & school sport models
To put young people at the forefront of the decision making, planning and implementation processes

5. Gold Award Validation Process
The Gold Award Validation process still requires completion of a Gold Award application however this time we are not looking for the same level of detail.
This time your supporting statements and evidence for each core area are only require to cover the two elements highlighted below;
Maintained – What has been a continuous strength? Provide an example of best practice, and describe what you did?
New and/or Improved – Anything new or areas of improvement? Provide an example of best practice, what did you do?

6. Validation - Step by step process
If you have not already done so for this academic year, complete a self assessment. You will be eligible to reapply for a Gold Award if you score 75% or above and meet the minimum requirements.
Use the PowerPoint template provided to create a slide or slides for each section to describe what your school has maintained, what is new and / or improved.
Refer back to your original development plan in order to answer these questions. i.e. one school may have highlighted school sport, pathways and CLPL as areas to improve. We would therefore expect to hear what they have done to try and maintain, improve or add something new to try and develop these areas.

7. Validation - Step by step process
You only need to submit one or two slides per section, we are not asking for masses of information. Only focus on: maintained, new or Improved.
You might not have maintained, improved and new areas to cover each section, this is okay, as long as you can state what is currently happening.
Next stage is your vision for the future and this will become the basis of your new development plan.
Complete supporting statements by the school lead and school sport committee to provide the context.
Submit your application by June

8. Some ideas……
The next slides are an example of what we could expect to see demonstrating the aspects: maintained, improved and/or new Please note the following slides are based on a combination of previous years answers. The examples are from secondary and primary schools from all over Scotland to show a true and valid representation of how to evidence your SSA resubmission application.

9. Section 1: Physical Education
1. Maintained: Every child has been offered at least 2 hours of PE per week.

10. Section 1: Physical Education
2. Improved: Lesson plans have been designed around incorporating the Significant Aspects of Learning (SALs), this has meant that sessions have core aims and objectives.
Example of a session plan

11. Section 1: Physical Education
3. New: Due to the SALs PE has been delivered in a different way so that more children are able to engage in different elements of learning, i.e. gross and fine motor skills and problem solving.

12. Section 2: School sport
1. Maintained: Giving pupils a “market place” in which they can decide which sports and activities they wish to take part in each term. This has given pupils the chance to try a different sport. At the end of each term pupils get asked to complete a survey or questionnaire, this is a good way to gain some feedback on what they liked and what can be improved.

13. Section 2: School sport
2. Improved: Offering non-main stream sports such as curling & weightfliftng, so that children can be exposed to as many positive sporting experiences as possible.

14. Section 2: School sport
3. New: Getting more volunteers and parents involved so that more extra curricular activities can be set up. Asking parents for feedback, comments and statements, not only to hear what they have to say but also get them involved and on board for the future projects.

15. Section 3: Pathways
Maintained: Progressing individuals into older age groups, providing the opportunity for them to attend more training sessions and allowing them to progress onto bigger clubs.
Improved: Keep establishing links with local clubs, this has been supported by active schools co-ordinators linking other schools and clubs together.
New: PE teachers, staff, volunteers and parents are now attending the local community sports hub, this has allowed some positive relationships to be formed so that stronger pathways can be formed in order to provide more opportunities to children.

16. Section 3: Pathways
Maintained: Progressing individuals into older age groups, providing the opportunity for them to attend more training sessions and allowing them to progress onto bigger clubs.

17. Section 3: Pathways
2. Improved: Keep establishing links with local clubs, this has been supported by active schools co-ordinators linking other schools and clubs together.

18. Section 3: Pathways
3. New: PE teachers, staff, volunteers and parents are now attending the local community sports hub, this has allowed some positive relationships to be formed so that stronger pathways can be formed in order to provide more opportunities to children.

19. Section 4: Compete & Perform
1. Maintained: Attending district inter schools athletics festivals, having an annual inter house summer tournament, having weekly fixtures for team sports such as hockey, football and basketball

20. Section 4: Compete & Perform
2. Improved: Increasing participation rates for local and regional games and events, this is partly due to a positive relationship with more children being exposed to a variety of sports in PE and there interest in taking part on a regular basis.

21. Section 4: Compete & Perform
3. New: Providing more inclusive sessions for participants with a disability to take part. i.e. lawns bowls, table tennis and bocia have been proven to be really successful, so the next step if offering more options for participants to choose what they want to take part in.

22. Section 5: Celebrating Sport
Maintained: There is still a trophy cabinet for cups, medals and trophies to be displayed. Pupils still receive certificates on a termly basis for a particular element they have done well in during core PE.

23. Section 5: Celebrating Sport
2. Improved The PTA have provided some funding for the PE department to get a new display board for sporting achievements to be displayed on a monthly basis

24. Section 5: Celebrating Sport
3. New: Pupils have been involved in the process by nominating there friends for sporting achievements in order for their picture to be put up on the board; this has encouraged pupils to recognise, encourage and celebrate others achievements. Having an achievement tree, in which pupils make a decoration for the tree with a statement saying what sporting achievement they have, this is an all inclusive method which ties in with creating a world class sporting system for all to stay active and involved in Sport.

25. Section 6: Leadership
1. Maintained: Young leaders, P7’s have continued to help and assist with the infant age groups at lunch time. Sports council has been continued this year in which there were over 65 applications.

26. Section 6: Leadership
2. Improved: There is now a leaders pack which allows leaders to understand what there roles and responsibilities are. In addition the Sport council are speaking at assemblies. The Sport council meet up on a weekly basis on a Friday afternoon instead of each first Monday of the month, this has meant that they have been able to get more projects completed.

27. Section 6: Leadership
3. New: “Young leader of the month”, active schools co-ordinator and staff select one person each month in which they feel have stood out and has been a good role model. This is not only a way of encouraging leadership but also celebrating other roles within sport. The Sport Council are looking to attend community hub meetings in order to represent the pupils from their school. The Sport Council are also looking to get some more parents involved in the PTA for the next academic year. In the next academic year we are looking to expand the sports council due to so much interest being shown, we aim to give children who haven't been involved in programmes or clubs an opportunity so that its exclusive for all to get involved.

28. Section 7: CLPL
Maintained: Coaches that lead extra curricular activities are UKCC level 1,2 and 3 qualified. All lead coaches are first aid qualified.

29. Section 7: CLPL
2. Improved: Assistant coaches and volunteers are starting to understand the importance of attending workshops, conferences, e-learning and UKCC badges

30. Section 7: CLPL
3. New: More volunteers are willing to attend workshops such as Better Movers Better Thinkers. Getting support from active schools and local council has made a huge difference as it has allowed them to access funding to send coaches on courses.

31. Section 8: Recognition & Awards
1. Maintained: End of term Sports Awards, this is where all pupils, volunteers, coaches and parents are invited to attend an awards ceremony for a variety of awards ranging from “Young volunteer of the year” to “Most inspiring coach”. This has proven very successful the past three years and we shall continue to develop and grow the awards ceremony.

32. Section 8: Recognition & Awards
2. Improved: Pupils are involved in helping to thank coaches and volunteers, whereas in previous years staff took the lead, this way it means that children are also developing their ability to respect and appraise all those involved in the sporting community

33. Section 8: Recognition & Awards
3. New: Volunteers are now receiving some money as a token of the schools appreciation. Some volunteers are also being asked on school trips for free and being given vouchers

34. Section 9: Access to School Facilities
Maintained: Schools and clubs are continuing to communicate with each other so that facilities are not double booked.
Improved: Making sure that there are not too many clashes in classes, so that pupils can attend as many classes and sports as possible.
New: Alternating facilities on a term basis so that all extra curricular clubs can be run. In previous years it was done in the academic year which meant that pupils wouldn’t have access to a sport or activity for a whole year, by controlling the classes and facilities available it then means that participants don’t loose interest.
Questionnaire for pupils to complete