Sports premium funding is a valuable grant for primary schools in England, helping to increase the least active pupils and improve health lifestyles in children.
We break down all you need to know about PE and sports funding for 2024.
What is sports premium funding 2024?
Sports premium funding is designed to help schools encourage pupils to be more healthy and active. Introduced in 2013, PE and sports premium is given to primary schools each year.
Sports premium funding should be used to improve PE and active provision in your school in a sustainable way.
This may be done by:
- Increasing the opportunity for pupils to access sport and exercise for at least 2 hours per week
- Offering a wide range of active extracurricular activities (especially to those who are least active)
- Addressing and improving the equal access to sport for girls and boys.
Which schools get PE and sports premium funding?
Sports premium funding is only given to primary schools. Targeting younger pupils aims to increase physical activity and participation in sports at a young age.
Your school will be eligible for PE and sports funding if you are a:
Maintained school
Academy or free school
Special school
Non-maintained special school
Pupil Referral Uni (PRU)
General hospital
Primary independent schools are not eligible for PE and sports funding from the Department for Education (DfE).
The 5 priorities of Sports Premium Funding
The DfE has identified 5 key priorities for the funding to be spent on:
- To increase staff confidence, knowledge and skills in teaching PE and sport
- To increase the engagement of all pupils in physical activity
- To raise the profile of PE and sport across the school
- To broaden the range of sports and physical activities, pupils receive
- To increase competitive sport participation
Want to know more about increasing girls’ participation and enjoyment in sport? Check out our recent interview with the England Girls’ Talent Pathway Officer.
How much do schools get for sports premium funding?
The PE and sports funding is allocated based on the number of pupils you have from Year 1- Year 6 (EYFS is not included in PE funding). If you have split year groups, the number of children aged 5-10 will be counted from the January census. This year, it uses the January 2023 census data.
The 2023/2024 amounts for PE and sports premium are:
- Small schools with less than 16 pupils will receive £1000 per pupil
- Larger schools (classed as 17 pupils and more) will receive £16,000 and then £10 per pupil after that
For example, if your school has 230 pupils on roll (between the ages of 5 and 10), it will receive £18,130 for sports premium funding.
When does sports premium have to be spent in 2024?
All schools (including academies and free schools) will receive the funding around the same time.
The first instalment (7/12 of the funding) will be given to schools in October or November. The final allocation comes in April 2024, the remaining 5/12 of the funding.
If we use the example above for a school with 230 pupils on roll, the Winter term instalment will have been £10,575 and the Spring instalment will be £7,554.
The deadline for spending your PE and sports premium funding is July 31st, 2024. You cannot carry over any funding into the next year. By that date, an accountability report should be published on your website.
A PE and sports funding report must cover the following:
- The amount your school received
- A full breakdown of how it was spent (including justification if needed)
- Details of the measurable impact of the funding on pupils’ PE attainment, physical activity and sports participation due to the spending
- Explanation of how the improvements will be sustainable in the future
- The percentage of pupils in year 6 who have met the national standards for water safety and swimming requirements
What can sports premium funding be spent on in 2024?
To ensure the funding is used to improve sport participation sustainably, there are conditions in place for spending the funding. 
The main focuses are:
- Building capacity and capability within your school, to ensure improvements benefit pupils in future years
- Developing the PE, physical activity or sport activities you already offer
There are limitations to what your school can spend the funding on.
You can spend it on:
- Staff CPD, mentoring, training and resources to make sure the future quality of the teaching of sport is sustainable
- Embedding physical activity to the school day with active travel
- Encouraging active break times
- Providing focused activities to increase participation from the least active children (this includes increasing girls’ participation in sport)
- Helping to provide equal access for all pupils for a range of sports and physical activities
- Raising the attainment of swimming for those who have not achieved the national standard after they have completed the core swimming lessons
Your school must not use the funding for:
- Capital expenditure (except for goods that are below your schools’ de minimis value)
- Employing coaches to take PE lessons (this should be from the school’s core budget)
- Teaching the minimum requirements of the national curriculum- like core swimming lessons
- Paying for subscriptions and invoices in advance for services to be used in coming years
- Buying staff PE kit
What is capital expenditure for schools?
Capital expenditure is defined as “The purchase of an asset (tangible or intangible), or expenditure which adds to/enhances and not merely maintains the value of an existing asset”.
Not all equipment is classed as capital expenditure, contact our sales team to discuss the sports premium packages we can organise for your school.
How can Fawns help?
Playtime by Fawns has helped countless schools spend their PE and sports premium funding effectively. Showing the impact of increased active breaktimes and sports and health trails helping to schools to increase physical activity participation during PE lessons and breaktimes.
Our brand new brochure is available for schools to see the full range of our stock; request your free brochure today and transform your playground.
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