Sports Development - Press Release

'Lads And Dads' Initiative Hailed A Success

An exciting new initiative has been piloted in North East Lincolnshire. Funded from the Standards Fund and a grant from the Heartwell Community Awards, the 'Lads & Dads' initiative is aimed at year 3 (7/8 year old) boys and their dads/male carers (grandads, uncles, step-dads etc.). It has been piloted this half term in four schools: Lisle Marsden Primary, Woodlands Primary, Springfield Primary and Welholme Junior and has combined sporting activities with reading.

Kay Snape, the LEA Study Support Co-ordinator, has been looking at various ways of involving men in their children's education and the problems linked with boys' underachievement. At age 7, assessments already show clear performance gaps between boys and girls. Boys are less likely to read for pleasure than girls and, in this increasingly technologically driven world, today's children have poor co-ordination, which affects their ability to write correctly.

Each week, for five weeks, the boys involved have been taking home a different sports bag containing pieces of sporting equipment to practice a skill (rolling, catching, hitting, under-arm throwing and over-arm throwing) with their 'dads', as well as a book and activitiy sheet. The 'dads' have been working each evening with their boys.

The programme has culminated on Saturday with an activity day hosted by Wintringham School, which is the lead school for the School Sport Co-ordinator programme in North East Lincolnshire. The day took the form of a friendly and fun competition made up of five physical challenges based on the basic skills practiced in the previous five weeks interspersed by fun literacy activities. Each 'lad & dad' worked as a team, the winning team being presented with a trophy and each 'lad & dad' with a certificate for having taken part in the programme.

The 'Lads & Dads' project is a partnership between North East Lincolnshire's LEA Study Support Team, the Sports Development Unit, the School Libraries Department and the School Sport Co-ordinator Programme. Kay said: " Working in partnership has meant we have been able to share expertise and resources. Evaluation of the pilot is looking good and we are hoping to roll the programme out to more primary/junior schools in the coming year."

7 April 2003

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