Inspiring school children to achieve their best

A sport organisation has partnered with over 70 local schools to teach children about achieving their personal best.

LSSP is a not-for-profit Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) that is dedicated to providing all children and young people with the best possible PE, school sport and physical activity experiences.

The My Personal Best programme, inspired by the Youth Sport Trust (YST), has been rolled out in 60 primary and 10 secondary schools across the Liverpool City Region.

It aims to develop life skills, leadership and employability skills in young people. With a focus on PE and its importance in developing vital character traits in young people such as empathy, teamwork, resilience and leadership, My Personal Best allows for teaching and learning, assessment and whole school priorities to be enhanced.

LSSP’s specialist staff have delivered the programme and the relevant training to staff at local primary schools, ensuring the ethos is part of day-to-day school life.

Divided into four sections; Physical Me, Healthy Me, Social Me and Thinking Me, each area looks at developing students’ character and resilience and ties in with Ofsted’s new assessment framework, particularly, personal development.

One school which has come on board is St Finbar’s Catholic Primary School in Toxteth.

Headteacher, Mrs Janet Conley, said: “We decided to introduce the My Personal Best programme to the whole school as we were keen to embed the teaching of the life skills through P.E and other subjects.

“We have found that it has already had a positive effect on their vocabulary, they are getting more daily exercise and any behaviour issues have also greatly improved.”

Partnership manager, Jimmy McGinn at LSSP, said: “We are thrilled to be delivering the My Personal Best programme to primary and secondary schools in the Liverpool City Region and helping pupils understand important traits such as self-belief, motivation and resilience.

“The benefits of the My Personal Best programme are endless. Not only will children develop life skills that encourages them to flourish in PE, school and life, but it will also improve their health and wellbeing and personal skills.”