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Whatever side of the argument you are on, I personally think the fact that this campaign has been so high profile in the media including the political press & not just the sports pages is fantastic. I personally don't think this would be the case if it wasn't for the fact we are holding the Olympics.

"before I explore what might happen next to PE in the UK, let's have a short history lesson"

Perhaps, it might be worth a history lesson for Matt that includes devolution - and the fact these partnerships, this decision, and this approach to PE, only applies in one part of the UK.

The devil, as politicians say, is in the detail.

Next step:

1, State with clarity, for the benefit of the public, what exactly the supposed failings of the SSPs are. Allow the SSP representatives the chance to rebut those claims. Refuse to publish any slandering, force both sides to stick to the facts as they see them.
2. From that, delineate the key bones of contention between the two sides and ask them to come up with an alternative that all sides can live with. Remove the top down imposition from a Tory Party which has promoted empowerment, localism and partnership above the Socialist top-down autocracy (do either actually really exist?)
3. Put that compromise proposal out for public consumption and go with it if people are happy.
4. Do all that by April 9th 2011. That being the end of this financial year.

It can be done, if we really, really want sport for children to be great in this country.

If all parties really want a solution, rather than an interminable argument and battle for media credits.

And if the media can act as a force for good rather than competitive terrorists sniping from the bushes in every nook and cranny of our society.

Think you're all up to that??

As a 16 year old girl at an all girls school I will be devastated if the sports partnerships are cut. I love sport but the P.E department at my school are already neglected. Year 10 and 11 pupils at my school are not allowed out of school to represent the school in sports competitions in the borough that the SSPs arrange.
Sadly not many of my fellow pupils (especially not my head teacher!) feel as passionately as I do about taking part in competitive sports. They don't see how important sport is to a child's well being.
The SSPs are great, but I still think not enough is offered for school children: for my year group we can only compete with other schools in netball, badminton, cross country, athletics and tennis and sometimes rounders. Matches are never organised in football, cricket, table tennis etc. and I feel that, at a state school, I am missing out hugely and have to instead take part in sports outside of school.

My elder son's school (a 'Sports College' coincidentally) has a new headmaster after the last one was deemed inadequate. The new headmaster was until recently a teacher and one of the deputy heads. My younger son's school is ruled by the iron fist of an intelligent but immovable headmistress (another daughter of Thatcher, albeit one with left wing leanings). I have spoken to both as my sons have special educational needs and I'm concerned to be honest that both will re-allocate the funds which should be for SEN to things which make the school look better (the Primary school is really keen on chess clubs etc). Given that heads of schools often have their own agendas - namely climbing league tables for the schools - this removal of ringfenced funding and trust on professional educators to double up as managers and accountants is an ideology, not a good idea. Why can't politicians just understand that removing the ring-fencing for sports funding will inevitably mean that at least some of the funding given for sports will be re-allocated to education (or more likely to extra-curricular activities for the brightest pupils).

This Coalition Goverment primsed when elected to listen to the public about where cuts should and should not be made. If Mr Cameron, the same Mr Cameron who on an overseas trip is alleged to have seen a TOPS bag and said "that's a good idea we should introduce this" believes 620,000 people would feel so strongly about something he believes has been "a complete failure" then Mr Cameron is clearly deluded and would appear to have about as much integrity as the FIFA rabble he felt so hard done by last week.

SSP's have been incredible in getting children playing sport. Not necessarily champions no, but the thousands and thousands of kids that will play leisure sport to stay fit, get healthy and build hobbies.

What never been tracked or analysed is the difference sport makes to a child's self confidence, the difference it means in the learning of team work, of respect for each other and for an opponent, for the impact sport makes on a child's understanding of healthy living and most importantly for a child to get the buzz of winning and understand the pain of losing... these are life lessons that often cannot be taiught or learned in a classroom.

De-ring fencing the money means it is lost in the cases where it is needed the most. A HEad can choose between a new TA ( full time) or some sports stuff afte school. Its a no brainer to many many schools.

This is the big part though, for anyone who has been involved in SSP's you know the staff involved are incredible, they motivate encourage, they care. They have a special passion for the work they do and the difference they make. even now despite the fact most will be lost to redundancy they continue to work and continue to wnthuse kids across the country. I have been fortunate to work with SSP's in Bridgwater, Corby and Blackpool, 3 of the most deprived areas in the country and the work we have seen and the fabulous young people we have worked with is a jewel in the crown of outr education system.

On April 223 2011 on St George's Day under in part the banner of SSP's we will take upto 1500 young people from across England who will have trained intensely in dance under the guidance of a top West end Choreographer to perform at Twickenham Satdium - the home of Rugby an 8 minute spectacular dance show. By the time they perform the pupils will have trainined solidly for 30 hours over 5 days, built fitness, set themselves huge personal targets and they will go out and have an experience they will never forget and that will potentially have an impact on them that could last many years.

By 2012, the year we host an Olympic games... the chance to do this again will have gone.

SSP's have to be saved plain and simple

Liam O'Reilly
Pro-Excel

To be honest, cuts are going to have to come in everywhere. They have already made me reconsider whether to apply to uni on a deferred entry due to the loss of a salary cap. I don't mean to sound harsh, but they just have to man up and face the fact that cuts are going to be coming in many divisions of the public sector. Sad, I know, but this is what the coalition has inherited from the buffoons under Brown and Blair.

Ironically, even though they are campaigning for a good cause, they could have run a few five milers in that time, and thus got the necessary exercise that they are campaining for.

What I find frustrating is that no-one is coming out with any suggestions of how the current SSP model can be ammended to incorporate a cut in funds. I work within the system and can put forward several ways that the system can be run with less funding.
Furthermore, when people claim the system is too based on bureaocracy, that is because that is what we were tasked with to account for previous funding. If the coalition dont want us to do that then great, but that doesnt mean we cant still deliver all of the fantastic benefits.
The beauty of the current system is that it is adjustable and can work with less funding as long as key posts are maintained. We can also tailor our work more to Health, competition, Olympics / Paralympics etc etc as directed by local head teachers.
The scheme has always been locally directed by Head teachers and key stakeholders and if funding continues in some way then Heads will dictate what we work on - hence a locally managed programme. It is the Big Society in action with all the work done around volunteering and leadership, work with hard to reach groups and family engagement.
If the funding is not ring fenced though schools simply will not have enough to go around and sport will always come second to teachers, books and lighting which with these cuts are the facts and difficulties facing schools.

As the Partnership Headteacher of Burnham Market and Walsingham Primary Schools , I would like to promote the success of the North Norfolk Schools Sports Partnership. It has enabled children to learn new skills in new sports, like tag rugby, basketball, hockey, cricket, tennis, athletics, golf, fencing, archery, speedstacking and street dance. Children from the age of 4 to 11 years old have had these opportunities. Some have had the opportunity to represent the school at local and district level. Good sporting opportunities bring good health and active brains for young learners. Quite simply, without the School Sports Partnership, this would not be possible. Individual teachers may be able to lead a small amount of sport, but the School Sports Partnership brings a co-ordinated approach across a district.
I was lucky to take my school tag rugby team (12 plays - boys and girls) to the Festival at Fakenham Rugby Club. We joined 10 other schools for an afternoon of excellent skills, plenty of excitement, good teamwork and friendly rivalry and competition. With the core coaching at the heart by the Schools Sports Partnership, it was such a success!
If there is to be an 'Olympic Legacy, then it must come from these young people supported by their parents, their school, the Schools Sports Partnership and the local sports clubs. Be brave, Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Education - change your minds and complete this U-turn in support of the UK's sporting future!

I teach A level Sport and PE in a sports college and although I dont have a great deal to do with what SSP delivers I do see it doing a great deal of good. What SSC's have put together is excellent for kids of all ages and for me what Sports Colleges should be about. Unfortunately the real agenda behind all specialist schools is improving results and climbing league tables. I would imagine most Heads would suggest that sport, in all its forms, is beneficial for ones development, however, it dosnt help the position on the league table! For many teachers education has become an endless task of providing evidence. Most spend more time doing this than thinking about how to improve the teaching and learning experience for the students. If funding does change, I fear Heads will be more prone to look at ways to make the school look good for league tables/Ofsted and the like, rather than what is good for the students. We seem to have forgotten that they are the most important things in the education system not whether one school can produce statistics that make it look better than another!

With all due respect to the young lady who has gathered the petition, done a wonderful job and taken this to number 10 where our appointed leaders banging this drum. Where are the MP's, the teachers and the sports leaders on this issue ?

It takes a student to bring this to the nations attention and point out the way this has almost been slipped under the radar. It is essential that the SSP funding is reinstated not only to develop sporting stars of the future but also the health and well being of the nations youth. The amount of adults that have to turn to gyms, fitness trainers etc later in life to become fit is enourmus , these schemes instilled in them at young age would also put less strain on the NHS further down the line.

School Sports Partnerships have another affect not mentioned in most comments in that they provide the link for sports clubs to provide specialist coaching in schools. This helps the clubs to advertise thier services to students and promote thier sport. Often SSP's provide the evidence needed by clubs to access governing body funding for local clubs. Volunteer coaches for sport visit schools via SSP contact as this saves the volunteers having to contact up to ten schools to arrange them!

What are we doing as a nation, when coming up to the start of the biggest global event in the world (no not football but the Olympics), we are cutting state school sport.

All the good work undertaken, and i agree every government department needs to take a share of funding cuts, we are just wasting it.
A delagation of 5 young people set of to the House of Commons to speak to our MP about the proposed cuts. A Conservative one as well.
The magic moment came for me and this about summed it all up was when after the MP had asked a primary pupil what she had done through the School Sports Partnership, the pupil duly told her all what she had done. It was pretty impressive.
The lightbulb moment came when he then asked another student who was part of the Leadership academy this question, it goes something like this.

MP "So ------ , you are not too long out of primary school, when you were at primary school, what sporting provision did you do other than your PE lessons?"

Student"nothing, there wasn't anything else on offer" Lightbulb moment for the MP.

You can't beat it from the horses mouth, kids just tell it how it is!