County Sports Partnership Update

Youth Games to take place in 2008

Thanks to funding committed by the Local Authorities across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, SASSOT are able to confirm that a Partnership Youth Games will take place in summer 2008.

This one-day, multi-sport event last took place in 2005, when funding for the Active Sports programme drew to a close.  However, due to the popularity of the event and requests from Partners, SASSOT have been working over the past few months to secure the necessary funding to commit to running the event in 2008.  The annual Special Schools Sports Festival will also take place next summer as a separate event, but with close links to the Youth Games.

Dates, venues, sports etc. have yet to be confirmed but further details will follow shortly.

For more information please contact Jane Kracke, Sports Manager, 01785 619187 or email jkracke@staffordbc.gov.uk

 

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Sport England’s Market Segmentation - Are You a Ben or a Tim, an Alison or a Paula?

Building upon the data from its Active People Survey, Sport England - in conjunction with Experian Business Strategies, has worked to analyse data on the English population (18+), producing 19 market segments with distinct sporting behaviours and attitudes. This includes information on specific sports people take part in as well as why people do sport, whether they want to do sport and the barriers to doing more sport. In addition, the segments provide information on media consumption and communication channels, social capital, health indicators including obesity and engagement in the wider cultural sphere.

The power of these sporting segments lies not only in their ability to help us better understand the characteristics of our potential market but also to explore the market base at differing geographic levels. It is possible to analyse the market in a particular street, community, local authority or regions.

For an introductory guide to Sport England's segmentation and an overview of the 19 segments, see the links below.

An introduction to Sport England market segmentation

An Overview of the 19 segments

SASSOT are currently distributing local segmentation overviews to its partners and more information can be obtained from Jason Britton on 01785 619599 or jbritton@staffordbc.gov.uk

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SEWM Regional Sports Board Chair and Director visit SASSOT

Rauf Mirza, SEWM Regional Sports Board Chair and Steve Town, SEWM Director visited SASSOT's offices, on Monday 15 October, to congratulate the team on winning Sport England West Midlands' County Sports Partnership 2006/2007 Recognition Award for Annual Achievements.

Pictured left to right: Jane Kracke, Michelle Adams, Steve Town, Rauf Mirza, Laurence O'Neill, Wendy Anderson, Mark Thornewill, Leigh Morton and Jason Britton

Laurence O'Neill, Chair of SASSOT, received the trophy and cheque for £5,000 for delivery of a programme, to be agreed with Sport England, to increase participation in Sport and Active Recreation in the sub-region of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

For more information contact:
Mark Thornewill, Director
Tel: 01785 619896
Email: mthornewill@staffordbc.gov.uk

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SASSOT Receives Equity Award

SASSOT was delighted to achieve the Preliminary Level of the Equality Standard - A Framework for Sport Accreditation.

Pictured: Centre Sandra Roden, Head of Delivery at SEWM presents the award to Sue Finnigan, Vice-Chair Executive Board.
Background: Executive Board Members

The award was presented at the SASSOT Executive Board meeting on 29 October 2007 by Sandra Roden, Head of Delivery, Sport England West Midlands to Sue Finnigan, Vice-Chair.

Partnership Director, Mark Thornewill commented: "The work of the Equity Group has been key to the Partnership achieving the standard and I want to say congratulations and a big thank you for their hard work and support of the Partnership. Delivery of our Equity Action Plan, Access Across Staffordshire, is a priority target for the Partnership and I look forward to our continued working relationship to implement the plan in order to widen access to sport and active recreation."

The award recognises the work that the Partnership has implemented to widen access and increase participation and involvement in sport and active recreation from under-represented groups and communities.

For more information contact:
Mark Thornewill, Director
Tel: 01785 619896
Email: mthornewill@staffordbc.gov.uk

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SASSOT Awards £4,000 to Equity Projects

SASSOT is pleased to announce that it has committed £4,000 to eight equity-based sports projects across the sub-region. The projects, which will each receive £500 towards their delivery, focus upon improving accessibility to sport and active recreation within Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent for under-represented groups.

A further £1,000 will be made available to support similar projects when the next round of applications are encouraged – closing date 4^th February 2008.

For more details or contact Jason Britton on 01785 619599 or jbritton@staffordbc.gov.uk

 

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Diversity in Action Conference

Thurs 29 Nov 07

11.30am-4.30pm

Quality Hotel

Stoke-on-Trent

Is your Organisation Diversity Action oriented? This conference is an opportunity for you to become up to date on the latest thinking and practice of Diversity.

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Click here to read the Equality Standard For Sport Newsletter - October 2007 (31st Edition).

Click here to read Mencap's newsletter.

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Cannock’s Chase It Project proves the ‘Power of Sport’
 

Cannock Chase District Council’s ‘Chase It’ project has been submitted by the CSP to represent the SASSOT sub-region at the BBC Midlands Sports Awards in December.

The Power of Sport Award is being sponsored by Sport England West Midlands and is being delivered through the BBC in the region at its prestigious sports award event.

The award will be made to a project or initiative that has made a real impact on a community using sport or active recreation as a means of achieving its aims. The essential element is that there has been a recognisable difference made to people in the local community.

Two new Community Sports Networks

Congratulations to South Staffordshire District Community Sports Network and Cannock Chase District Community Sports and Play Network. Both of these networks met for the first time at the beginning of October to agree terms of reference and an action plan.  This brings the total Community Sports Networks in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent up to six.  

South Staffordshire District Community Sports Network

South Staffordshire Community Sports Network held their first meeting on the 1^st October 2007. There was excellent attendance and commitment towards the Network from a broad range of organisations to represent the local community. This network is being chaired by Katie White (Cultural Services Manager, South Staffordshire District Council). The network have agreed to review their terms of reference for sign off at the next meeting. They are also in the process of undertaking a mapping exercise to establish what sporting and active recreational activities are currently being provided by all local partners to help inform their up and coming delivery plan. This delivery plan will focus on increasing participation in sport and active recreation across South Staffordshire.

For more information on this network and to view the minutes click here to visit their pages on the Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent website.

The next meeting will take place on 10 December.

Cannock Chase Community Sport and Play Network

Cannock Chase Community Sport and Play Network held their first meeting on the 4^th October 2007. There was excellent attendance and commitment towards the Network and joining the sport and active recreation agenda with that of Play. Terms of reference were introduced for review and sign off at the next meeting on 30th January 2008. In addition to this an action plan was agreed to complete a mapping exercise of what sporting and active recreation opportunities are currently being provided within the District to inform the development of their delivery plan in the New Year.

For more information on this network and to view the minutes click here to visit their pages on the Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent website. 
 

For more information on any of the Community sports Networks within Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent please contact: -

Wendy Anderson
Active Recreation Manager
Tel: 01785 619695
Email wanderson@staffordbc.gov.uk

SASSOT safeguarding work endorsed by Staffordshire Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB)

Following our success in attaining the Intermediate Level of the National Safeguards in Sport Standards, we having been working with the Local Safeguarding Childrens Board (LSCB) to get a mandate to roll out the Standards with our local authority partners.  To this end, the Director and Workforce Officer recently presented a proposal to the LSCB to set up a working group linked to the LSCB to undertake this work. The proposal was endorsed by the LSCB and we are now working to establish the working group and engage the local authorities in this work.

The initial priority for the sports sub group is to undertake an audit of current safeguarding provision amongst local authority leisure services departments. Once this is complete the sports sub group will work with local authorities to implement the National Safeguards in Sport Standards within their leisure service departments. The proposed membership of the group is outlined below.

LSCB Sports Sub Group Membership:

SASSOT Workforce Officer  - Ben Hollands
SASSOT Executive Board Champions - Andy Weston (NGB) and Maureen Compton (Local Authorities)
LSCB representative - Neil Jenkinson (Local Authorities)
Local Authrotity HR TBC
Local Authority facilities rep TBC
Child Protection in Sport Unit – Nic Slinn

For more information please contact:

Ben Hollands
Tel: 01785 619317
Email: bhollands@staffordbc.gov.uk

Opportunity to join the SASSOT Coaches Database

In conjunction with NGBs, Local Authorities and Education partners, Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are working towards the introduction of the Staffordshire Coach Database. This will be open to all coaches, living or working in the Staffordshire area, who have met a set of minimum operating criteria. We anticipate that this database will help to raise the profile and standards of coaching in this area.

The database will "go live" in December 2007, however we would like to invite coaches to apply as soon as possible. Coaches who do not meet all of the criteria are still encouraged to apply, so that we can help them work towards registration.

We have applied to the Community Investment Fund for Workforce Development funding and, if successful, these resources will be targeted towards coaches registered on the database, or working towards registration. Registered coaches will also qualify for a discount at events such as the Staffordshire Conference

For further details and link to an application form, please click here

For more information please contact:

Ben Hollands
Tel: 01785 619317
Email: bhollands@staffordbc.gov.uk

Upcoming Workshops