New girls project to start soon in Doncaster

Active Fusion have been awarded funding to deliver “˜Girls Get Active’ – a Sport England funded project. 

The children’s education charity, who work across a variety of projects and programmes, are aiming to reduce inactivity among year 6 girls transitioning between primary and secondary school.

Using the power of sport and physical activity, the Active Fusion team will provide physical activity sessions to girls in year 6 at a selection of primary schools in Thorne, Moorends, Stainforth, Adwick, Scawthorpe and Conisbrough.

Each session will provide opportunity for girls to participate in different sports, take on leadership roles and work as a team, guided by students from Trinity Academy, De Warrene Academy, Don Valley Academy and Outwood Academy Adwick. 

The project will also train young females at secondary schools to support with the transition and run community-based activity sessions for the girls involved.

Working across three targeted areas, the project will look to increase the participant’s confidence, leadership and development skills, while creating an opportunity for girls to meet other pupils from other schools who will be transitioning to the same secondary school.

Sport Development Officer at Active Fusion, Hannah Lane, said: “The need for engagement in sport, especially for females, has never been higher.

“We hope this project will enable girls to build on confidence and activity levels which may have been affected by Covid-19.

“We want girls to enjoy sport and physical activity and hopefully this exciting new project will help with both their physical and mental wellbeing.”

Research shows that by age seven, girls are already less active than boys, while secondary-age girls are more likely to experience barriers to participation than boys. The biggest drop-off occurs during the transition from primary to secondary school, with disruption to friendship groups and declining body confidence affecting girls’ participation in PE and sport. 

In an attempt to answer this decline, the Girls Get Active project, funded by Sport England, will be made available to schools in some of the most deprived areas of Doncaster. 

Sport England is a public body and invests up to £300 million National Lottery and government money each year in projects and programmes that help people get active and play sport. 

It wants everyone in England, regardless of age, background, or level of ability, to feel able to engage in sport and physical activity. That’s why a lot of its work is specifically focused on helping people who do no, or very little, physical activity and groups who are typically less active – like women, disabled people and people on lower incomes. 

For more information on the Girls Get Active project, please contact Hannah at hannah@activefusion.org.uk.