Herne Bay and East Kent Coastal School Sports Partnership

The Herne Bay & East Kent Coastal School Sports Partnership lies across two districts within the county of Kent – Canterbury & Swale.  

Established in 2003, the partnership brings together 6 secondary, 25 primary and one pupil referral unit to work together to improve PE and School Sport.  These schools are predominantly from Herne Bay, Whitstable and Faversham, with 2 secondary and one primary school located in Canterbury.  In total, the partnership serves approximately 12,500 pupils. 

Herne Bay High Schools hosts the School Sports Partnership, consisting of the Partnership Manager along with a small team of PE advisors and support staff.  The Partnership Manager also carries out the role of the School Games Organiser – a Government funded role, whose remit is, among other things, to roll out the School Games Programme.  This encompasses offering a large number of competitions to all the primary and secondary schools within the Partnership, in a wide range of sports, together with other sporting opportunities.

The Partnership has 5 different target areas for development work:

• To improve and increase the provision of High Quality PE for all students
• To increase the opportunities for all young people to participate in a range of high quality activities on school site
• To increase the opportunities for all young people to participate in a range of high quality activities in a community environment
• To increase provision for all young people to develop their potential
• To increase the number of opportunities for pupils to take part in leadership and volunteering roles.

To help achieve these targets, the partnership works closely with many different people and agencies.  Primary School PE Co-ordinators work closely with the team to produce detailed action plans to develop their schools.  Other people involved include: parents, volunteers, coaches and community club representatives.  The Partnership Manager links with other local, county and national agencies such as Sports Development Officers, County PE Advisors, National Governing Bodies and the County Sports Partnership.

With all these people “working together” to achieve one goal, the impact has been very significant.  The Herne  Bay & East Kent Coastal Partnership uses PE and School Sport as a tool for having the whole school and community impact.  It strives to eradicate barriers to participation so that everyone, no matter what ability, age or gender, will have equal opportunities to access PE and Sport.

The key to our partnership’s success is that we all share the same dedication, passion and drive to make a lifelong impact on our pupils’ lives.