Pathway to Podium Success – Schools showing positive improvements in their offer as a result of new initiative

The Pathway to Podium initiative was launched in October 2020 and has been designed to recognise and encourage schools’ contribution to Physical Education, school sport and physical activity (PESSPA). Pathway to Podium provides a set of criteria across 6 key areas of PROFILE, PARTICIPATION, PERFORMANCE, PEOPLE, PLACES and ADDITIONAL. Schools complete an initial self-assessment on each of the 6 key areas and receive a rating (engagement, bronze, silver or gold) based on their responses.

Since launching, 44 schools have taken part in Pathway to Podium and ended the year with the following awards:

• 12 Gold
• 17 Silver
• 5 Bronze
• 10 Engagement

From these 44 schools, 20 of them have been through a first review by completing a second self-assessment during the year following support and guidance from Sport Birmingham and other partners.

• 100% of these schools improved their scores
• There was an average improvement of 13%
• Levels of improvement ranged from 5% to 33%

James Grinsted, Senior Partnerships Manager at Sport Birmingham, said: “Our main aim when we started the development of Pathway to Podium over 18 months ago was to provide an initiative that supported and guided schools towards improving their whole school offer in terms of PE, sport and activity, using the upcoming Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as a driving force for change. The successes of the project since it’s launch has shown the initiative has been a great tool to support schools and identify areas where improvements can be made. We remain committed to supporting and influencing schools to adopt a whole school approach to PE, school sport and physical activity and would encourage all schools in the city to take advantage of this support through Pathway to Podium.”

In order to find out more about the impacts of the Pathway to Podium initiative, please read the 2020/21 Impact Summary.