About a month ago I sent Mr Gove, Secretary of State for Education, and Theresa Villiers, MP for Barnet, a letter expressing my disappointment and dismay at the changes in the provision for sport announced in the comprehensive spending review, specifically the dismantling of the School Sport Partnership.

Ms Villiers has fobbed me off as not being in her constituency, even though I’ve worked in Barnet schools for 32 years. The letter to Mr Gove was passed on for someone else to deal with and I received their reply recently. Their response has not changed my mind that the Government’s plan to disband the School Sports Partnership (SSP) is fundamentally flawed and further coverage in the press and on television has convinced me that many other people feel the same.

Mr Gove and his advisors seem determined to miss the main point that everyone is trying to make, which is that competitive sport will decline if the SSP is dismantled. Most primary schools in particular will have no one who is willing or able to organise intra or inter school competitions for a variety of reasons, the main one being that PE co-ordinators are usually class teachers and they have enough on their hands already with a busy, demanding job. Individual teachers will not take on the areas that are dealt with in such a thorough, organised fashion by the SSP.

Mr Gove, and Mr Cameron, are also fond of saying “only 40 per cent of pupils play competitive sport regularly within their own school, and only 20 per cent play regularly against other schools.”

What is the old saying; there are lies, damn lies and statistics? The PE and Sport survey 2009/10 clearly demonstrates the excellent job primary schools are doing in delivering competitive sport. In Year 6, 60 per cent of children regularly participate in intra school competition. Again in Year 6, 70 per cent of children are involved in inter school activities and 42 per cent are regularly involved in inter school competition, and these figures are rising significantly every year. Mr Gove cannot just pick the statistic which he feels proves his point and ignore the rest of the survey.

If the Government goes ahead with the decision to disband the SSP it will destroy the good work put in place over the past seven years and be responsible for the gradual disappearance of competitive team sport in primary schools.

Eric Browett
Roman Way, Welwyn, Herts