Volunteering & Leadership

Step into Sport - A Direction for the Future (Step ON, Step IN, Step UP)

The purpose of the Step into Sport programme is to increase the quantity, quality and diversity of young people engaged in volunteering and leadership, with consequent benefits to schools, clubs, the community and the young people themselves. In essence the Step into Sport programme is a tool which enables schools to grow young people as leaders and deploy them as active volunteers both within the school and community settings.

Step into Sport has been delivered by School Sport Partnerships and County Sports Partnerships for the past five years with some excellent results but it is time for us to now move the programme on to another level.

The Youth Sport Trust and Sport England have worked with a number of partner agencies to develop a delivery model for Step into Sport 08-11 that will create the following outcomes;

• A pathway of leadership and volunteering from KS3 - KS5 (aged 11-19) that starts with an introduction to Leadership roles through the PE Curriculum using Sport Education through to SchoolBased Volunteering and ultimately young people as Community Volunteers.
• A menu of National Governing Body sports specific qualifications and generic leadership qualifications that are aligned to developments in the 14-19 curriculum, including the emerging "Sports Diploma".
• Effective support for young people at a local level (SSP) through the provision of Leadership Academies that will enable them to become effective schoolbased and communitybased volunteers.
• Clear pathways that allow young people to move through from generic leadership roles into specific volunteering roles such as Coaching, Officiating, Event Volunteering, Team Manager/Sports Administration and roles within IT/Media.
• A community pathway alongside the route way developed through education, that is in place to support young people as leaders and volunteers who are volunteering within a club setting