The power of sport

What a summer of sport lies ahead. For most, that will mean following the FIFA Football World Cup. If you’re an athletics or netball fan, it might be the Commonwealth Games. For me, it will be the Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup followed by the FIH Hockey World Cup. Perfect! As Nelson Mandela so famously said, “Sport has the power to inspire and unite people”. As the School Partnerships Alliance (S.P.A.) Sports Partnerships Report evidences, it also has the power to unite sectors, and never has this been more important. 

One of the most striking statistics from the recent hot spell was the tragically high number of young people who drowned. The national curriculum sets clear objectives for swimming and water safety, but not all schools have access to swimming pools and suitably qualified instructors. The Department for Education’s Curriculum and Assessment Review reported that “in 2022/23 9% of primary schools did not offer swimming and/or water safety lessons, with only half (55%) teaching their pupils safe self-rescue in different situations” (DfE, 2025, p.103). Partnerships are providing opportunities to address these grim statistics. 

The S.P.A. Sports Partnerships Report features seven swimming partnerships, from sharing pools and swimming instructors to more mutually beneficial programmes, including one involving trainee PE teachers from a local SCITT. These partnerships are making a difference; they can be life changing, and potentially lifesaving. As a primary headteacher from one project put it, “Our children, some of whom are extremely vulnerable, are making excellent progress in swimming. As we know, this is more than just a hobby but potentially a lifesaving life skill.” Pupils involved in another swimming partnership also recognise how important it is to learn to swim and be safe in the water, saying “I have learned about life saving which is very important”, “I am now more confident in the water”, and “I am so proud that I can swim 25m”.  

Sports partnerships are not only providing more primary pupils with access to swimming pools, they are also giving pupils in all key stages access to a range of sports that they might otherwise not play. When I started reading the case studies for our sports report, I was struck by how important these partnerships are. The more I looked into them, the firmer my resolve to highlight the importance of these ventures and evidence their impact. Six thousand words later, and before I had even completed the report, I had written a paper summarising my research: ‘Towards levelling the playing field? Cross-Sector Partnerships and School Sport Inequality’. 

S.P.A. is committed to supporting cross-sector partnerships that are sustainable, impactful, mutually beneficial, and focused on need. When it comes to sport, for many schools those needs include fully delivering the national curriculum objectives and ensuring “sport for all”, whatever a young person’s ability. Partnerships involving pupils with special needs and disabilities are both necessary and highly impactful. In the ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ (DfE, 2026, n.p.) white paper, SEND students are moved from “sidelined to included”, with the paper specifically mandating that physical activity and sport are core components of the new “universal offer” (ibid). Cross-sector partnerships are already contributing to this. 

Lord Moynihan’s 2012 comment that the difference in sports provision – and engagement at the highest level – between independent and state schools provided “one of the worst statistics in British sport” (The Standard, 2012) resurfaces every Olympics. Case studies in our sports report show that partnerships are introducing pupils to sports such as rowing, hockey, rugby, cricket and lacrosse that are dominated by the privately educated. In some cases, these are run in close liaison with local clubs to ensure that there is a pathway for those wanting to continue in the sport. 

Much is said about the often stark resource differences between state schools and their independent counterparts. In his article titled ‘The Art of the Possible – Celebrating Partnerships’ (Thompson, 2025, n.p.), state-school-educated former five-time world karate champion Geoff Thompson MBE called on politicians to work alongside schools and the governing bodies of sports “to enhance our national sporting legacy”. He added that “independent schools are ready to stand in meaningful partnership with them [state schools] to improve outcomes for all. Not the 7% of pupils they educate directly, or the 93% of pupils in the state sector, but the 100% of children” (ibid). Pupils from both sectors benefit from good partnership practice. We found partnerships sharing resources for mutual benefit, such as sixth form rugby players coaching younger pupils, with one developing skills in a new sport, while the others develop their communication and mentoring abilities. 

I have always loved sport, and I have loved partnerships from the day I first encountered them, so I can’t pretend that I haven’t loved every minute of this research project. The paper is available now on the S.P.A. website and the Sports Partnerships Report and associated impact summary will follow shortly. Please read them and get in touch. We know we have only seen the tip of the sports partnerships iceberg – please show us more! 

References: 

Department for Education (DfE) (2025). Curriculum and Assessment Review: Building a world-class curriculum for all (Final Report). Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690b96bbc22e4ed8b051854d/Curriculum_and_Assessment_Review_final_report_-_Building_a_world-class_curriculum_for_all.pdf (Accessed February 2026) 

Department for Education (2026). Every child achieving and thriving. CP 1508-I. London: HM Stationery Office. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-achieving-and-thriving (Accessed February 2026) 

The Standard (2012). Private schools 'dominate' sports. The Standard online 2 August 2012. Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/panewsfeeds/private-schools-dominate-sports-8002101.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com (Accessed April 2026) 

Thompson, G. (2025). The Art of the Possible - Celebrating Partnerships. LinkedIn article, November 2025. Available at: The Art of the Possible - Celebrating Partnerships...