Third of schools unable to meet PE target

Schools are struggling hard to find the money to give children the recommended weekly amount of sport, an Evening Standard survey reveals today.

A third of schools in London are unable to fulfil the Government's goal of ensuring all children get at least two hours a week of "high quality" PE.

And four out of five of all those polled say they have to raid other parts of the budget as ministers are failing to fund school sport properly.

The findings of the survey of 34 primary and secondary schools show that, without a huge amount of extra investment, Tony Blair's desire to see all children do at least four hours of sport a week will remain a pipe dream. We asked 34 schools if they felt they had the facilities and equipment needed to meet the two hours a week goal and our survey showed:

Despite the difficulties, schools offer a wide range of sports, with football being the most popular.

Most headteachers say they are veterans in the game of chasing grants to improve facilities for their pupils.

David Sellens, head of Thomas Jones Primary School in Kensington said replacing sports equipment was "like the Golden Gate Bridge syndrome - as soon as they paint that they have to go back to the beginning and start again".

Valerie Kenny, head of Cranmer Primary School in Merton said the Government needed to put more money into training expert PE teachers. Sports science graduates should be offered the same ?2,000 "golden hellos" paid to entice maths and science graduates into teaching.

And schools needed more " freedom" over the curriculum because fitting two hours of PE into the crowded week was a real struggle, she added. James Howarth, assistant head of Eastlea Community School in Canning Town, said the Government deserved credit for increasing the

amount of money going to schools over the past six years.

But when compared with levels of investment in Australia, funding for school sport in England paled into insignificance, he said. "That then has a direct correlation with the Olympics and medals tables and it needs to be part of our culture."

Mr Howarth continued: "I genuinely believe we may have world champions in our schools and they may never get to experience sport. It's only through private enterprise and charitable donations in combination with government funding that we are able to offer the opportunities to the children that we should. We shouldn't be doing them a favour - it should be their entitlement."