Active Schools update: the positive impact of funding to date

Active Schools update: the positive impact of funding to date

It’s been a busy time for the Expert Support Service team! Building on the successful guidance of the project throughout 2022, Physical Activity Advisors (PAA) have built an amazing rapport with funded schools.

The end of the first semester provided an opportunity to check in with the 2023 funded schools and take stock of how the initiatives were tracking. 

A recent mid-year progress report has found:

• Over 90% of schools have projects up and running, with many already beginning to observe the impact of their initiatives.
• Schools rated having the assistance of PAAs available to support schools in achieving their Active Schools goals as ‘extremely valuable (or over 4.5 out of 5).
• Schools indicated they anticipate at least 70% of their student cohort would be positively impacted by the initiative, reporting positive changes in: Student motivation | Student behaviour | Student wellbeing | Student connectedness

Below we share just a few examples of the feedback being provided by school representatives on the impact of  funding on their school community:

Positive impacts across Victoria

While the Active Schools project seeks to positively affect the lives of all Victorian government school students, the mid-year report also provided a timely reminder that these impacts are ultimately about each individual student. Below we share an example of how the funding has substantially altered individual students’ lives:

This Western Suburbs school received a single round of Extracurricular Boost funding in 2021 and implemented an extensive extracurricular activity program (not exclusive to sports). Following the implementation of this initiative the school chose to analyse data from a cohort of ‘at risk’ students that were active in this program.

Using data from Compass, the school were able to identify the impact on these individual students which included vastly improved student attendance, increased commendations (acknowledgement of positive behaviour) and a decrease in both minor and major negative behaviours. Here’s a testimony from one of these students.