Girls Active Day - News - South Norfolk SSP

Girls Active Day

On Thursday 14th December the Norfolk school’s leadership pathway hosted the very first Girls Active leaders conference. 130 girls in year 9-10 from 14 secondary schools attended the event held at the UEA Sportspark.

Led by the Barclays Girls Football in Schools Programme Strategic Leads and supported by a core set of partners, the Girls Active leadership day was designed to support secondary schools to create engaging, meaningful and enjoyable girls’ football opportunities as they work towards ensuring all girls have equal access to football in schools.

Schools identified and selected a group of 8 girls to become Girls’ football activators with the idea that they become advocates and change makers for girls’ football in their school and help inspire and influence new and different girls in their school to get involved in football. The training workshops included the FA Whistlers Training and the FA Stepping over the Sidelines Training

Through a range of leadership experiences, the girls acquired new skills and learnt behaviours, which not only developed them as individuals but prepared them to be drivers of change for others. Activities were designed to empower them to be able to go away and work together to design, create, and deliver football activities for their peers. It was also an opportunity for the girls to be inspired and come together with like-minded girls from other schools to share ideas and discuss what changes they would like to see in their school.

The Conference started by introducing the girls to the programmes and the FAs vision to ensure ‘Every girl has equal access to football in schools by 2024’. They discussed what changes they would like to see in their schools as well as what motivates young people to be active. They then had the chance to develop either their refereeing skills or coaching skills in our two pathways. The pathways were supported by James Norfolk FA, Annoushka Norfolk FA, Rob Norfolk PE and Francesca Norfolk referee.

Our collective mission is to create a movement across schools, unifying young leaders with a passion for increasing participation in sport, physical activity, and play. This group of girls will now go back to school with the aims of supporting extra-curricular clubs, helping to officiate at the Norfolk School Game Girls Football Finals or running a targeted cluster football event for year 6-7 pupils with the aim to support transition.

Laura Goodswen, Strategic Lead

“We look forward to seeing the girls grow as advocates for girls’ football within their school and see how they implement their ideas to grow engagement and work towards equal access to football for girls”.

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