Active Cornwall, along with the the county’s School Games Organisers, arrange this annual PE and School Sport Conference which this year took place on 5th December 2025. It was generously supported by Youth Sport Trust and Absolute Education, and attended by almost 100 people.
Attendees included PE leads and their colleagues within secondary and primary education, senior leaders with a responsibility and interest in the impact PE and school sport can have on overall school engagement and improvement, head teachers, pupil premium leads and those leading Area Resource Bases/Special Schools and SEND provision.
A valuable conference in Cornwall’s educational calendar, as one delegate said: “The keynotes were great, really beneficial and insightful. I always look forward to attending this conference each year”.
Active Cornwall CEO Paul Critchley opened the conference by explaining how changing the way we work together could help tackle the complex challenges and inequalities children face.
Paul was followed by Kate Thornton, CEO of The Association for PE (AfPE) who focused on the future of physical education and school sport in a changing educational landscape, acknowledging that curriculum time for physical education has been squeezed yet Government expects all early years settings and schools to provide at least 2 hours of physical education for every child, every week, every year. Kate also ran through emerging priorities for Primary PE and School Sport Premium and how AfPE can provide support to Cornish schools.
Kate commented on her trip to Cornwall: “It was an absolute privilege to attend the Cornwall PE Conference in these exciting times with the current developments in the landscape. It was a great turn out and good to see so many committed leaders in our sector taking on the professional challenge to address the inequalities in PE school sport and physical activity”.
Youth Sport Trust are the UK’s leading charity for improving the education and development of every child through play and sport, and Development Manager Chris Caws outlined their latest research, key campaigns, training and resources.
Delegates had pre-selected which workshops to attend and thanks to our workshop leads for: The Power of an Active School; Parental Engagement Framework; The Role of a PE Lead including Reflections from Local Schools; Physical Activity as a Tool for Managing Behaviour; and Positive Experiences and How to Create Them, with secondary colleagues remaining in the Council Chamber for a discussion with Kate.
After lunch the Active Cornwall team shared brief updates on:
- Our insights on activity, attainment and access plus hidden inequalities
- Active travel for schools and families including Bikeability
- Our work with Inclusion and relationship with Lead Inclusion School, Brannel
- Time2Move Holiday Programme addressing the triple inequalities that children and young people in receipt of benefits related free school meals face during the main school holidays
- Primary PE Practical CPD and opportunities presented to pupils through our Time2Lead programme and Cornwall School Games
- The importance of engaging in Sport England’s Active Lives Survey
Adrian Bethune, founder of Teachappy, was our final inspirational speaker of the day focusing on why wellbeing and belonging matters for attendance and attainment, the factors that contribute to fostering belonging, and the important role of PE.
Conference organiser Abbie Dennison, Education Development Officer at Active Cornwall, said: “Bringing together so many PE leaders from across the county in one place to share their experiences in improving children’s health and wellbeing is no mean feat but it’s been a truly inspirational day. A big thanks must go to all the incredible speakers, workshop leads, marketplace exhibitors and delegates as well as those individuals who have supported us in making the day such a success.”
Alongside 15 partner organisations, we created an engaging and inspiring ‘marketplace’ showcasing the support available locally for enhancing schools’ physical education provision. This proved extremely popular during the networking and refreshment breaks and thanks to the following for joining us: GLL Better Leisure, Elemental UK, DT Coaching, The Cornwall Bicycle Project, Cornwall Cricket, Argyle Community Trust, Healthy Cornwall, West Cornwall Table Tennis, Arena, SupaSport Southwest, Activity Alliance, Mencap, Global Boarders, School’s Out Surf Camps and Coast Activity Programme.
According to the team from GLL: “This event has been beneficial as it has provided us with an opportunity to connect with our school links and PE leads as well as other marketplace providers” and the Cornwall Cricket team concurred: “We have found this extremely beneficial as it is great to network with like-minded companies and organisations. It is also great to connect with PE Leads in schools to form those initial connections”.
Presentations from the speakers and workshop leads are available to download:
Conference slides including keynote presentations
Workshop slides:
- Creating positive experiences
- Physical activity as a tool for managing behaviour
- Parent carer engagement framework for education settings
- The power of an active school
Delegate feedback from the conference has been extraordinary – thank you to everyone who is taking the time to respond.
See our wonderful marketplace exhibitors below:
Left to right top row: Coast Activity Programme, Cornwall Cricket, DT Coaching, Elemental UK and GLL Better Leisure
Left to right bottom row: Global Boarders, Healthy Cornwall, Mencap and Activity Alliance, The Cornwall Bicycle Project and West Cornwall Table Tennis