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Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

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More dancing in schools thanks to funding boost

One Dance UK, Greenwich Dance and Trinity Laban have welcomed increased funding for sport in schools, seeing it as a great opportunity for more primary schools to dance.

Frances Richens
2 min read

More children could soon be learning to dance after the Government announced it is doubling its primary school PE and sport premium.

From September 2017 the Government will increase its funding for the scheme from £160m to £320m per year. This is expected to boost the number of schools offering dance, both in school and as an extra-curricular activity.

Claire Somerville, Head of Children and Young People’s Dance at One Dance UK, welcomed the news, saying: “We've already seen schools using the Premium to enhance their dance offer by investing in teacher training, bringing in dance specialists and building partnerships with dance organisations.”

Eligible primary schools currently receive £8,000 plus £5 per pupil per year to spend on improving the quality of their PE and sports activities.

Since its launch in 2013, the scheme has prompted 23% of schools to introduce dance to PE lessons, according to research by the Department for Education (DfE). Dance has also been the most popular activity for schools to introduce in extra-curricular time, with 29% doing so.

The introduction of the premium coincided with the launch of Greenwich Dance and Trinity Laban’s Dance Directions programme, supporting its offer of professional development opportunities to schools and its work bringing specialist dance teachers into schools to run curriculum dance projects.

Kat Bridge, Artistic Director at Greenwich Dance, and Veronica Jobbins, Head of Learning and Participation (Dance) at Trinity Laban – who are jointly leading Dance Directions – said they welcomed the news: “This is a great opportunity to encourage more primary schools to teach dance as part of the PE National Curriculum.

“We anticipate that increased investment from the DfE will encourage schools to develop their dance curriculum and the dance skills of their teachers. We look forward to extending the Dance Directions pilot phase, with a formal launch on 21 April at Greenwich Dance and more projects with schools being planned.”