What the School Games Is and Why It Runs in Leeds North West

The School Games is the Department for Education and Department for Health & Social Care's national framework for school-based sport. In Leeds North West, it's delivered locally by the School Sports Partnership working with the Youth Sport Trust and Active Leeds. The aim is straightforward: give every pupil aged 5–18 the chance to take part in regular competitive sport, regardless of starting ability.

It matters because the evidence is consistent — pupils who compete (against themselves, classmates or other schools) are more likely to stay active into adulthood, build confidence and develop the social skills that classroom sport on its own can't quite reach. Across our partnership, the School Games is the spine that holds the rest of the competition calendar together.

The Three Levels — Intra-School, Inter-School and National Finals

The Games operates at three escalating levels. Most pupils will only experience Level 1 each year, which is the point — everyone gets in.

Sports on the 2025/26 Leeds North West Calendar

The exact dates are published each September on the Leeds primary & secondary competition calendar. Below is the typical shape of the year — schools should always check the live calendar for the current fixture list.

How Your School Enters — Registration, Eligibility and Entry Forms

If your school is a member of the Leeds North West SSP, you're already registered for the programme. Entries to individual events run through the partnership manager — most events use a simple online entry form linked from the competition calendar page.

The standard route is:

1. Pick the event from the published calendar for the term ahead.
2. Submit the entry form at least three weeks before the fixture date — fields cover school name, contact teacher, number of teams, year group and any inclusion-category entries.
3. Confirmation arrives the week before with venue address, parking, timing schedule and rule variations.

Inclusion Events — Bringing SEND and Lower-Active Pupils In

A standard inter-school fixture often only serves the top 20% of athletes. Inclusion events flip that on its head — they're specifically built for pupils who don't usually get picked, who have SEND profiles or who are inactive outside school.

Across 2025/26 the partnership runs the following inclusion strands:

• Change for Life festivals — KS2 multi-skills sessions for less-active pupils, run termly with no competitive ranking.
• Panathlon-style multi-sport days — adapted equipment, mixed-ability teams, classification system for athletes with physical or sensory impairments.
• Inclusion calendar published separately — boccia, new-age kurling, table cricket, adapted athletics.

Inclusion events count towards the School Games Mark application, which is the kitemark schools can earn each year for the breadth of their competition offer.

Sport Premium Funding and How It Plugs Into the School Games

For primary schools, the PE and Sport Premium can be used to cover the membership and entry costs of the School Games — including transport to fixtures, supply cover for staff escorting teams, and equipment for intra-school competition.

It cannot fund every cost — staff salaries for delivery (rather than escort), capital builds, or coaches who replace teachers in curriculum PE are out of scope. See our PE and Sport Premium funding guide for a fuller breakdown.

FAQs from PE Leads