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The Scottish Government has brought clarity to the return of schools across Scotland with an August 11, 2020 return date, and in the next OSS webinar – Wednesday 27 May (10am) – we bring together experts to discuss how sport fits into the plan.

How will PE be delivered and school sport take place safely with school staff and volunteer coaches? What restrictions will be in place? Our panel are in agreement that school sport and PE is facing a ‘new normal’, but what will that look like?

New Zealand children returned to school over a week ago and sport and PE is being viewed as key to helping children – and all ages across community s- recover from lockdown and regain good mental and physical health. The NZ Government have announced a £133m investment in sport to enable communities to find a way back, and sport across New Zealand is viewing this as an opportunity to leave behind some of sport’s problems and reimagine a ‘different and better’ community sport landscape. Garry Carnachan, CEO of School Sport New Zealand, will be with us on Wednesday to share how that is happening in reality, and how school sport and PE is happening without social distancing.

Before becoming a lecturer in physical education, Dr Shirley Gray was a secondary school teacher of physical education and then teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on how teachers understand and enact curriculum policy, and how they might be supported in their learning to provide students with positive learning experiences in PE. Dr Gray will discuss research that has looked at how teachers attempt to support the development of pupils’ social and emotional skills in the PE setting. Some attention to the development of these skills may be beneficial, or even necessary, for pupils as they return to school after their time in lockdown.

Blair Young was Head of PE at Biggar High School, for over 30 years, and President of the Scottish Association of Teachers of Physical Education (SATPE), and George Salmond, a former Scotland cricketer and football referee, has been Head of the Junior School at George Watson’s College since 2016. They both share a passion for helping children to achieve dreams with the help of PE and sport, and will provide insight to how sport can help schools and children recover from COVID-19.