Working with Youth Sport Trust: The power of human stories

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We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with Youth Sport Trust recently. PE inclusion leads were invited to explore Lyfta’s interactive and immersive human storyworlds and use them as a tool to support young people with special needs to engage with physical activity offline.
Basketball
Basketball
Many of our children are exposed to greater diversity than ever before, through direct contact with the people around them, as well as via various media channels with which they interact daily. However, our world also reflects a society that is increasingly affected by intolerance, suspicion and stereotyping. A huge component of human wellbeing is tied up in how we meet the world, and how the world meets us. Recent world events have made this ever more acutely felt - our safety and wellbeing is inextricably linked to how we compassionately engage with other people and with our environment, whoever we are.
Our legal obligation to the Equality Act 2010 as educators has ensured a heightened focus on schools' engagement with their statutory duties with this Act, which prohibits unlawful discrimination and the less favourable treatment of an individual on the basis of any protected characteristic, including sex, religion and belief, race and disability. This engagement must go beyond simply putting in place the all-important policies and procedures. It involves reaching into the hearts and minds of staff and students alike in ways that are human, tangible and often fiendishly difficult to tackle as part of the curriculum - not least during a global pandemic.
No matter the circumstances which may act to restrict their movement across physical boundaries or geographical borders, the curriculum should include meaningful interaction with the world around us. We are preparing global citizens to take their place in the world and we need to both maximise on the cultural capital they bring with them, and with that of each other and the wider world. PE professionals are not all about whistles, windy playing fields and winning games - the PE curriculum has a firm commitment to educate the whole child, and practitioners are creative and inventive in how they do this.
We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with Youth Sport Trust recently. PE inclusion leads were invited to explore Lyfta's interactive and immersive human storyworlds and use them as a tool to support young people with special needs to engage with physical activity offline.
We collaborated with Youth Sport Trust on an online training session with a group of 50 PE Leads across a number of schools nationwide. They were given access to the platform and over 100 lesson and assembly plans, including a special resource created by Lyfta and Youth Sport Trust focusing specifically on PE, school sport, health and wellbeing themes within the storyworlds. Teachers were particularly interested in using Lyfta to ensure that their students engaged with physical activity during lockdown, the period of return to schools, and beyond.
Teachers involved in this project with Youth Sport Trust found that the experience of using Lyfta was impactful for a number of reasons:

Empowerment

The self-navigation of the platform enabled children to make decisions, discover and report on what they had explored, developing their sense of confidence and empowerment.
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"I would really like to see if it can develop confidence in our pupils with special educational needs to access new opportunities."

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NEIL DAWSON
WILSON STUART SCHOOL, BIRMINGHAM

Sense of self

Multiple teaching opportunities were identified that supported discussion
around self, family, community and mental health. Guided discussion prompted by the immersive settings supports young people to develop confidence, empathy and self-belief. Teachers felt that learning about different cultures will undoubtedly impact students' understanding of both themselves and others.
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"Pupils can understand different cultures and we can bring the world to them. Hopefully it will allow some independence when exploring."

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IAIN MILLS
THE PARKSIDE SCHOOL, NORWICH

Links with global values

SDG's
SDG's
Multiple teaching links were noted to enable PE and the school sport offer to introduce the United Nations' sustainable development goals and global values to young people. Teachers would introduce students to key concepts via the documentary videos and discussion, reinforcing these through offline reminders, vocabulary re-cap and activities.
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"With the new RSHE curriculum having a focus come September, there is no better time to really push for these values and skills to be at the forefront of many sessions"

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CHLOE O'KANE
PADDOCK SCHOOL, WANDSWORTH

Aspiration

Practitioners noted the likely positive impact of the platform on the young
people they support, and the access it provides to people and places they are otherwise unable to experience. The visual richness of the tool is deemed
inspirational, as is its ability to give children a wider appreciation of the world and to broaden horizons. One respondent noted that Lyfta may be of particular relevance to those young people whose independence is compromised due to COVID-19. Teachers felt that their students would be able to access the platform, some with extra support with more abstract content, with reading or with navigation.
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"They're leaving school in 12 months and need direction re. the rest of their lives. They have more physical difficulties than anything: if they aren't in the routine of doing [physio] they will miss it."

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MATT CONNOR
PADDOCK SCHOOL, WANDSWORTH

Life skills

One practitioner noted his students' lack of routine and understanding around self-care, particularly with regards to physical wellbeing. This group in particular would suffer from a lack of activity structure post-school. Lyfta provides tools to support student understanding of the value of physical activity in their lives and of routine.

Self expression and collective experience

It is anticipated that young people may need to express some of their experiences physically as well as through other mediums. No matter the physical restrictions faced, Lyfta can be used across the community to ensure collective experience. Most schools take a cross-curricular approach to much of their teaching and noted the wide ranging relevance of Lyfta content to many topics.

Depth of learning

Lyfta offers cultural capital, at a time when young people (and particularly some of those with profound needs) are unable to access the widest range of cross-curricular experience. Poverty of experience is common among many SEND children. Lyfta can help to address this and help young people to view themselves as global citizens.
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"Lyfta is a powerful platform that reduces the marginalisation that children and young people with additional needs too often experience. The platform removes boundaries and has the unique quality of removing those labels of SEN or disability. Suddenly the world is there to access, explore, and engage with as a global citizen."

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VIJITA PATEL
SWISS COTTAGE SCHOOL
Lyfta and Youth Sport Trust are looking forward to continuing this collaboration and are excited to see what more students and teachers will discover about the world, themselves and each other over the coming year.
We are delighted to offer free CPD training and trial access to Lyfta. You can find out more and sign up using the button below.
Immersive Learning
Character & Values
Cultural Capital
Global Learning
Human Stories
Social Emotional Learning
Diversity Equity Inclusion
PSHE
Personal Development
Belonging
Sustainability & Global Citizenship
Sport & PE