Since 2003 Knight Kavanagh & Page has been employed by Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) to conduct quantitative strata surveys of pupils in Year 6 and 9 to collect data on sporting participation. 

The surveys focus on identifying:

•     Participation in sport and physical activity at, after and outside school.
•     Swimming ability; means by which learnt to swim; enjoyment of lessons.
•     Usage of leisure facilities.
•     Usage of the ‘Bridge Card'.
•     Perceptions of health and diet.

The surveys of more than 1,000 pupils from schools in Bridgend are conducted in alternate years to benchmark participation at the end of primary school education and at key drop-off points for participation.  Findings are used to inform future sports development work and allocation of resources. 

For example in 2004 the survey of 1,137 Year 6 pupils highlighted that over one in ten pupils (11.3%) could not swim. In addition the survey showed a shortfall in terms of the Welsh Amateur Swimming Association's target, as only three quarters of Year 6 pupils reported that they were able to swim the 25 metre distance advocated. 

Percentage of Year 6 pupils rating themselves as poor swimmers (2004)

At this time the Council was considering the future of Ynysawdre Swimming Pool.  As a direct result of the survey information, which highlighted the particularly poor levels of swimming ability in the area, the pool was saved and funding was secured from the Lottery to enable a new pool to be developed in the locality.  Construction of the £4.5m state of the art facility is now underway.

The surveys conducted have shown that Bridgend has also made considerable progress in a number of key areas.  Most notably, significant progress has been made towards achieving national physical activity targets, with the proportion of Year 6 pupils participating in physical activity for an hour five times or more per week rising to 43.7%. 

Andrew Thomas is Sport and Recreation Manager at BCBC. He heads up the only sports development service in the UK to have scored 100% for community research and understanding in its Quest assessment. Andrew advocates the process of regular management information. He said "the surveys have directly influenced a number of initiatives to increase participation in sport and also raised the profile of the Council across the country. Other authorities could really benefit from adopting similar processes."

KKP has conducted similar surveys for over 80 local authorities and now holds participation data and related information on over 150,000 young people. This provides significant benchmarking options for individual local authorities such as Bridgend.