The Lincolnshire School Sport Partnership Consortium was established in 2003. It has a strategic role in the development of high quality PE and sport in Lincolnshire. The Consortium represents the eight SSPs, with an advisory membership involving other key agencies such as Lincolnshire Sports Partnership and the Youth Sport Trust (YST). The Consortium meets six times per year.

In 2006, it appointed Knight Kavanagh & Page (KKP) to:

• Explore the impact of the Consortium to date, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and advising upon its future role.
• Collate examples of good practice in a published leaflet to be distributed through the schools network.

The assignment assessed and reviewed the impact of partnership work throughout the schools network to explore the benefits of this type of approach on school and community sport. KKP also considered how the Consortium is helping to address the wider Extended Schools and Every Child Matters agendas.

To ensure a comprehensive, objective evaluation KKP conducted a series of face to face interviews with Consortium members and key staff from other agencies.

The recommendations in the final report focus upon Consortium impact, presence and work, areas for improvement and its potential future role.

It confirmed that it is generally well perceived in the region, provides a network for peer support and has resulted in a greater level of partnership work across the county.

The review recommended that improvement and development should concentrate on:

• Developing a more focussed approach with regard to role, structure and agenda
• The need for more clarity surrounding its relationship with the Lincolnshire Sports Partnership
• The opportunity to raise awareness of the Consortium amongst schools and council officers.

The first step in raising profile has since been actioned with the Consortium distributing leaflets to over 350 schools across the county, celebrating the excellent progress being made in PE and school sport and sharing good practice.

In terms of its future role, KKP concluded that The Consortium should

• Become the voice for every school and school sport in Lincolnshire and a policy lead.
• Drive to influence the direction that sports colleges and SSPs take.
• Be the first point of reference for key departments, agencies and stakeholders with regards to Every Child Matters and Extended Schools related work.

The Consortium is now working to implement the recommendations as set out in KKP's report.