Since 2003 Knight Kavanagh & Page has been employed by Bridgend County Borough Council to collect data on the sports participation, health and lifestyle of young people in school years 6 and 9.

This month, the latest iteration of the Year 6 research was finalised. This is the third in a series of surveys assessing the progress being made on delivery of its key performance indicators (KPIs). Once again, it secured a very good response rate, thus guaranteeing high quality data and very accurate findings.

An integral part of ongoing Council monitoring of the impact of its Sports Strategy, it examined:

• Participation in school lessons and in competitions on behalf of the school.
• Activities and frequency of participation away from school.
• Leisure centre usage and Bridge Card membership.
• Swimming ability.
• Health and lifestyle.

The survey (each covering more than 1,000 young people) are conducted every other year to benchmark activity rates of young people as they complete their primary education and at what is a key drop-off point for sports participation per se. Findings are used to inform future sports development work, continuous improvement and to steer resource allocation.

Once again, it shows high participation rates for young people in sport and physical activity alongside positive indications about enjoyment, leisure centre use, participation by other family members and encouragement of young people to take part in after school clubs, play outside and go to leisure centres.

Findings underpin ongoing review of progress to achieve Sports Council for Wales' targets to increase participation and assist Bridgend to continuously improve the way in which it works with young people. This latest version introduced lifestyle questions evaluating how often young people access the internet, watch TV or play computer games and how long they spend on such activity. Among the positive survey findings and headline messages are the facts that:

• 83% of Year 6 pupils have represented their school in competitions, tournaments or festivals and 83% participate in a sporting activity other than PE/games at school. 
• More than 9 in 10 believe themselves to be either healthy or very healthy.
•  By Year 6 three quarters of young people are able to swim one length or further.

Importance of a positive environment

Household/family attitude towards sport and physical activity is particularly important for young people and findings for Bridgend were very positive in this respect. More than nine in ten (92.4%) Year 6 pupils come from households with positive role models, where at least one family member regularly takes part. A high proportion (85.7%) are also encouraged by parents/guardians to participate in after school clubs, to play outside or go to leisure centres. Against this positive backdrop, however, children from households where family members are not involved in sport or physical activity are almost half as likely to be encouraged to do so.

Change over time

Comparing the latest findings to previous surveys, there is little change in the proportion taking part in PE at school, enjoying such lessons, representing the school or that can swim. There has, however, been a large increase in the proportion of young people with a Bridge Card. This appears to have helped to arrest what appeared to be a progressive decline in the proportion of young people visiting a leisure centre at least once per week between 2004 and 2006.

Table 3: Comparison of key indicators over time (Year 6)

Health and well-being

Strata surveys also cover health and lifestyle, a key issue for local authorities and PCTs across the UK. In Bridgend, two thirds of 10-11 year olds eat fast food or takeaway meals at least once a week. However, this number has reduced, most noticeably for girls where the improvement (decline) is up by 10%. This may reflect increased health awareness and self image but is, arguably, slightly at odds with girls' progressively lower interest in sport and physical activity.

KKP's previous surveys have directly influenced policy and funding for facility development, most notably the recently opened Ynysawdre Pool and Fitness Centre. This latest intelligence is being assessed with a particular focus on identifying key areas for improvement.

Despite the many positive messages, it is important that Bridgend is not deflected from its focus on increased participation. This is essential if it is to successfully address its longer-term goals in relation to low adult participation rates via development of good habits at an early stage.

Commenting on the latest survey; Andrew Thomas, head of sports development at Bridgend said;

"KKP's strata surveys are integral to our assessment of progress made and the Council's performance. They are used to inform us, schools, health practitioners and other partners and provide the ideal focus for the sort of joint work that is so essential to achieving our targets."

KKP has conducted Strata surveys for over 100 local authorities and holds participation data and linked information on over 200,000 young people. This offer significant benchmarking options for individual local authorities such as Bridgend.