Sport Australia acknowledges COVID-19 is having a significant impact on the delivery of the Sporting Schools program. The safety of students, teachers, school communities, coaches and sports partners is of key concern for Sport Australia.
The Sporting Schools program intends to continue to fund schools to encourage physical activity for Australian students. Sport and physical activity in schools has a positive influence on children’s confidence, competence and motivation.
The Australian Government has announced new community sport guidelines that provide advice on physical contact, social distancing and hygiene practices. Coaching providers and coaches should follow these guidelines where possible and stay updated on information provided by Sport Australia and Department of Health.
Sport Australia will follow the guidelines set by the Australian Government and will respect the decisions made by State and Territory education departments and Catholic and independent school bodies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sport Australia will communicate directly with schools to keep a consistent format and language.
Each national sporting organisation will disseminate this information to their delivery partners.
The Australian Government has released community sport guidelines to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Everything we do in the Sporting Schools program needs to follow Australia Government advice and ensure that we respect the health and safety of children and schools.
Each school needs to be treated on a case by case basis. We advise having a discussion with the school to understand if they want to postpone the delivery of the remaining sessions until a later date when practical for both parties.
Where a program cannot be rescheduled to a future date, providers can invoice the schools for the value of the sessions that have been delivered.
If a school has any leftover grant funds once the cost of delivery is covered, they can purchase equipment or professional development opportunities to assist in delivering sport-based activities (in line with the Spending Fact Sheet).
We understand that many schools are making the decision to protect their school community by limiting the number of external visitors to their sites which includes coaches and delivery partners.
Sporting Schools delivery partners must respect these decisions made by schools. We advise having a discussion with the school to understand if they want to postpone the delivery of the remaining sessions until a later date when practical for both parties.
As per the terms of conditions of the Sporting Schools program, schools should expend the grant in the term that it is allocated.
At this stage we are planning for Term 3 and Term 4 dates to go ahead as planned.
If, and when, schools start to allow visitors, we want to allow a similar planning time to previous terms for schools and sports to arrange bookings.