SASSOT Updates

Director Update

As I’ve attended the school nativity, Ben Stokes has been crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year and we’ve held the SASSOT Christmas curry … so it seems like the right time to reflect on the last 12 months!

By its very nature, some of the most important work we do here at SASSOT is difficult to measure, whether that’s lobbying for investment into sport & physical activity or providing professional information, advice and guidance – it can be tricky to demonstrate our exact impact.

That said, talking to our partners in the local system, what is evident is a greater appetite than ever before to prioritise physical activity and sport and to ensure the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire population benefit from the myriad of positive outcomes that come with being active. The next important step, of course, is to translate this positive intention into long-term plans, supported by adequate investment.

On the programme side of things we have had another fantastic 12 months with some remarkable outputs:

• 33 new Satellite Clubs were created and a further 17 were sustained, allowing 2,831 young people to participate in sport or physical activity on their own terms, for free. 76% of these young people came from the top 40% IMD areas, 45% were female, 7% had a disability and 20% were from BME groups.
• 105 Primary schools received specialist support from PE and School Sport Premium Funding.
• 3,130 young people participated in County School Games events, organised by SASSOT, with 224 Young Volunteers deployed.

Needless to say none of the above would be possible without the support of you, our partners. We are so privileged to work in a community of such passionate and driven people.

2020 is set to become another exciting year – as you’ll be aware, SASSOT is moving from our status as a body hosted by Stafford Borough Council to an independent charity. We believe this will give us the best possible opportunities, not only to make the case for sport and physical activity locally but also to increase levels of investment.

We are very much looking forward to involving all of you in the shaping of this new organisation and will be in touch about a series of events to do just that we will be hosting in the second quarter of next year.

I’d like to say a personal thank you to the whole SASSOT team; it’s been a busy year with lots of changes. Your commitment and dedication never fails to impress me – I can’t wait to see what we achieve together in 2020.

Wishing you and your families a happy and healthy 2020.

Jude Taylor, Director
jtaylor@staffordbc.gov.uk