The activity was part of a series of visits to schools during 2008 which Dame Kelly is undertaking to review their action plans for engaging more girls aged 13 -16 in PE and sport. This follows on from a series of student/teacher roadshows at the end of 2007 which investigated the barriers preventing girls doing more sport.

Norwich Union GirlsActive, run by the Youth Sport Trust, was set up in response to research indicating that girls are less active than boys and are more likely to drop out of sport at an early age.

Dame Kelly Holmes, the National School Sport Champion – a government-backed role managed by the Youth Sport Trust and supported by Norwich Union – tasked the girls and their teachers from Plymstock School Sport Partnership to develop an action plan to implement in their schools, demonstrating how they plan to tackle the issue of why girls are disengaged with sport.

Plymstock School Sport Partnership is one of only five winning School Sport Partnerships selected to receive a visit from Dame Kelly Holmes based on the quality of the action plan submitted following their attendance at the roadshow in October last year. She saw for herself how they are implementing their ideas for change. Activities included a range of different PE, sport and fitness based sessions.

Dame Kelly Holmes said:
“It is a concern that research continuously shows that girls are more likely to drop out of sport than boys. I believe it is vital that School Sport Partnerships keep working with their pupils to develop strategies for getting more girls to participate in sport, both inside and outside of school hours, and deliver sporting activity that is designed specifically for girls to keep them interested. We know more young people are taking part in more sport, but now is the time to up the ante, particularly in the run up to London 2012, so that sport and an active lifestyle become an integral part of the lives of all our young people.”