The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced the launch of “NBA in the Classroom,” an NBA-themed educational programme that provides free, downloadable teaching materials for secondary school teachers in the UK that focuses on career development, financial management, mental wellbeing and physical education.

NBA in the Classroom, which was developed with input from teachers and is available to all secondary schools across the UK beginning today, offers a range of downloadable, flexible, curriculum-linked teaching resources for use in PE, PSHE/Health and Wellbeing, careers and/or personal development courses.  Students will hear from current NBA players and employees on a variety of topics through video content containing tips, challenges and more.

“We are excited to unveil this original programme to help secondary school teachers in the UK educate and inspire students with interactive resources that can be used in a variety of settings,” said NBA Associate Vice President of Basketball Operations, Europe and Middle East, Neal Meyer. “Through ‘NBA in the Classroom,’ we look forward to collaborating with institutions and educators across the UK to help children develop their personal and professional skills and grow as leaders.” 

Through a range of NBA-inspired challenges, the programme will help students be more active, harness a positive mental attitude, develop financial confidence and nurture skills that employers value, including creativity, numeracy, communication, teamwork and organisation.  Resources can be downloaded and used as standalone lessons or personal development sessions and select resources can be combined into full off-timetable enrichment and personal development days or after-school club sessions.

Mr Leighton, PE teacher at Kettlethorpe High School, commented on the new resources saying: “At Kettlethorpe, it's our priority to bring new experiences to our students and engage them in creative ways. NBA in the Classroom fits the bill for this perfectly. Our students were intrigued to discover that there’s so much beyond just the game, from mental attitude to wide-ranging careers such as sports journalism, social media and physiotherapy. The programme is diverse and easy to add into lesson planning"

NBA in the Classroom builds on the league’s on-court youth development initiatives in the UK.  In partnership with Basketball England, the NBA currently runs 21 Jr. NBA Leagues that reach 630 secondary schools and nearly 10,000 Year 7 and 8 children each year. In addition, the Jr. NBA basketballscotland League features seven leagues and a Jr. NBA Wheelchair Basketball League, while the Jr. NBA Basketball Wales League is currently running in each of Wales’s 22 local authorities.

Register to NBA in the Classroom for free today and receive a free digital poster and get access to a range of engaging, curriculum-linked resources that will equip your students with the tools they need for a brighter future.

For more NBA information, fans in the UK can visit NBA.com/UK, the league’s official online destination in the UK, and follow the NBA on Facebook (NBA), Twitter (@NBAUK) and Instagram (@NBAEurope).

“The PE Passport is without a doubt the best use of sports funding we have spent.” - Headteacher, CHPS

Designed by Primary school teachers specialising in Primary PE, the brand new Primary PE Passport is delighted to be exhibiting at the Education Show this year for the first time (Stand GG91). It is the only app available for Primary schools specifically designed to support teachers, subject leaders and senior leaders with the tools they need to plan, deliver, assess, monitor and evidence the impact of high-quality PE.

We would like to share with you a brief insight into what children experience when dance is brought into education, with the following based on our own work with pupils in Bath & North East Somerset. Through dance, children are engaged in creative movement within a group setting. The focus of this work is on the wellbeing and development of the whole child, mindful of their cognitive, emotional, physical and social development.

Aspire Training Solutions and Succeedin Limited are have joined forces to bring their online PECS (PE Curriculum Support) platform to Primary schools across the UK. Both Aspire (Stand L55) and Succeedin (Stand K54) will be exhibiting at the Education Show (16th – 18th March) at the Birmingham NEC, with educators invited to visit and discuss how the companies can support primary PE delivery.

Sports Day is one of the most anticipated days of Primary school, giving us fond memories of hot weather and a whole day of outdoor activities. Very few would associate Sports Day with a Maths lessons... until now! Pupils have the chance to think about the Maths in every aspect of life, and Sports Day is no exception.

Get Set’s Road to Rio Challenge is calling on schools to take up an inspirational challenge: get active and imaginative by travelling the full distance from London to Rio - 9,298km in total. Participants can use the Road to Rio app, website or other tools to track any kind of physical activity. This could be running, swimming, walking or cycling – it could even be the distance travelled during a game of dodgeball or the walk to and from school. This is part of Get Set’s commitment to a fitter, healthier, sportier Britain, getting involved with events such as Olympic Day.

In April 2013, the Government announced new funding of £150 million for Physical Education and sport. This funding should be used to improve the quality and breadth of PE and sport provision. The typical Primary school receives on average £9,250 a year and, schools have been very creative in which they have effectively used the funding. Initially Ofsted offered schools some examples on good use of the money, including:

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The school day is done. The classroom is empty. The various after-school duties are finished. Now time to focus on those ungraded papers, the lesson for tomorrow, the emails to send to parents about their children, the emails to send to colleagues about meetings in the week, and go home. However, the day is far from done. Pack up all of your things, head to the locker room, change into that athletic gear, and get ready for practice.

This season, our Colts E football team tried something a bit different, and were unbeaten. We looked at how we trained and prepared for matches, thereby improving our performance. This season, our Colts E football team behaved like All Blacks!