Primary

Primary Formats

The Primary Skills Festival has been created to help pupils develop a range of skills and techniques that form the foundation needed to play Bowls Bash as a competitive finisher.

A series of activators and skill-based sessions supports fun and flexible delivery over a term or as part of a skills festival. You can mix and match all activators and sessions to suit your needs, and ending with a game of Bowls Bash is recommended.

What is the intent of your format

• Increase regular participation and motivation
• Build social skills and connections (i.e. sense of belonging)
• Provide inclusive opportunities

Bowls can really support and give opportunity to those students who don’t traditionally engage or enjoy PE. While bringing together a broad range of students who wouldn’t normally work together or engage with one another. Communication and teamwork, as with a lot of sports, is crucial to
be successful in the team format of the game. Thus, encouraging development of social skills, and building connections through sport for students who would not normally engage or interact with each other.

Target group benefits
All young people

We know bowls can be played by everyone, including a mixed group, truly bringing together people who would not normally play or compete. It is fully inclusive and can be played seated or standing. To support you adapt your practice check out the SEND Inclusion Toolkit co-created by YST and the National Disability Sports Organisations (NDSOs) who are the leading experts within inclusive sport. They provide, advice support and opportunities for people of all ages with specific impairments. The toolkit provides you with an introduction to each Special Educational Need and Disability, key top tips for creating an inclusive environment and signposting to further training and development opportunities within each National Disability Sport Organisation. It should help you adapt any practice in addition to our suggestions to make it inclusive for all.

Bowls is a fantastic sport which is challenging and rewarding both as an individual and as a member of a team. It develops hand-eye coordination, speed and distance awareness, teamwork, honesty, respect, and togetherness. We know from our trial work that Bowls is a great option for those
who feel disengaged by PE and traditional sports. It has brought together “The Sporty” student and the “Not Sporty” student and everyone in between. The best thing being anybody can win!

It’s just not bowls if you:
1. don’t have a target don’t have a scoring system.
2. don’t have a target.
3. don’t have a scoring system.

Equipment needed

• Cones
• Tennis Balls (two colours)
• Bean Bag
• Optional: Replace the above with New Age Bowls or Bowls Buddies equipment

How to run inter-competition: Skills Festival

How to set up

• Use a selection of the ‘Activators’, ‘Skill-based’ activities and the ‘Competition Finisher’ in a station / circuit format. Set out the playing area with your chosen activities depending on the space available and number of teams/groups.
• Each activity will have a different layout, so check the cards for information. They can all be adapted to suit the needs of young people by adding or removing elements. 
• Break schools into groups and have them spend a set amount of time on each activity. Teams score points on each station,
  which can be added together to find a winner.

Age group
KS2 = 7 – 11 years old

Gender
Mixed, male or female

Participant numbers
2+, numbers are flexible depending on the space available

Target audience
Bowls can truly be played by all, including a mixed ability group. Activities can be adapted for a variety of experience levels and physical ability. Either use our suggestions or refer to the SEND Inclusion Toolkit co-created by YST and the NDSOs. We feel Bowls really offers an opportunity for those children who don’t engage with traditional sports and often feel disengaged from Physical Education lessons.

Benefits for YP
There is a level playing field at the start of the participation journey, as everyone is usually a beginner. Through bowls, young people will:

• have fun and enjoy themselves
• develop friendships and meet new people
• experience being part of a team and understand your contribution to it
• win with pride and lose with grace
• aspire to improve and challenge themselves

Roles for YP
Young people can be:

• Event organisers
• Team managers
• Officials
• Scorekeepers

Progression
Skills Festivals should be delivered as intra school before progressing to inter-school. The Skills Festival activities help develop the skills for the Bowls Bash competitive format.