Active Schools Aberdeen was recently awarded funding to recruit a designated Active Schools Assistant at Kittybrewster Primary School.

The new post, which has been funded by Kittybrewster Primary’s pupil equity fund, has been filled by 22 year old, BSc Sports and Exercise Science graduate, Joanna Bell.

Joanna’s role will focus on helping close the pupil attainment gap, by increasing participation levels in sport and physical activity of inactive and hard to reach groups of children and young people within the school and wider across the city.

This will be delivered through coaching sessions and ensuring that more high quality sports and physical activity opportunities are available within the school’s curricular and extracurricular activities.

Commenting on the appointment, Graeme Dale, Development Manager – Active Communities at Sport Aberdeen said:

“Sport Aberdeen is committed to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives. This new appointment will help ensure pupils from Kittybrewster School are being exposed to the best possible opportunities to participate in sports and physical activity from a young age.

“Joanna’s main focus will be to work with specific pupils to increase their participation and as a result positively impact on their attainment levels, thus helping to close the attainment gap.”

Joanna joins two other Active School Assistants, Scott Mitchell, based at Orchard Brae School and Victor Omondi, based at St Machar Academy.

Councillor John Wheeler, Education Operational Delivery Convener, said:

“We have been helping schools and headteachers to make effective use of Pupil Equity Funding to help close the poverty related attainment gap and we are fully supportive of the initiative with Kittybrewster School and Sport Aberdeen.

“Aberdeen is blessed with some fabulous sporting facilities and now that we have a third Active Schools Assistant in the city, pupils, regardless of their background, have an even greater opportunity increase their participation in, and enjoyment of, sports.”

Award winning registered charity Sport Aberdeen which delivers the Active Schools programme in partnership with sportscotland across Aberdeen, has been creating opportunities for school pupils to get involved in sport and physical activity for more than a decade.