Olympic Legacy: The Importance of Investing in School Sport
Since 2012 over a third of Team GB Olympic medallists have been former students of independent schools.
Given that (according the ISC 2023 census) the sector accounts for only 5.9% of the total school population in Britain* this is proof, if proof were needed, that school sport is not a level playing field.
Sport is a fundamental part of an Independent school education and schools invest significant scarce resources in providing not only for elite sportsmen and women, but for the whole community. It is a significant reason why many parents choose to make the investment in providing an independent school education for their children.
Why are independent schools so successful at producing Olympic medallists?
There are very good reasons why independent schools are so successful in fostering sporting success. Ultimately it comes down to valuing sport as an important part of the curriculum, and investing in it.
Coaching
The most important factor by far is that independent schools invest in quality sports coaching and expertise. A school can boast the best facilities in the world, but without the drive and expertise of top coaches, it will be in vain. Mount Kelly (formerly Kelly College) in Devon produced 26 Olympians (mainly in swimming) between 1980 and 2016, including six Olympic medallists, with only a four-lane 25m pool. (Mount Kelly now has a 50m pool, after a successful bid to receive one of the 2012 legacy training pools).
Time
Independent schools make compulsory sport a priority. Pupils in independent schools experience on average more than twice as much sport per week as pupils in state-funded schools. Pupils in top teams routinely have practices both before and after school, in addition to their games and PE times.
Facilities
While state school sports pitches were being sold (223 between 2010 and 2020), independent schools were making significant up-front financial investment in specialist training facilities and have an excellent track record in making these available to the wider community. State-educated swimming gold medallist Adam Peaty trained at Repton eight times a week in preparation for Rio2016.
Specialist Sports Programmes.
Some schools offer sports programmes which combine elite coaching and top facilities made available through scholarships (e.g. Millfield in many sports) or specialise in particular sports (e.g. Shiplake in rowing).
Bridging the 16-18 Gap.
One important but missing aspect of the sport debate in recent years has been that young people not only need to take regular exercise and to play sport during the period of compulsory schooling, but that they also need to keep going from 16 until 18. Most independent schools make sport compulsory in the Sixth Form, which means that when young people move into adulthood they are accustomed to taking regular exercise and have experienced the social and health benefits of being part of a team or training group.
Team sports
Team sports are a fundamental part of independent school life. The schools compete not only on academic grades but also on sports results. A healthy competitive rivalry between schools provides an impetus to maintain high standards, and thus schools invest key resources (time, facilities, coaching and scholarships) in order to have top sports teams. Indeed, top schools have sports programmes which mirror those of the professional clubs with whom they have established relationships. These schools understandably attract top talent, which drives a virtuous cycle of improvement as the school’s sporting reputation increases.
An HMC survey of 169 Member schools in 2015 showed that 1,400 current pupils had played for their country and 7,000 had represented their county.
It should therefore be no surprise that independent schools have made a disporoportionate contribution to Olympic Team sports. Independent schools have supplied over half of TeamGB’s women’s hockey teams, who have had a great success at the Olympics (Gold in Rio2016 and Bronze in London2012 and Tokyo2020); and the silver-medal-winning Men’s Rugby Sevens team at Rio 2016 had attended an independent school.
(Similarly, Independent schools provide a disproportionate number of the current England’s mens’ Cricket and Rugby teams. Strathallen alone provided nine of the Scottish six nations rugby squad in 2023).
Technical sports
Independent schools’ greatest contribution to the medal count at the four Olympics has come in rowing.
It should be no surprise that independent schools make a disproportionate contribution to certain technical sports, particularly rowing. Rowing does not lend itself to wider participation, both in terms of access (not everywhere has a navigable waterway) or facilities (rowing boats don’t come cheap). Although there are a handful of state schools which row, rowing has been the traditional domain of independent schools and of the rowing clubs.
Sport for all - Building a healthy nation
However, a debate focused solely on Olympians omits the key objective of building a healthy nation. Unless we foster good habits in our young people, we are in danger of triggering a health crisis that will stretch the nation’s resources to breaking point. Schools, colleges and universities have an opportunity – and I believe a responsibility – to encourage young people to develop habits in relation to regular exercise and diet that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Independent schools take this responsibility seriously. They believe that sport and exercise are a fundamental part of a British education, and they are willing to back up that belief with the resources that are required to make it happen. There is here a model that the government would do well to replicate in the schools that it funds.
Levelling up the playing field
There is no doubt that students at independent schools benefit from a great advantage when it comes to sport. The sector should not be ashamed of the excellence that it provides. Rather, I would like to see signficantly higher levels of investment in school sport from the Government - not only for elite sport, but also for all students in order to establish good habits of health-related fitness. (I'm all for levelling up (as opposed to levelling down).
*Caveat
I acknowledge that there is a false dichotomy in the state/ independent school distinction. In practice many pupils today are educated for at least part of their schooling in both sectors, with the Independent Schools Council estimating that 14% of young people in Britain experience the independent sector for part of their schooling (a statistic that has been lost in the recent debate about VAT on independent education). Indeed, because many independent schools offer generous sports scholarship packages, many top sportsmen and women have been educated at some point in the maintained sector. Tom Daley – an established member of Team GB before he went to Plymouth College on a scholarship – is a case in point.