Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education.

United Kingdom

Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the

Specialist Schools Programme The specialist schools programme (SSP), first launched as the Technology Colleges programme and also known as the specialist schools initiative, specialist schools policy and specialist schools scheme, was a government programme in the United ...

in the United Kingdom. The programme enabled

secondary schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE,

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

. Schools that successfully applied to the

Specialist Schools Trust SSAT (The Schools Network) Limited (branded as SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers network) is a UK-based, independent educational membership organisation working with primary, secondary, special and free schools, academies and UTCs. It p ...

and became Sports Colleges received extra funding from this joint private sector and government scheme. Sports Colleges act as a local point of reference for other schools and businesses in the area, with an emphasis on promoting sports within the community. The Specialist Schools Programme ended in 2011 after the change of government. Despite this, schools can still become Sports Colleges through the

Dedicated Schools Grant Dedicated may refer to: Music * Dedicated, a British record label whose artists included Spiritualized Albums * ''Dedicated'' (ATB album), 2002 * ''Dedicated'' (Renée Geyer album), 2007 * ''Dedicated'' (Carly Rae Jepsen album), 2019 * '' ...

or academisation.

India

The first Sports College was started in the Indian city of

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in 1975. These are senior secondary schools affiliated with state board of examinations and run by state governments. At present, the state of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

has two sports college and the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

has three.

References

Education in the United Kingdom Physical education in India 1997 introductions {{Specialist schools Specialist schools programme