School Sport Survey

We rely on the hard work of schools, local authorities and others across the sport and education sector. Their efforts mean we can listen to tens of thousands of pupils and hundreds of teachers.

Evidence from the survey allows us and our partners to:

• make more informed decisions about future investment
• analyse emerging trends and identify gaps
• examine under-represented groups

tackle the barriers that prevent young people from taking part in sport

All participating schools get a breakdown of their own pupils’ data. This can help schools better:

• listen to the voices of their pupils
• plan their approach to school sport and extracurricular activity

You can read previous reports, headline results and data tables for each survey.

2026

We will publish the findings of the 2026 survey in autumn 2026.

Get involved

The School Sport Survey will be open for responses from 13 April to 17 July 2026. Pupils in school years 3 to 11 can take part in the survey through your school. 

We will be sending schools details of how to take part.  If you have not received details by 13 April, email [javascript protected email address] You can also contact us for further information about the survey.

Improvements for 2026 

We have listened to children and young people’s views to improve the survey. We’ve also tested it extensively with all ages and abilities.

The 2026 survey will include:

• additional language options beyond Welsh and English, including British Sign Language and Makaton
• audio narration
• interactive and gamified features to help keep pupils focused and motivated
• alignment with the Curriculum for Wales
• results viewable through an interactive dashboard

Read more about the 2026 changes

School reports

We send schools who participate in the survey an individualised report of their results. These reports:

• contain key data that can help schools improve their sporting offer
• help schools better understand the sporting landscape for young people
• aid schools in enhancing the lives of their pupils

2022

The 2022 School Sport Survey gave young people a voice on sport and wellbeing in Wales. The survey was more important than ever as it provided invaluable insight about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people’s activity habits. 

Thanks to the hard work of schools, local authorities, and others across the sport and education sector, we were able to listen to the voices of over 116,000 pupils, and almost 950 teachers. 

Headline Results

Active Nation

• 39% (124,000) of pupils took part in organised sport outside of the curriculum three or more times a week (Future Generations Indicator 38) – a 9-percentage-point decrease since 2018.
• 36% (111,000) of pupils reported ‘no frequent participation’ in organised sport outside of the curriculum (i.e., participated less than once a week) - an 8-percentage-point increase since 2018.
• 56% (174,000) of pupils took part in sport in a community club setting at least once a week in the last academic year – a 9-percentage-point decrease since 2018.

Everyone

• Less than two thirds (60%) of schools state that they have the equipment which enables inclusion of disabled pupils / pupils with an impairment or Additional Learning Need (ALN).
• There is a 15-percentage-point difference in participation in organised sport outside of the curriculum three or more times a week between the least (FSM1) and most deprived (FSM4) areas – an increase of an additional 2-percentage-points since 2018.

Lifelong

• 93% (292,000) of pupils in Wales had a demand to do more sport.
• 56% of pupils had unmet demand for sport, the equivalent of 175,000 pupils.

Enjoyment

• 40% of pupils enjoyed extracurricular sport ‘a lot’, compared to 57% enjoying PE ‘a lot’ and 47% enjoying community club sport ‘a lot’.
• 69% of pupils stated that they were ‘very confident’ or ‘confident in trying new sports, while 8% of pupils said they were ‘not confident at all’.

Footnote: Unmet demand refers to demand for any sport among pupils not participating in organised sport outside of the curriculum three or more times a week

Full Results