FORTY primary schools across the Cotswolds and North Wiltshire are to receive a £300,000 funding boost to transform PE lessons.

The 25 schools in the Cotswold have been awarded £197,550 while the 15 schools in North Wiltshire will receive £101,660.

Schools to benefit include St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Malmesbury, Bibury Primary School and Cirencester Primary School.

Headteachers across the southwest region have already used the PE and Sports Premium – a fund worth more than £150million a year - to recruit hundreds of extra specialist PE teachers, buy new equipment and offer a wider selection of sports and free after-school clubs.

Suki Pascoe, headteacher of Bibury CofE Primary said: “The PE lessons are going extremely well as the staff are feeling more confident in delivering different areas of the PE curriculum, such as different warm-up techniques and the children are responding well to it.”

Research has shown that nine out of 10 schools have already improved the quality of their PE lessons as a result of the funding.

Minister for Children and Families, Edward Timpson said that primary schools were delivering better quality lessons as a result of the extra money, and devoting more time to PE.

A typical primary school with 250 pupils will now receive £9,000 which is equivalent to the cost of employing a specialist sports coach for two days each week.

Announcing the latest allocations, Mr Timpson said: “As part of our plan for education, we want all children to get into the habit of playing and enjoying sport in primary school as it can help instil confidence, discipline and determination.

“Thanks to our PE and Sports Premium, primary schools are offering more and better quality sport programmes – and this funding boost will help headteachers go further.

“Whether a child is a potential future Olympic champion or a keen amateur like me – I want them all to be given the chance to fulfil their sporting potential.”

The latest PE and Sports premium allocation is the second of three annual payments worth a total of more than £450million.

The funding, introduced in 2013, goes directly to primary school headteachers so that they can decide how best to use it to provide PE and sporting activities for pupils.