THE disappointing performance of English stars in Euro 2004 and Wimbledon, along with rising levels of childhood obesity, have led many to question whether schools are failing pupils when it comes to sports.

But in many cases headteachers are powerless to remedy the problem, as education correspondent Ruth Jolley discovered.

AN Ofsted report recently claimed some schools were neglecting children with a talent for sport and falling short when it comes to physical education. But for many headteachers, the problem runs deeper, as education correspondent Ruth Jolley discovered.

CHILDREN at Sunning Hill Primary School have been unable to take part in field sports for 12 YEARS.

And it is not because teachers at the Goldsmith Street school can not be bothered with physical education, or that the youngsters are lazy.

The reason comes down to there being few sporting facilities at the school due to a lack of space.

It is something which upsets headteacher Paul Read, who says his pupils are suffering by being denied the pleasure of running and playing football and rounders.

Instead, youngsters have to be mainly confined to indoor sports, such as dance and gymnastics, as the school only has a small concrete playground.

Mr Read said: "We haven't got a field. We cannot do the normal sporting activities because the school doesn't have the facilities. There are aspects of the PE curriculum such as field games that we can't do.

"We only have a hard playground so we go to the local park, but we have to be careful."

Mr Read added that taking children to sporting facilities such as Bolton Arena is too expensive in terms of transport costs.

He said while they do use Sunnyside Park, it takes 20 minutes to get there and they have to carry all the equipment there themselves.

For sports days, the lack of space means activities such as running are out of the question. Instead, groups of pupils take it in turns to take part in sports, and have to do activities that only require a small space.

Because the local area is heavily built up, Mr Read said he cannot think of an alternative site in the area either for a new school with better facilities or for new sports fields.

He said: "Obviously, the children do suffer. They do not have access to the full range of activities children are expected to have."

The outcry comes as education watchdogs Ofsted have released a study announcing more than a third of pupils are not getting the recommended two hours of physical education each week.

Ofsted found that while PE teaching had improved and children were enjoying a wider range of sports such as judo, aqua aerobics, yoga and table tennis, progress was uneven. Schools were also criticised in the report for neglecting children with a talent for sport.

Frank Brindle, headteacher at Cherry Tree Primary School, Highfield Road, Farnworth, said there was less sport in schools compared with 20 years ago.

"I help to organise all the sports for Farnworth," he said. "We always have a meeting at the beginning of the year to provide competitions in cricket, cross country, football, rounders and swimming. The number of schools taking part has dropped by about a third from 20 years ago.

"We still offer the facilities, but some schools are finding it more and more difficult either to find the staff to support the children or give up their time after school.

"It's difficult -- out of 15 schools, we have between five and ten taking part now.

"One of the biggest problems is a lot of younger staff listen to their union advice and say that staff should not transport children to any events."

Mr Brindle said he was satisfied with the amount of sports his youngsters had within school time and he added that pupils could easily access sporting activities outside school.

He said Key Stage One pupils at his school have between three to five lessons a week of PE, while Key Stage Two youngsters have two PE lessons a week plus an hour's games.

He added many pupils had become involved in outside sporting activities after school, such as those on offer at Bolton Arena.

His school also runs sports clubs during the holidays in partnership with Bolton Wanderers.

Stuart Plowes, headteacher of Turton and Edgworth CE/Methodist Primary School, said as far he was concerned sport was still thriving within schools.

"Personally, I would not say that sport is less of a priority these days," he said.

"I think the primary strategy gives us a lot more flexibility now within the curriculum.

"In some ways we do get to do more sport than other schools, for example in the summer term, because there is better weather and we are limited for indoor space.

He said each child at his school gets three hours of exercise a week. Children can take part in all the traditional school sports but they also have a variety of more unusual sports available, such as fencing.

As his school is in a scenic location, youngsters are able to use the surrounding area for sports.

They also have specialist coaches coming into school to teach pupils.