Girls' sport: Survey finds fewer school girls enjoying PE

Some girls aren't enjoying PE

There's been a drop in how many girls enjoy PE.

That's according to the Youth Sports Trust's recent report, which found that just over half (59%) of girls in secondary school said they like PE or like it a lot. In 2016, that number was was three quarters (74%).

The study said four out of five boys (84%) said they like PE - which is similar to the 2016 survey.

We want to know how YOU feel about PE. Do you enjoy it? Is it your favourite subject? Or would you rather be doing something else? Maybe you like PE but don't get enough lessons, or maybe you wish you got to do different sports.

Join in the vote further down the page and remember to have your say in the comments too.

If you cannot see the quiz, click here.

What do the results of the survey mean?

The Trust spoke to nearly 25,000 children in it's annual survey, with responses from 18,500 girls and 6,000 boys aged between 7-18 from schools in England.

The 2016-17, figures also included answers from children in Northern Ireland and Wales.

PE is an important part of the curriculum and experts say that taking part in sport is good for your physical health and mental wellbeing too.

However, the study says the main reasons girls gave for not enjoying PE was confidence and periods.

Some students said that the curriculum sports such as hockey and netball felt "old fashioned and outdated".

You might love to do PE in school - but some new research has found that over the past seven years, there's been a drop in how many girls like it in secondary school

"Some people really like sport and some people don't - and you're forced together and kind of expected to get on with it... " ones pupil said.

"I really didn't like it. It was all of it - getting on the bus, getting changed, getting really sweaty, the competitive people shouting at you for not doing the right thing."

And if schools offered a wider range of PE kit options, it could help improve girls' uptake and enjoyment of sport.

Periods are a normal part of getting older and growing up. They usually start as a part of puberty when girls are in secondary school, although they can start at different times.

Some girls might worry about not having the right period products for sport.

Before the football World Cup this year, the Lionesses announced they were changing the shorts on their kit from white to blue, because they had been worrying about their period leaking onto the white shorts whilst playing in matches.

Click here for Newsround's period special, and to find out more them.

What's next for girls' sport?

Only 59% of girls in secondary schools enjoy PE lessons, compared with 84% of the boys

The Department for Education, which is the part of the government that looks after schools and teaching, says it has a plan to improve girls' access to sport.

Over the next two years, over £600m of funding is going to be put into teaching sport in school.

The hope is that if girls have more options to play sport, or get to do it more in school, they will start to enjoy it more.

Also, after the success of the Lionesses in the World Cup earlier this year, there's been more funding put into girls football, and finding coaches for teams.

Three young footballers sat down and chatted to Sue Campbell, the women's chair of the FA, about the FA's plan to get more girls playing football if they want to.