A new year resolution to encourage active children Friday 11 January 2019 It’s the second week of January so how are your new year resolutions going? As the spike in gym enrolments at this time of year testifies, doing more exercise is one of the good intentions on most of our lists, destined to fall by the wayside within a few short weeks. Choosing activities you enjoy is vital in maintaining motivation, and as adults we have the autonomy to make the choices that suit us. But we also have a responsibility to support children in becoming physically active and developing exercise habits they will keep for life, by making it fun for them too. Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey reported in December 2018 that 32.9% of five to 16-year-olds do less than 30 minutes a day of sport and physical activity. Only 17.5% of the age group meet the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines of 60 minutes a day. The report also quantifies the positive contribution of exercise to mental wellbeing, a cause for concern when activity levels show an alarming decline from year 9, having peaked in school years 5 to 8. The data shows that activity levels are higher in school than outside it, giving schools a firm base to build on in promoting activity levels amongst their pupils. School sport should be sport for all When you think of school sport, the traditional sports like rugby, netball, hockey and tennis spring to mind. However, had you wandered past the courts at The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) last summer, you might have spotted a game of tchoukball in full swing. Tchoukball is perhaps the perfect team game – designed to minimise the risk of injury, it’s non-contact and can be played by people of all abilities, shapes and sizes. Boys and girls play together and the game was introduced at GSAL in response to our ‘pupil voice’ survey which showed that pupils wanted more fitness activities and a greater variety of clubs. By introducing non-competitive, fun activities that are still challenging, we’re increasing take-up of sport and fitness. This could be an after school spin or circuits session, lunchtime yoga, dance or basketball, or a development swim session that increases water confidence through fun in the pool. Couch to 5K is a great alternative to cross country for aspiring runners. Providing this varied menu of sporting fare has been a combined effort between our PE teachers and a team of graduate sport coaches. The coaches bring new ideas and enthusiasm and relate well to the children; after all, they’re not really that much older than our senior students! As an independent school we are fortunate to have the resources to invest in our staff and sports facilities, including the recent installation of a 3G pitch. We are proud to make our sports facilities available to local teams and clubs too, helping community sport thrive in our area. We also enjoy the freedom to try out new things, encouraging our reluctant sportspeople as well as enhancing our offer for those who need no persuasion. We feel this approach gives us the best of both worlds – while mainstream competitive sport is alive and well at GSAL, sport is not the preserve of the elite players. The additional fitness activities benefit all students, team players or not, and more pupils get a taste for sport and want the opportunity to play for school. So if you need some January motivation, why not follow our students’ example and try something new?
