The SPHR Children, young People, and families programme is funding research to evaluate the impact of active school environments on children and young people’s health led by Professor Sonia Saxena, Dr Bina Ram and a project team in the Child Health Unit, Imperial College London, and a research team from Cambridge University, Fuse, PHRESH and Exeter University.
Promoting physical activity in schools is essential for their physical development and has wider benefits including better social and emotional health. Children spend a third of their time at school where there may be opportunities for all children to be physically active. The WHO’s Promoting Physical Activity Through Schools: A Toolkit sets out six criteria for schools; to provide quality physical education, opportunities for children to be physically active before and after school, and during scheduled breaks, active travel, active classrooms, and to provide physical activities for children with additional needs.
In November 2023, the project team gave an assembly on the importance of physical activity to St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School & Nursery in Northwest London involving 420 children, aged 5–11 years. The team involved the children in a range of activities. Parents and teachers were all invited to attend the assembly, and everyone was encouraged to join in.
The assembly started with an introduction to physical activity and children were asked how they were feeling – responses ranged from “full of energy” to “feeling sleepy/tired!”
Everyone took part in a game of ‘Simon says. The instructions were structured to involve body movement which ranged from stretching (“stretch as high as you can”), to ‘jogging on the spot,’ ‘hopping on one leg,’ and to demonstrate their best dance moves!
Fantastic Health and Fitness Assembly with Imperial College @DrBinaRam @drdavidsalman pic.twitter.com/SYdfSGDzzz
— St Bernadette's (@StBernadettes60) November 21, 2023
After the activity, children were asked how they were feeling. Responses ranged from “so happy” to “want to do more” (a few were still feeling sleepy!)
Finally, the children were invited to ask the team questions about being physically active. Some of the questions included:
“What happens to your brain after exercise?” “Is it good for our joints?” “What happens if we don’t do exercise?” “How can we exercise if we have a broken arm?” “Does climbing make your body stronger?” “What’s the connection between being active and feeling happy?” “Does exercise affect people’s life span?”
At the end of the assembly, the children were given a copy of the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines to take home.
The assembly was featured in the school’s weekly news bulletin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psb8njdkJqQ (from 2:24 to 4:00)
As part of the evaluation, state-funded primary schools from Greater London are being recruited. Children are invited to wear a wrist-worn physical activity monitor from which their involvement in physical activity throughout the school day will be captured. The school’s physical activity policies and practices, based on the six criteria set out by the WHO’s Promoting Physical Activity through Schools, are being obtained through surveys. The study is underway!
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School and Nursery.
Imperial College London team: Dr Bina Ram (@DrBinaRam), Esta Orchard (@EstaOrchard), Nancy Gullett, Dr David Salman (@drdavidsalman)
Videos courtesy of St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School and Nursery.
Pictures courtesy of Jo Mieszkowski
Sticky note images adapted from images by rawpixel.com on Freepik
