Why should daily physical activity be on the menu for every child?

Covid-19 has pushed many children’s physical activity and mental wellbeing to crisis point. As the country looks to recover and rebuild from this, Chesterfield-based SHAPE Learning Partnership is on a mission to provide the pivotal support that schools, educators and families need to re-imagine what the “new normal” will look like and how to firmly embed physical activity in every young person’s life. Partnership development manager Paul Ryan (pictured) explains its work.

It’s a difficult task but as a notfor-profit organisation, our vision and ethical responsibility is to make sure every young person, regardless of background, has the best possible opportunities to engage in sport, physical activity and health interventions.

SHAPE works with primary and secondary schools across Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire, and knows how challenging the past year has been for everyone, not just within the education sector.

Worrying statistics released by Sport England show the majority of young people failed to meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise in the 2019/20 academic year. Almost a third of children (2.3 million) were classed as “inactive” as a result of lockdown restrictions, not even doing 30 minutes per day.

ADAPTING SUPPORT DURING LOCKDOWN

It was very clear during the first lockdown that we would have to adapt our support for schools and young people. The pressures that teaching staff and families were placed under, alongside restrictions, made any form of physical activity problematic.

Many teachers and parents didn’t necessarily have the time or expertise to support young people with this element of their development, and therefore this was over-looked.

To combat this, our delivery moved very quickly from face-toface support and events to virtual support, which included physical education lessons children could easily access at home, mindfulness and wellbeing sessions, and a physical challenges app – all of which were greatly received.

CREATING POSITIVE ATTITUDES ABOUT EXERCISE

Young people participate in physical activity for a variety of reasons. During lockdown, it was apparent that they engaged with different or alternative activities to those they would normally choose, and in some cases engaged regularly in activity for the first time. Creating positive attitudes towards daily physical activity in our young people, and highlighting the benefits that come from this, is a vital foundation to leading active lives for this generation and ones to come.

CREATING MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES

Understanding what young people want, and what motivates and drives them to participate, are crucial for SHAPE to provide meaningful experiences for all.

We don’t know precisely the impact and long-term effects the pandemic will have on young people just yet. But what we do know is we stand at a pivotal moment in time to ensure the physical activity agenda is at the heart of the development, and future health, of our nation and this generation.

To support our initiative, we as not just a community, but a nation too, have a part to play in supporting children and young people by being aware of what we are creating by means of a physical activity diet that is rich, broad and exciting.

For more information on how SHAPE can support parents, carers, educators and people who value the impact of physical activity on mental health and wellbeing, email p.ryan@brookfieldcs.org.uk