Future Fitness

01

12/12/08

15:33

Page 1

Sport and fitness for today’s youth

January 2009 £2.75

BMX biking goes on PE curriculum

By Lyndsey Smith A SCHOOL in Rotherham has hit the headlines by offering BMX biking as part of the PE curriculum.

The Winterhill School is the first in the country to offer the sport and has been featured on TV news programmes and in local newspapers.

Rob McGinty, head of PE, was the brains behind the BMX idea. He said: “Our PE was always very traditional and a lot of students weren’t necessarily engaging, put bluntly they just didn’t enjoy it, particularly the girls.

“The idea came because there is a BMX club with a track across from the school and we thought it would be a good idea to see if we could link up with these somehow.”

A new PE curriculum was introduced in September that allows for schools to operate in the ‘adventure’ strand of teaching. This section also includes indoor climbing and orienteering.

Rob added: “The school itself decided to fund the project. The head saw the value, seeing an opportunity as I did to engage more students and get participation levels up.

“We also thought we would see a knock-on effect in terms of the kids’ self esteem and positivity that would spread into the wider curriculum.”

BMX biking is offered to those in years nine to 11 and over 350 children are taking part.

Rob added: “There are a lot more kids out on their bikes after school and the club is now indundated with those wanting to join.

“It has also helped socially as the track as now become a hub area for the kids, and there is a reduction in vandalism as it’s their area and they want to protect it.

“It’s very exciting. We are the only school in country to offer BMX biking - others do mountain biking but not this.

“You never know there might be someone from this area that goes and competes in 2012 thanks to the work we have done within school.”

Is your school offering an unusual PE lesson? Contact Lyndsey Smith at 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS or email ls@whpl.net.

Scheme is expanded

Children at Winterhill School in Rotherham are given ten hours of PE coaching on BMX biking, with the chance to revisit it later in the year. The school has bought 25 bikes and safety kits and has linked up with a BMX expert.

Turn to Page 22 for more.

A FITNESS scheme developed to help children with behavioural difficulties has been so successful it has been expanded for another three years.

The Young Persons’ Positive Moves project – run by Gedling Borough Council – provides health and fitness session for kids with problems including autism and ADHD. Spokesman Helen Houghton said: “We are aiming to cater for those children who are not involved in mainstream fitness for other reasons, including behavioural problems, certain medical conditions and low confidence.”

Staff running the sessions are trained to deal with the kids and there is a very high instructor to pupil ratio to ensure they receive the attention and supervision they need. Helen added: “Channeling excess energy is so important for children with conditions like this and being able to take part in these exercise programmes can make a significant difference to their behaviour.”

02-LeisureLines

15/12/08

13:48

Page 1

03

12/12/08

15:38

Page 1

news 3

Boys want to be like Daniel Craig

The school facilities are used at lunchtime and after school by overweight pupils.

‘Booster’ PE lessons for overweight kids

By Louise Cordell OVERWEIGHT children at a school in Norfolk are being given ‘booster’ PE lessons because they are too unfit to take part in mainstream PE classes.

Downham Market High School is removing them from the usual sessions and instead offering lunch time and after school lessons, for boys and girls separately.

Head of PE Judith Walton said: “The overweight pupils aren’t keen on PE classes for obvious reasons, being unfit made the exercise uncomfortable and they didn’t want to be teased about their size.

“So we have been withdrawing them from the mainstream lessons and providing these specialist sessions instead.

“It is about teaching a basic level of fitness – some of the kids are so overweight that they have to get onto their hands and knees just to stand up – so they really need the extra help.”

There are no more than 12 children in a class, but the school is now hoping to expand the scheme as there are more pupils that need help than there are places available.

Judith added: “We put them through fitness and flexibility tests to show them how unfit they are, as we find that if they don’t acknowledge the problem then they will not have the motivation to do something about it.

“Once they know they need to make changes though, we have had some good results.”

The school plans to continue these lessons and has also recently invested in a new suite of fitness equipment.

The aim is to get the pupils doing some kind of exercise every day, however Judith is concerned that this still may not be enough.

She added: “We also feel it is very important that children are getting the right messages about health and fitness from home, but unfortunately that is not always the case.

“So we are hoping that information and ideas from these classes will filter back to the parents, so that they can get involved in doing their part.

“There is only so much the school can do with time and money constraints, so children and families need to take the initiative too.”

Visually impaired young footballers from the North East have become the first in the country to achieve a leadership qualification. The Junior Football Organisers course, organised by the Football Association and British Blind Sport, was held in Gateshead for 14-18 year olds interested in training and coaching practical football sessions to young children. British Blind Sport’s development officer for the North East, Tom Soulsby, said: “This course was the first of its kind in England and we are very proud of that.

Pictured: Tina Reed (Durham FA), David Jeffers (Gateshead Council), Tom Soulsby (British Blind Sport) with some of the young people who took part.

Contacts Editor: Andrew Harrod - ah@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734639 Reporters: Lyndsey Smith – ls@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734472 Christina Eccles – ce@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734463 Mary Ferguson – mf@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734712 Louise Cordell – lcordell@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734694 Sales and Marketing Director: Tony Barry Circulation enquiries to: Kelly Tarff kt@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734695

www.futurefitness.uk.net Sales and Product Manager: James Dickson jd@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734672 Sales Executives: Sarah Young sy@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734709

Studio Manager: Stewart Holt sth@whpl.net Deputy group editor: Judith Halkerston jhalkerston@whpl.net

Page 4

Sally goes back to school to open new facility Page 22

£36m drive for variety YOUNGSTERS will be able to try their hand at a range of different sports as part of a programme launched by the Active Surrey Sports Partnership.

The three-year programme is part of the £36m Sport Unlimited drive by Sport England, promoting non-traditional sports.

Paul Ainslie, grant manager for the Active Surrey Sports Partnership said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for more young people to become more active and enjoy and appreciate the benefits of sport.

“We have had a great response from clubs and coaches who want to give young people the opportunity to get involved and perhaps try activities that they haven’t tried before.

“We look forward to a successful series of projects and are looking forward to working with partners to plan the spring term activities”.

Activities are taking place across all 11 boroughs and districts of Surrey, covering 15 different sports including athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, fitness, girls football, gymnastics, martial arts, movement and dance, multi-sports activities, rowing, rugby, sailing and squash.

04

12/12/08

15:39

Page 1

4 news

Leisure centre launches youth scheme

By Lyndsey Smith A LEISURE centre in West London has launched a youth activity scheme in partnership with a local primary school.

The Southall Leisure Centre, part of Active Ealing council leisure services, has linked up with Beaconsfield Primary for the new Active at School programme run by the Fitness Industry Association.

Centre manager Andrew Rogers said: “Southall is above the national average in terms of obesity so we are really keen to get both kids and adults involved in some sort of fitness whether it be on an FIA scheme such as these or using the sports centre for different activities.

“We have been involved with the ‘Go’ project and now we are signed up to do this. In my opinion the schemes are extremely beneficial in that they link kids up with sport and physical activity out of the school environment and that can only be a good thing.”

The centre also offers an active kids programme for under 11’s and an active teens programme for ages 12 to 16. 13-16 year olds can enjoy membership of the adult Bostons gym and train under the supervision of a gym instructor during selected off peak times and active family membership is also on offer with the centre encouraging exercise to become part of family life.

Daniel Craig

Boys ‘pump up to look good’

By Mary Ferguson TEENAGE boys have changed their perception of the ideal body, and are trying to pump up to look good, according to an expert.

Peter Muir, editor of Men’s Fitness magazine, commissioned a survey into exercise amongst its readers, which found 87 per cent of respondents want to become more muscular.

He also told Future Fitness the magazine is receiving an increasing number of letters from teenagers concerned about their body shape.

Peter, who believes the male perception of the ‘ideal body shape’ has changed, said: “A couple of

years ago everyone wanted to look like David Beckham but since Daniel Craig played James Bond it’s all changed.

“Bulking up has become a lot more popular whereas before it was all about slimming down - but no-one wants the ‘heroin chic’ look anymore.

“And we are getting a lot more letters from teenage boys wanting advice on becoming more muscular.”

According to Peter, many of these youngsters are turning to supplementation as well as the gym to achieve their desired body shape.

“Supplements are becoming more mainstream whereas before

they were associated purely with professional bodybuilders.

“But manufacturers have done a good job of educating the mass market and now the ‘average Joes’ at the gym are realising they can help.”

“Some gyms will always have a problem with steroids but the trend amongst young men is to look muscly to be attractive, not to compete, so losing their hair and getting acne from steroid use doesn’t appeal.”

He added: “Different body shapes come in and out of fashion and at the moment it is definitely Daniel Craig that men are trying to emulate.”

Freddy Fit boost for teenagers

Student link with centre

TEENAGE girls in Lancashire are being encouraged to get fit thanks to the introduction of the Freddy Fit project.

Seven secondary schools within the Counthill School Sports Partnership in Oldham run the programme for girls in years ten and 11.

Partnership development manager Paul Clarke said the scheme was funded through £20,000 lottery money which was allowed to be split between 56 primary and seven secondary schools. The project now has a 96 per cent take up.

He said: “To receive funding you have to have a sustainable project and to have a target group. Freddy Fit has proved to be sustainable in that during their time in the school they train up staff and young leaders so we can carry on delivering the programme once their initial sessions have finished.

“Our target group was chosen because year ten and 11 girls have the highest drop off rate. They can find team sports a bit intimidating and there is the usual problems of self esteem and confidence. This gives them physical activity without the problems.”

Former British karate champion Rob Loft, founder of Freddy Fit, said. “This demographic is notoriously hard to engage, so to have such a good response from the girls is fantastic.”

STUDENTS in Worcester have linked up with a new £4m leisure centre for their PE lessons and after school clubs.

The Christopher Whitehead Language College has tied with St. John’s Sports Centre which allows year ten and 11 pupils to use interactive equipment like Zig Zag Sportwalls and dance mats.

PE teacher Becky Jarvis said: “It’s motivated both the staff and students and we are all extremely pleased with the outcome, which has led to a very positive start to the term. The equipment has definitely been the highlight with the students. It is amazing how effective they are and how much work you can get out of the students without them thinking about it being PE.” The school is now planning extra sessions. Becky added: “Their team work skills are improving dramatically and the participation rate, particularly with less able groups, is also improving, with less students giving up and stopping exercise.

“The less able groups have found their PE lessons transformed and it has improved their motor skills, activity level, social skills, confidence and motivation towards PE.”

Freddy Fit founder, Rob Loft, with Counthill SSP pupils

05 - Fitlinxx

12/12/08

15:42

Page 1

06

12/12/08

15:44

Page 1

6 news

Cricketing campaign has impact CRICKET can have a significant impact on children’s attitudes and behaviour in state schools, according to new research.

Loughborough University’s Institute of Youth Sport report says the game can help improve pupils’ confidence and social skills, overcome cultural barriers, generate enthusiasm within the classroom and increase activity levels. Researchers evaluated the impact of Chance to Shine, the Cricket Foundation’s campaign to regenerate competitive cricket in schools.

Ruth Jeanes, co-author of the report, said: “The research demonstrates the potential of Chance to Shine to contribute to pupils’ wider educational experience. Children’s physical and social skills were felt to have improved. We also found that pupils believed they were considerably more active and at higher intensity levels than in their usual PE lesson which illustrates the value of the programme to young people’s health and well being.”

Research showed that 83 per cent of pupils said they liked coming into school when Chance to Shine sessions were running. Simon Dyson, executive chairman of Chance to Shine added: “We’ve always recognised the power of competitive cricket to help young people acquire skills, values and attitudes. The evaluation appears to validate this conviction and is tremendously encouraging.”

Expert hits out at ‘head-line grabbing’ remarks

By Lyndsey Smith A FITNESS expert has hit out at comments that obese children should be taken into care – branding it as nothing more than headline-grabbing sound bites.

Andree Deane, chief executive of the Fitness Industry, spoke out after a debate at the National Obesity Forum which was discussing ideas to combat childhood obesity.

She said: “The comments made appear to be no more than head line grabbing sound bites, at best unhelpful in the fight against obesity amongst children, and at worst draconian and so potentially damaging to children they are not worthy of debate.

“It’s not rocket science that obese and inactive kids tend to come from obese and inactive parents. The current government strategy for engaging families is on the right lines but I certainly don’t believe obese children should be taken into care.”

Andree believes the key to tackling the problem is educating both parents and kids and she is supporting a new social marketing campaign to be aired next year.

She added: “The campaign will be totally family orientated, images of young people in the family group, and it will be very relevant coming off the back of three years of insight work with families.

“Lots of parents don’t see their children as being obese. It’s all about education.

“They have to want to stay fit and healthy, they have to want to take part in physical exercise, and the best way for that to happen is to make exercise fun whilst having something to aim for and making sure there is a sense of achievement at the end of it.

“We need to factor in all the things we have learnt about exercise into a sustainable programme that is fun and motivational and that way we may be able to move forward.”

Andree Deane

Youngsters learn a hold during a judo lesson

New opportunities for after-school club goers A JERSEY special school is running after-school sports clubs to give its pupils the opportunity to try new activities.

Each month local coaches are invited to teach 16 of Mont a L'Abbe Special School secondary school age pupils their chosen sport for three weeks, varying from cricket, climbing, dance and karate to short tennis, judo and netball.

The programme is organised by the school’s head of PE Andy Jordi, with many of the coaches people he has

known since school.

“All the coaches give up their time for no payment and it is usually a lot of fun,” he said. “These are sports which a lot of our pupils wouldn’t be able to access normally and are available for all. If a pupil is in a wheelchair we hoist them out and let them have a go as well – they love it.

“Judo ground work is very popular because they can get on the mats and have a good wrestle. As well as being enjoyable the pupils are also getting a bit of fitness.”

07

12/12/08

15:45

Page 1

news 7

Craig Blackburn with students from Mevagissey Primary School in Cornwall

Craig’s students Gene Abdi (left) and Alex Ferraro performing at Beach Break Live in June

Brazilian game re-invented

By Louise Cordell A CORNWALL capoeira instructor has taken the Brazilian game which blends martial arts and dance and re-invented it for local children.

Instructor Craig Blackburn has created JingaFit classes, which combine the non-contact self-defence moves with music and dance.

He said: “I started out teaching capoeira classes in leisure centres and then moved into schools, but I had to change what I was offering to make it more suitable for kids.

“Pure martial arts are quite repetitive which can be boring for children who will then quickly lose interest.

“So I adapted and started using hip hop music, teaching them the movements as dance moves, almost

without them knowing it, and taking them through the patterns as part of a choreographed routine.”

The JingaFit class consists of two halves, firstly a choreographed dance routine using simple capoeira moves to music and then learning to use the movements in partner situations.

Within six weeks the pupils have learned enough to play the game independently, making up the routines as they go along and reacting instinctively.

Craig added: “So far I have been into half of the schools in Cornwall and have had an amazing reaction in all of them. Teachers love it because it engages the kids, especially those with behavioural or learning difficulties.

“And for the pupils it’s a fun game

that gives them the chance to throw themselves about, encourages the social aspect of sport and lets them work together rather than against each other. Boys love the martial arts side of it and girls love the dance and gymnastic elements.

“There is also an infinite amount of moves to learn so it is always exciting and challenging.”

Currently the main problem Craig is facing is that many schools are keen to provide more sessions for the pupils, but don’t have the resources available.

To overcome this he is setting up a community interest company which will be able to apply for funding to subsidise the school clubs, making the classes cheaper and more accessible.

He said: “The schools are usually

only able to book a full school taster session, or a six week short course.

“This means that the only way for the kids to continue with the sport is through after school clubs, but many have financial or transport issues that make this difficult for them.

“If I can get more funding then this should change and many more kids will get the chance to become involved.”

As another way of getting JingaFit into schools, Craig has also produced a DVD learning resource for the Callington School Sports Partnership.

PE teachers will be able to use the DVD in their classes to teach the capoeira moves and use the exercises as a springboard to get the kids playing the game.

08

12/12/08

15:48

Page 1

8 news

As Greenwich Leisure Ltd celebrates its 15th anniversary, Mary Ferguson caught up with founder Mark Stresnan to find out how they are encouraging health and fitness amongst young people in the capital.

Capital plan for keeping young healthy

Mark Stresnan

ACCORDING to Mark, Greenwich Leisure Ltd is the ’blueprint’ that other leisure trusts follow.

And after 15 years of helping children and teenagers succeed in sport, the company has its sights set on reaping the benefits of the 2012 Olympics.

Mark said: “When we started we opened seven leisure centres in Greenwich, but now we operate 65 in 12 different London boroughs.

“We are hoping that the focus the games will put on sport and youth investment will provide an opportunity to really make a mark for communities and youth fitness.”

Last year, GLL set up a charitable trust called the GLL Sport Foundation, providing funding for talented young athletes.

A direct initiative to provide financial support to young people in London who are recognised as being potentially very

good at their sport, it aims to help those that have barriers – for example those who may be struggling because of an injury.

GLL is working with some of their suppliers to support the foundation, which is currently helping 700 young athletes.

Mark said: “It’s early days to get people to get their cheque books out but we are confident that the success of the Olympic will further inspire Londoners.”

Because GLL run all the pools in the boroughs, part of their objective is that every child in every school in every borough should be able to swim.

So as well as providing free sessions to underprivileged youngsters through a credit system, the Trust has capped the cost of swimming at £1 a session across all boroughs.

Mark said: “We never again want to hear the argument that children cannot afford to go

swimming.”

And as well as the pool initiatives, for the last five years all of GLL’s leisure centres have run ‘after school gyms’ in their fitness suites, giving pupils priority over the equipment.

Mark said that as well as the progress they have made with youth sport and fitness, GLL’s biggest achievement is changing the market for leisure providers.

He added: “When we started out the only options available for councils were to run their leisure offerings in-house, or through private companies – but now they have a choice.

“We are showing there is a third way, and feel we have set a blueprint for other leisure trusts.

“And ultimately we want to work with those other trusts in collaboration rather than competition.”

Bursary supports talented youngsters A SPORTS bursary scheme in Warwickshire has provided financial support to talented young sports people in the area.

The County Athletes Programme (CAP) aims to support Warwickshire athletes to compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games and at other major events on the sporting calendar.

In 2008 over 80 applications were

received and as a result, 14 budding young stars, who compete in a variety of sports, from badminton to wheelchair basketball, have been selected to receive funding.

Funded by Warwickshire County Council the 14 successful applicants will each receive a grant from the three-tiered funding package to aid their development over the next year.

Junior football academy to kick off again next summer A JUNIOR football academy is to continue next summer as part of a partnership with Chelsea Football Club.

The project – with Forte Village academy – saw more than 500 take part this summer and it will continue next year.

Ron Gourlay, chief operating officer at Chelsea said: “Our football in the community scheme and our coaches

are regarded in the highest esteem around the world so I am sure they will inspire the children to play and watch football for many years to come.”

The football academy is open to boys and girls aged four to 13 who will be trained by Chelsea coaches and there will be a mini tournament at the end of each week.

School children from nine primary schools in South Leeds have competed in a rugby league competition, held to co-incide with the senior world cup.

300 pupils took part in the Hunslet Hawks world cup festival, held at the John Charles Centre for Sport, organised in partnership with Leeds Council Sports Development.

The programme, which began in September, saw all schools involved allocated a country taking part in the senior world cup in Australia.

All teams played each other in seven minute matches with the top four teams competing for a chance to play in the final. Ireland (Morley Newlands) and Fiji (East Ardsley) reached the final with Ireland emerging as champions.

09

12/12/08

15:50

Page 1

news 9

Dance mat league steps up fitness bid

By Lyndsey Smith A DANCE mat league that allows schools to compete against each other online is encouraging more kids to get fit, according to one partnership development manager.

The competition – for pupils in years five to 11 – lets each year group compete at five different levels ranging from novice to expert.

Each week pupils perform a set dance track and their scores are recorded online. Points are calculated throughout the month, with the top scoring student, team and school being revealed.

Partnership development manager Dave Bullock, at Tone School Sports Partnership, said the compe-

tition concept encourages more kids to take part.

He added: “It is a great way for keeping kids who are not traditionally into sport to be more physically active.

“The great thing is it can be an individual or team event and it also introduces the competitive element, as well as being a fun way for young people to engage.

“It is attractive to many schools because of this and also because it takes away any transportation problems that can sometimes be faced when trying to fufill competitive fixtures.”

Paul Shinners, commercial sales director at Pulse Fitness – which has exclusive rights to distribute

Teachers ‘should not be expected to keep kids fit’

By Louise Cordell PARENTS should not expect teachers to take responsibility for keeping their kids fit and healthy, according to a physical activity expert.

Anna Chalkley, project manager at the British Heart Foundation’s National Centre for Physical Activity and Health, points out that schools are under increased pressure to hit targets in every area and families need to do their bit to keep kids active.

She said: “We are keen to promote the recommended 60 minutes of activity a day, but while there has been a significant investment into sport in schools, teachers are bombarded with targets like this and cannot provide everything that is needed in school hours.

“Parents need to realise this, as there is a tendency to think that the child’s exercise needs are being taken care of at school and that they don’t need to get involved.”

Anna works with the centre’s children and young people team, taking

health and fitness research, ‘de-jargonising’ it and turning it into practical tips and ideas that can be used by anyone working with kids.

The aim is to equip children with the skills to exercise and be active all the time, while alone, with friends and family and in schools.

The group also spends a lot of time consulting with teachers and youth workers to make sure children are getting the best possible benefits.

Anna added: “Progress is often down to the enthusiasm of individual teachers – at the end of the day no matter now good the resources are they need to be delivered in the right way to be effective.

“We always try to offer training alongside the packs, which helps to familiarise the teachers with what is involved.

“This gives them more confidence and increases the likelihood of the resources being used - after all if the teachers don’t understand them then we can’t expect the kids to.

“It needs to be a two way street to get the best results.”

the new system I Dance dance mats for three years – said: “It is a great way for kids to compete against each other in an activity that is not only fun but keeps them fit and healthy.

“Numerous school sports partnerships now have some sort of interactive activity equipment proving it is beneficial for kids of all ages and abilities.”

Paul believes technological advancements to dance mat software could take interactive gaming in schools to a whole new level.

He said the new I Dance can be used by up to 32 users at once and features a split screen, allowing participants to compete on three different ability levels.

Marine taster for pupils YEAR nine and 10 pupils from five Newcastle schools had a taste of life in the Marines when they were put through their paces at a training day.

The boys from West Gate, All Saints, Heaton Manor, Benfield and Walbottle schools competed for points against each other in a number of tasks including scaling a 20 foot climbing wall, running while carrying a heavy mat, a 2000m row on the River Tyne, a series of one-minute tests in the gym and a problem solving exercise.

The event was organised by Newcastle School Sport Partnership’s competition manager Steve Beharall, and was aimed at youngsters who are not involved in team sports and do not represent a team at any competitive sport.

Partnership development manager Joyce Matthews said further events are planned for next year.

She added: “The idea was to offer young people the chance to compete in an activity which would challenge and inspire.

“It has been so successful that the young people that participated are asking when another event will be organised, and those schools who did not take part in this event are looking forward to the challenge of competing in the next event.”

The England team has won the Rock It Ball youth world cup after playing a five match series in Hungary.

England coach Craig Buttery said: “These youngsters have come so far and reached an amazing standard.

The future certainly looks bright as the players move up to the senior squad.”

10

15/12/08

14:22

Page 1

10 news

New dance initiative inspired by TV show A TV talent show is the inspiration behind a new dance initiative to be launched in North East schools next year.

The Stockton SSP have extended their fun key steps programme to include ‘Bollywood Steps’ aimed at key stage two children across the borough.

Many pupils have referred to Indian street dance group, Signature - who featured earlier this year on Britain’s Got Talent - when discussing Indian dance, Bollywood and street dance, and community dance coach, Lyndsey Davies, believes this individual style of music and dance provides a great opportunity for cross curricular links into cultural studies, history, art and religion.

She added: “After many requests from head teachers, pupils and primary PE staff we decided it would be a great way to engage youngsters, particularly those of multi-cultural origin into music and dance performance, and we hope that primary schools will take advantage of the sessions on offer.”

Lyndsey will begin delivering the programme from February, alongside wake up shake up, street dance, street cheer, cheerleading and combat steps.

Pupils enjoying water polo

School in bid to team up with experts

By Lyndsey Smith A SCHOOL in Warwickshire is hoping to team up with health experts to offer fitness sessions for the community.

Eileen Braham, from Warwick Boys Prep School, has met with the health development manager of the Primary Care Trust to discuss working in partnership on the new government Families for Fitness scheme.

She said: “We had been aiming to run health and fitness sessions for some time, after becoming increasingly aware of the children’s

obesity issues.

“However we were unable to find guidance on setting up such a scheme but this meeting has given us renewed hope that by working in partnership with the PCT we can get the courses up and running and available to local families.

“Warwick School has superb sports facilities and we are able to offer our own pupils much more than the government suggested amount of PE time each week and therefore have fit and active pupils who are committed to physical exercise and health.

“We would like to be able to share this ethos amongst children and families who may not have had such an opportunity available to them. Some that need help can’t access it due to social circumstances but we aim to change all that.”

Eileen also hopes to run a joint initiative with the head of catering at the school to offer people advice about diet and nutrition.

The school already runs a holiday action programme, for four to 11 year olds to take part in a huge range of activities from archery to mask making and wall climbing.

11

12/12/08

15:51

Page 1

news 11 Initiatives to engage more young people in sport and physical activity are paying off according to a recent school sports survey. Lyndsey Smith reports.

90% taking part in at least two hours of sport – survey RESULTS of a study into kids’ fitness levels at school have shown that targets have been smashed and now 90 per cent take part in at least two hours of high quality PE and school sport a week.

The Youth Sport Trust surveyed 21,000 schools across the UK to find participation has leapt from 62 per cent in 2003/04.

YST chief executive Steve Grainger said: “These results show how much progress is being made in PE and school sport.

“It has been great to see the systematic change over the years in terms of improvement but we are not so naive as to think this is enough.”

Now, the YST is aiming to reach new government targets of five hours’ high quality PE and sport a week – though Steve admits some children may be already achieving that target.

Steve added the findings only illustrate exercise done in curriculum time – it does not include any exercise students may be doing out of school. Now, he is behind a YST drive to forge stronger links between schools and sports clubs.

He said: “If there is no outside opportunity we get the familiar

Steve Grainger problem of the post 16 drop off because there is no where for the kids to to go.

“We need to get community providers and schools linking up more because if the two work in isolation it will never work.

“Schools are wanting to do more but not knowing where to access facilities, and clubs are finding they have membership gaps and saying the schools aren’t doing enough – it’s the chicken and the

egg.”

Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster believes any results should be clarified before attempts are made to increase the offer.

He added: “This survey is all well and good but do we really know the amount of physical activity kids are doing? Do these two hours incorporate changing time or is it two hours sustained exercise?

“There has been hundreds of millions of pounds spent on this for a quite frankly modest increase and will this government proposal of the five hour offer actually do anything to reduce drop off when kids leave school?

“The progress that has been made is very welcome but before we start self-congratulating we have to realise it is nowhere near enough.”

However, Don agreed that schools should team up with clubs more often and he called for Sport England to clarify its position on funding arrangements to help move things forward.

What do you think? Send your comments to Lyndsey Smith, 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS or email her at ls@whpl.net.

Schools and clubs must raise their game GOVERNMENT minister Ed Balls says schools and clubs still have to raise their game – despite 250,000 more young people playing sport compared to last year.

He says more has to be done to meet the government’s new targets of doing five hours PE a week.

He added: “Ignore the half-pint full critics who carp nothing has changed. School sport was a national embarrassment a decade ago.

“Sport had all but withered and died in many schools, thousands of

playing fields had been sold off, there was negligible investment and an ingrained anti-competitive culture.

“School and youth sport has now never been as well funded. There is a permanent infrastructure and support in place and more children doing PE and sport than ever before.

“We now need to raise our game to persuade more children to make the right choices and exercise outside school so all children can do at least five hours a week.”

Mr Balls added it was crucial to include parents in the plans and put the responsibility back on to families to deliver sport.

He said: “The bottom line is that encouraging and supporting their children to exercise should be part and parcel of day to day life for families.

“We need schools and clubs to all work to engage more parents and every parent has to take responsibility for their children doing exercise and sport outside schools.”

Students exchange Bolsover for Beijing STUDENTS in Derbyshire swapped Bolsover for Beijing in a sporting exchange trip last month.

Eight pupils from Stubbin Wood Special School took part in sports and cultural activities, spending four days in Beijing and four in Shanghai.

The four boys and four girls, aged 14 to 16, visited Yang Fan special

school in Shanghai – which has close links with Stubbin Wood – after they received a visit from a Chinese delegation travelling from the Yang Pu district earlier this year.

Carolyn Briggs, international coordinator at Stubbin Wood, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students. They experienced a

completely different culture which will help to broaden their horizons and widen their experiences.”

One of the aims of the trip was to share ideas and practice, and the British visitors took several pieces of sports equipment with them. Stubbin Wood staff also taught some PE lessons.

12

15/12/08

14:10

Page 1

12 news

A school in Middlesex beat off stiff competition to be crowned the UK’s fittest school in 2008. Lyndsey Smith finds out how they did it.

The fittest school in 2008 LONGFORD Community School in Hounslow was selected from more than 1,700 secondary school entrants as winner of the Fitter Schools Challenge.

Students from each school went through a series of tests for coordination, strength, speed, power and Longford recorded the highest level of overall fitness to win more than £40,000 of fitness equipment from Life Fitness.

Chris McNab, director of sport at Longford, said the school had already been given healthy school status from the government under the Healthy School’s Programme.

He added: “We decided to integrate this challenge into the healthy schools agenda which includes exercise, diet and lifestyle to encourage the students to increase their physical activity.

“The competition helped give the students a focus for their exercise and served to improve the team ethic across the entire student body.

“The new equipment will be given pride of place in our new fitness suite that opens later this year and the students are excited and extremely proud of what they have achieved as a group through sport.”

Longford pushed the competition

in two ways – students were invited to compete individually and were also teamed into ‘houses’ where each person could earn points for their team.

Chris added: “It’s a good way of getting students involved particularly the disaffected ones.

“With the house system they know that no matter what their points total is they are contributing in some way, they are doing something to make their house successful, and we find that this structure goes a long way to getting more students involved.”

Chris is now making plans for Longford to be involved in the government’s new Fitter Families scheme which is to encourage fitness at home and at school.

He added: “This initiative made the kids realize the benefits of exercise and what part it can play in keeping them fit and healthy. We made sure that all results were displayed so the kids could really feel a sense of achievement.

“We are already trying to incorporate the family element at school – we recently sent out letters to parents regarding packed lunches. A lot of kids were bringing chocolate based lunches into school and we are trying to alleviate that and improve stan-

Chris McNab receives award from Ian Wright at the Fit For Sport awards ceremony. dards.

The problem is that although there is all this talk of PE in schools in terms of the two hour offer or five hour offer you still tend to find that a

lot of exam based subjects are continually trying to tie up the student’s time, and the biggest thing we as teachers can do is ensure that doesn’t happen.”

Steve Grainger, chief executive of the YST

Inspiring dreams ...

INSPIRING dreams and creating opportunities was the theme of the Youth Sports Trust special schools’ PE and sport conference.

The third national conference for those delivering PE and sport opportunities to young disabled people and special educational needs pupils, took place in December and featured appearances from three Paralympic athletes – Sam Hynd, swimming, Shelly Woods, athletics, and Andy Blake, wheelchair basketball.

Steve Grainger, chief executive of the YST said: “This has been an amazing year and the greatest yet in our journey to transform PE and school sport.

“The achievements of our Olympians and Paralympians in Beijing were an inspiration to millions of young people and the third UK School Games, were a great showcase for the sporting talent that is

now coming through our school system.

“As the host nation for 2012, and with a desire to build the best PE and school sport system in the world by then, we have an unprecedented opportunity to ensure young disabled people are a leading part of the growing sporting landscape.”

The conference considered the various roles that special schools and wider partners play, from delivering high quality PE and sport, to supporting and influencing others to fully include all young disabled people.

It also provided opportunities for the extended network of county disability officers and other education and sports agencies to consider how, through working with special schools, clearer pathways can be created from school to community sport to create meaningful and sustainable opportunities.

13

12/12/08

15:53

Page 1

news 13

The New Expressions Health and Fitness Centre

Gym payment breaks being offered to Nottingham students COLLEGE students in Nottingham are being encouraged to sign up for gym membership with the offer of payment holidays.

The New Expressions Health and Fitness Centre allows students to take membership breaks of four, eight or twelve months to fit around their studying timetable.

Marcos Szysler, club fitness manager, said: “We had found that the students were very hit and miss and tended to frequently cancel and then restart their membership.

“This was awkward for them and meant a laborious paper trail for us, so we started offering them the option of payment breaks, allowing them to freeze their memberships just by calling the club and letting us know the dates in question.”

The gym, which is right next door to South Nottinghamshire College, has a high percentage of student members, about 33 per cent, which is now set to increase as the club expands to 1000 members over the next year.

The club does not charge any administration fee for the payment holiday and Marcos believes the sys-

tem has made a huge difference to student retention.

He added: “We have seen membership uptake explode over the last month after working with the college during fresher’s week, I think knowing that the flexibility is there if they need it has a big impact on whether they sign up or not.

“It is important to remember that funds are tight for students, so they are going to be reluctant to pay for something they are not likely to use.

“If they are faced with the problem of cancelling and then re-starting up their membership they are less likely to join up at all. However, if they know it is simple and they can just walk back in when they are ready, they are much keener.”

Marcos also believes that the club’s work with the college has helped to encourage student members.

New Expressions has put on private classes for the college and provided the students with instructors for sports lessons when needed.

He said: “Working closely with the college definitely encourages the students to use us out of hours as they

are familiar with the people and facilities and, having seen what is on offer, are eager to take part.”

£10m to improve facilities across country THE government is to spend £10m improving facilities at 42 sports colleges across the country.

Children’s minister Kevin Brennan said the cash will be spent on developing sports pitches, with flood lights, artificial turf and better drainage being installed.

He said: “Competitive sport is back in schools, thanks to the mas-

sive investment in facilities and coaches over the last decade and our initiative to stop the mass sell-off of thousands of playing fields.

“The Olympics excited children about sport in a way we haven’t seen for a generation and we’ve got a once in a lifetime opportunity to get children reaching their

potential.

“It’s not good enough that young people still find their local school pitches unlit or too waterlogged to use in winter, and this investment will make a real difference where it counts.”

It is expected that more cash will be allocated for the scheme over the next two years.

14

12/12/08

15:54

Page 1

14 news

A pilot scheme has been launched in London to get 3,000 inactive young women into exercise. But what do the founders hope to achieve with the programme and how easy is it to change young women’s perceptions of exercise? Christina Eccles found out ...

Sweat in the City pilot aims to get young women active SWEAT in the City is the result of a partnership between the FIA and the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation.

It involves giving 3,000 women aged between 16 and 24, who live in London and do little or no exercise free and mentored gym membership for 12 weeks.

The main aims of the programme are to encourage an age group which is traditionally quite inactive to be more active while also finding out the reasons why they are reluctant to participate.

At the beginning and end of the programme, participants will fill in questionnaires and give feedback which can then be used for future WSFF campaigns to get women more active and by gyms to find out what female members like and want from their workouts. The data can also be used to discover any changes in their

attitudes about physical activity over the course of the 12 weeks.

Those on the programme will benefit from a dedicated website where they can interact with other members plus the services of an online mentor, Brittany Robbins, who will be there to answer queries and help to keep the women motivated.

Brittany said: “One of the main aims of the programme is to get inactive women active. 81 per cent of women do not do enough exercise and women aged between 16 and 24 are half as active as men of the same age group.

“Some young women stop exercising and never come back to it – we have been going straight to the schools, universities and community groups to get them involved.”

100 London gyms have signed up to the scheme allowing the women to use their facilities free of charge –

enabling them to help out the local community while potentially gaining new members.

WSFF project manager Chris Lillistone said there were many things which the organisation wanted to achieve from the programme both for the women themselves and for research purposes.

She added: “We hope the women who sign up will have a fantastic experience and feel part of a community by using the online website. We want them to be able to build up the confidence and skills to stay active.

“We also want to learn from them and get feedback on issues such as why they would give up exercise so we can use this information for future campaigns.”

It is hoped that a successful pilot could lead to the programme being rolled out nationwide.

Brittany Robbins

Paralympic swimmer opens festival

By Crispin Andrews PARALYMPIC swimmer Giles Long recently opened a festival in Buckinghamshire for youngsters with physical disabilities and visual impairments.

Giles, a double gold medallist who has limited use of his right shoulder, said: “Festivals like

A Newcastle school has formed its first rugby league team under the watchful eye of an international player. Heaton Manor’s year nine boys have entered the Carnegie champion schools competition and are being coached by sixth form student Crawford Matthews, who has just returned from Prague where he represented Scotland in the Euro nations championships. Crawford who also plays for Gateshead Thunder’s academy team, said he is confident the team will do well in the competition.

He added: “There are quite a few lads in the school who already play for Wallsend Eagles and Killingworth Rockets, so it seemed like a logical move to set up a school team.”

this are crucial if more youngsters are to be encouraged to take part in physical activity and reach their potential.”

Over 70 children from 12 different schools took part in a range of activities from cricket, tennis and athletics, to disability sports like wheelchair bas-

Interactive coaching kit Cyber Coach has become the first leisure product to be shortlisted for a BETT Award.

The award – which promotes technological products in the education sector – is judged on criteria like design, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility.

Ron Jones, chief executive of Quick Holdings plc, owner of the Cyber Coach product said: “This is tes-

ketball, polybat, boccia and table cricket.

Giles is involved in the Sporting Champions scheme – a Sport England initiative, which brings world-class athletes face-to-face with young people to inspire and motivate them to participate in sport.

tament to all the hard work that the team at Cyber Coach has put in to deliver a product that is suitable for use in a wide variety of settings.

“We already have over 100 schools throughout the UK with Cyber Coach systems and hope that this nomination will mean that the product goes from strength to strength.”

15

12/12/08

15:56

Page 1

news 15

Expert warns no ‘one size fits all’ answer

By Lyndsey Smith A KIDS’ fitness expert has warned there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to keep girls fit – and each area should offer something different.

Kerry McDonald, business development manager for StreetGames, told a conference that there is no single solution when it comes to encouraging girls to work out.

He said: “There is no one size fits all solution.

“Different girls want different activities, but undoubtedly one of our biggest successes this year has been the development of our StreetCheer programme.

“This combines urban dance and cheerleading and it’s been very popular with the girls.”

StreetGames launched in 2007 to promote sport in disadvantaged communities. So far, 30,000 young people have taken part, with over 1,000 sports qualifications awarded, and 70 projects set up around the UK.

Kerry said the charity is facing some tough challenges, particularly when it comes to meeting the demand in communities for tighter links with sports clubs.

The organisation is now creating a network that will pair up community groups and sports clubs to run projects together.

He added: “Setting up a sports project is one thing, getting local young people to attend on a regular basis is quite another. We have been able to do just that.

“By working with local providers and listening to young people, we have been able to establish 70 project across the country that regularly attract those for whom sport has previously been unavailable or simply an unattractive option.”

What do you think? Tell Lyndsey Smith about your girls’ projects. She can be reached on ls@whpl.net or write to her at 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS.

A leisure centre has launched a £120,000 youth fitness initiative in a bid to get kids active.

Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, managed by Leisure Connection, has launched The Pod which includes interactive fitness equipment. It also includes ZigZag’s second-generation XerDance platforms, a leadership board and sportswalls.

Superchick in teen market bid THE founder of a female only fitness company has revealed ambitious plans for expansion which include educating young women on the benefits of healthy eating and exercise.

Cat Dugdale, co-founder of London-based Superchick, set up the company with business partner and former personal training client Georgie Thompson to bring women only fitness into the 21st century.

Cat said: “It is key for us to get into the teenage market because at the moment girls do not have anywhere to turn to which has a

healthy approach to women’s bodies.”

Signing up to an online programme is free and Cat now wants to help teenagers to achieve their goals and a positive body image.

Cat added: “There is the celebrity approach which seems to be all about thinness which we are trying to challenge with the lifestyle element of keeping fit and healthy.

“In school, girls do PE and sometimes carry this over into university but then after that there is nothing available and turning that around can be difficult.”

16

12/12/08

15:57

Page 1

16 news

FIA project extends to older kids

By Lyndsey Smith

Anthony Ryder with Holy Cross Girls Y7 captain Sophie Green and Sally Gunnell

Chorley school team takes national award HOLY Cross Year Seven girls’ rugby league team has won the Daily Telegraph’s School Sports Matters School Team of the Year award.

The national award, which was open to all sports teams from schools across the country, went to the Chorley school partly due to the successful link with local club Chorley Panthers.

Holy Cross head coach Anthony Ryder said: “This award rounds off an amazing year for the team.

“We were surprised to win but very proud of what we’ve achieved.

“This is the first year the girls have played rugby league and the link with the club has really helped to develop them.”

A PROJECT which encourages ten and 11-year-olds to get fit has been expanded for older children.

The Fitness Industry Association’s successful Adopt a School programme has been rebranded as Active at School and will link primary and secondary schools with FIA registered health clubs and gyms.

Fitness programmes will be offered for children between ten and 15years-old within each school term, either before, during or after school, with the gym instructor delivering a minimum six week period of activities including advice on leading a healthy lifestyle.

Children will also be offered the opportunity to sustain activity levels by linking into programmes that the clubs are running, and Alex Smith, programmes co-ordinator said: “There are many benefits for schools that sign up to the scheme.

“It provides them with an opportunity to help kids reach the five hours of PE the government are trying to achieve, and it is also about providing

them with the opportunity to exercise outside of school hours.

“Plus it is a great alternative for kids who aren’t quite so bothered about traditional sports like football and netball, providing them with an opportunity to keep fit and healthy.”

The programme aims to help children develop a positive attitude towards physical activity and build good exercise habits during the early years of life, and it can also help schools meet partnership aims and objectives and give them access to facilities and expert advice.

The government funded project is designed so that children of all abilities can take part and there are 27 link ups running so far this term.

Alex hopes this will increase as the school year progresses. He said: “A good few hundred link ups were made with the Adopt A School project and I can’t see why this will be any different. We are doing everything to provide as much support as possible including providing clubs with a support pack to show them how to run the programme including a DVD of sample activities.”

German concept imported A GERMAN sports concept is being introduced at some UK schools to help encourage kids’ fitness.

Speedminton – the brainchild of two German badminton enthusiasts – is a hybrid racquet sport combining features of badminton, tennis and squash.

Neil McMillan, at Manchester College, said: “From an educational perspective it is great for us because it has a low skill threshold.

Other racquet sports like tennis, badminton or squash have a high skill threshold and students can get easily frustrated and then get bored and lose interest.

“We are always trying to introduce new sports to maintain variety. It is a really active sport, and it is as much physical exercise as volleyball, tennis in my opinion, but it gives students the opportunity to try something different away from the traditional sports.”

The college also hold speedminton sessions out of lesson times

Neil McMillan with staff using it in enrichment activities.

Founder Ralf Ganza said: “Sports coaches and PE teachers can coach their students and players easily, with no hassles and pupils will achieve success quickly during the first stages of learning how to play.

“In our experience, the sport is best suited for students aged nine and up and we are now organisinginterschool competitions to help to establish the basis for national school leagues.”

New innings for resource packs THE England and Wales Cricket Board is expanding its Howzat! educational resource to improve cricket coaching in schools.

The updated packs will be rolled out to 1,000 cricket coaches and 1,000 school teachers a year to tie in with the launch of the new national curriculum.

Howzat! has been based around a pre-installed software programme

specially designed for teachers and has been accredited by the Association of Physical Education.

More than 1,300 copies of the resource have been circulated to qualified cricket coaches working within the Cricket Foundation’s ‘Chance to Shine’ programme, and will offer teachers and coaches a combination of 670,000 different games and practices to choose from.

17

12/12/08

15:58

Page 1

news 17

Sport teaches important lessons – Diane

By Dominic Musgrave SPORT can teach youngsters important lessons in life according to former Commonwealth 800m champion Diane Modahl.

The four time Olympic athlete has become an ambassador of StreetGames, a sports development charity launched in 2007 which develops sporting opportunities for young people living in some of the UK’s most disadvantaged areas.

Diane, who grew up on the outskirts of Manchester in Longsight, says sport is crucial in the development of children.

“It can be the catalyst to so many things,” she added. “It is not only about the joy of victory or the despair of defeat but is about education, team work and socialising.

“I am a firm believer in the Government’s aim of getting school children to do at least five hours of sport each week. But there are so many young people out there who, because of where they live or their social circumstances, don’t have any access to sport as part of their day-today lives. That shouldn’t be the case.”

Diane also believes that schools and local authorities should be doing all they can to take advantage of the Olympic games in London in 2012.

“We cannot ignore the games being held here,” she added. “We need to use them to encourage the youngsters to take up a sport and aspire to emulate some of the people that we saw recently winning all of those medals in Beijing.

Diane Modahl at one of the StreetGames events “I was very lucky because a coach from a local athletics club came to my school’s sports day, spotted me and asked me if I had ever thought about joining a club. Without that support I could easily have missed out on the opportunity to get into sport.”

Diane’s post with StreetGames involves her using her sporting influence, experience and knowledge to encourage other sporting heroes to support the charity.

So far more than 17,000 children have taken part in one of their training sessions, which include diverse activities such as dance and cheerleading as well as more mainstream sports.

The charity also offers a volunteering project.

Well known names including boxers Amir Khan and Ricky Hatton and former footballer John Fashanu and cricketer Imran Khan have shown their support.

Nutrition should be compulsory school subject – company

By Lyndsey Smith NUTRITION should be a compulsory school subject alongside PE, according to one UK company.

Sport nutrition company myprotein.co.uk has written to the government saying its plans to send letters to parents when their child is overweight will have no effect, unless nutrition becomes part of the national curriculum.

Oliver Cookson, managing director, said: “The government’s latest offering doesn’t have the impact a situa-

tion such as the one we find ourselves in requires.

“We need to take control of our own and our children’s lives and stop shifting blame.

“It is my belief nutrition should be a compulsory subject, where children are taught how to enjoy a healthy, well balanced diet, informed how a poor diet can lead to ill health, and educated as to the dangers of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and over-eating.

“A few hours’ physical exercise is just not enough.”

Call for sports volunteers YOUNG people are being encouraged to become sports volunteers under a project funded by Sport England.

The runningsports project has asked teachers to mention it to sixth formers who want to become volunteers.

Phil Collier, director of runningsports, said: “As well as providing new-found knowledge and skills, run-

ningsports ticks a lot of boxes for teachers too.

“The programme sits comfortably with Step into Sport and it can help to increase and improve school-club links as well as provide teachers with groups of students who have the skills needed to assist in the running of in-school sports activities.”

Former Olympian Colin Jackson supported youngsters in the North East as they gave their first public performance of Sport Dance.

Benfield School’s 20 students and six teachers from the Newcastle School Sports Partnership lined up with the athlete for the performance that launched the Great North Run. It is the first partnership to pilot the Sport Dance programme.

Over one hundred people from the region took part in routines designed to use as many large muscle groups in the body to create a progressive workout.

Inspiration came from actions such as the basketball bounce and lay up shot, the tennis backhand, forehand and serve, plus football kicks and goalie moves.

18

12/12/08

15:59

Page 1

18 news

Kent school holds physical activity day

By Lyndsey Smith Youngsters meet Fred Turok, founder and chairman of TAG at the launch

New training initiative helps with fitness industry career

By Dominic Musgrave A NEW training initiative aimed at preparing 18-24 year olds for a career in the fitness industry has been launched.

Transforming a Generation, the brainchild of Fitness Industry Assocation chair Fred Turok, has been designed for people who are not in employment, education or training and who have limited professional or career opportunities. The free sixmonth programme combines business skills, academic work, practical training and two work placements, one in the UK and one abroad.

Fred said: “There are many young people, who for any number of rea-

sons, are alienated from our education process at school and are therefore condemned to living in the shadows of society. Their only career prospects are either securing a series of badly paid, unrewarding jobs, or seek an alternative ‘career’ on the wrong side of the law.”

Each student will be provided with a personal mentor as well as a two-year personal development plan designed to help their transition into the workplace. Everyone who graduates will leave with a level two fitness instructor qualification and will be on the Register of Exercise Professionals.

Fred aims to qualify 6,000 young people as fitness instructors over the next five years.

A SCHOOL in Kent held a physical activity day to get more girls taking part in PE – and invited their families and friends.

Herne Bay High head of PE Priscilla Monahan organised the Girls Get Going event to try to entice more girls to participate.

She said: “The idea was to get more girls involved in sport. Physical activity in boys is higher than in girls and part of my remit for the year was to get more girls active.

“We thought that by having a family member or friend with them, the participants would have a positive learning environment in which they felt more confident.

“We also encouraged more mums to play and get physically active with their daughters at home.”

The school offered sessions in cheerleading, hip hop dance, ballroom dance, aerobics, circuit training, step aerobics, kick-boxing, selfdefence, netball, tennis, fencing, badminton, climbing, trampolining, hockey, spinning and boxing.

Priscilla added: “If they enjoyed an activity we provided them with details and information on how to

Girls get going at Herne Bay High attend follow up sessions or clubs.

“It was a fantastic opportunity for local clubs and sport centres to build links with the school and create pathways for girls into clubs and regular activity.”

A nutritionist was also on hand to give advice about healthy eating, along with MEND and British Heart Foundation representatives.

155 females took part with 93 per cent of students and 69 per cent of adults hoping to take up at least one activity in the future.

£50m windfall for indoor football pitch project

By Lyndsey Smith A PROJECT that aims to install indoor football pitches at more than 200 schools has landed a £50m windfall.

Five-a-side provider Goals Soccer Centres was floated as a PLC in 2004 on the alternative investment market and its finance agreement with the bank allows for the cash to help grow the business.

Ric Leask, corporate sales manager, says his biggest problem so far has been in marketing the scheme – as too many schools are suspicious that there is a hidden catch.

He said: “No one believes they can get something for nothing. But part of the funding is £50m that will be allocated for school projects and we

made that declaration to the stock market.

“We feel there is room for at least another 200 centres in the UK market and why shouldn’t they be on school grounds?”

The project could see schools get a £2.1m purpose built sports facility on their grounds, which they could use between nine and five. The rest of the time it is used by Goals Soccer Centres as a commercial venture.

Ric added: “Although we as a company are predominantly football orientated the school has the option to use it for whatever is feasible such as touch rugby or quick cricket.

“It gives them an indoor facility for use in winter or bad weather.”

Experts meet for conference

By Crispin Andrews PE experts from Buckinghamshire met for the annual Primary PE Conference last month.

Wendy Taylor, the Youth Sport Trust’s high quality PE development manager for the area, opened the conference outlining government plans for five hours of PE and sport a week by 2012.

It was also discussed about bringing in fitness instructors, coaches or

players to help deliver lessons.

Sally Mapley, partnership development manager at the Wye Valley Sports College in Bourne End said: “Training is crucial. Teachers either want to get advice on how to teach a sport or activity they are unfamiliar with, or find out about new initiatives directly relevant to their work like the competition framework or how to identify gifted and talented children.”

19

12/12/08

15:59

Page 1

news 19 An inner-city primary school which was once in special measures is now regarded as one of the healthiest schools in its region. Future Fitness reporter Nicola Hyde looks at how they managed the turn around.

Strictly ballroom proves a winner ST Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School in Oldbury is located in a deprived area of Birmingham, catering for around 250 children between three and 11.

Ten years ago, it was in special measures and was experiencing some major challenges with student behaviour.

But, after joining the National Healthy Schools Programme, St Francis developed a healthy ethos by offering a range of physical activities to drive up behavioural and educational standards.

Headteacher Mary Simmons said it was hoped that better fitness levels would boost her students’ concentration, behaviour, academic attainment and create a more positive atmosphere.

Now, ballroom dancing is offered to the year four students delivered by professional competitive dancers who visit every week.

Older children are offered jive and salsa.

Mary said: “The ballroom classes grew out of a desire to channel the children’s energy and give them an experience they might not otherwise have. We started off by run-

ning aerobics classes and this gradually evolved into less traditional activities, the prime example being ballroom dancing. Not only is the dancing something they enjoy, but they’re developing skills like confidence and teamwork, which they can take on into adult life.

“Everyone has the chance to join in, rather than being overly competitive, although of course, a lot of the students have seen Strictly Come Dancing on TV and want to emulate what top sportsmen and women are doing on screen.

“We’re constantly trying to do something different and probably the most unusual example to date has been Irish Bangra dancing. It’s going back a couple of years now, but the fusion of Irish and Indian perfectly illustrated the coming together of different cultures and really encouraged the children to be more adventurous.”

St Francis also offers football practice and West Brom and Aston Villa have both worked with the school on training sessions, with a group of around 30 children spending a day at Villa Park foot-

Course serves tennis tuition to more pupils MORE primary school pupils are getting the chance to take up tennis thanks to a course designed to help teachers pass on the right skills.

The Tennis Skills to Music scheme has been developed to help promote kids’ fitness and raise standards within the primary PE curriculum.

Teachers are shown a range of ideas and exercises that they can take back into the classroom and use to get kids excited about the sport.

Course designer and trainer Jill Follett said: “What began as a demonstration session with a class of pupils ended up creating a lot of interest amongst teachers in my own school and others.

“They began to ask for support materials and, rather than do things by halves, I decided to spend a year developing and testing ideas on over 4,000 pupils in 40 primary schools.”

The scheme is now entering its third year and is not only being used in primary schools, but has spread into secondary PE classes at KS 3 and 4 levels.

It has also received accreditation through afPE and has proved particularly popular and effective for pupils with a range of special needs.

Jill added: “While it is based on tennis skills the ideas are very generic and are easily transferrable to other areas of the curriculum.

“However, rackets and balls are very versatile and, because they are an extension of the hand, are easier to

The Tennis Skills to Music scheme has been developed to help promote kids’ fitness manipulate than for example a hockey stick or a football for many children and the exercises can also easily be broken down, allowing each child to develop at their own pace.”

Teachers and coaches are shown how to take kids through a warm up, create skills circuits which develop agility balance and coordination and a range of exercises and drills, with and without rackets.

School sports coordinator, Jane Hopkinson, who has attended the course said: “I think games like tennis can be neglected in primary schools because it is easy to think it can’t be done without courts.

“A lot of new teachers have less than four hours’ PE training and will definitely not have covered something as specific as tennis.”

The programme keeps pupils on their toes ball ground for a tour and practice session led by a female coach.

Mary added: “Transforming lunchtimes was crucial. Until a few years ago the children were simply getting bored and their behaviour was slipping, and ensuring physical activity is an integral part of their everyday school lives has really helped to address this. We believe that the children them-

selves have a key role in ‘owning’ the healthy schools agenda, and are actively encouraged to repeat healthy behaviour patterns in their free time, as well as inside the classroom.”

Has your school had similar success? Tell us about it. Contact Nicola Hyde on nl@whpl.net or write to her at 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS.

20

12/12/08

15:50

Page 1

20 news

The Eat For Goals cookbook is the latest in a series of projects aimed at getting kids healthy. Patrick Gasser, senior manager of social responsibility for UEFA, co-ordinated the two year project.

Lyndsey Smith found out more.

The launch at a British school by a Brussells footballer

Footballers cook up a plan to get kids eating healthily FAMOUS footballers like Steven Gerrard, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Thierry Henry have contributed to a new cookbook to encourage kids to eat healthily.

UEFA, the European Commission and the World Heart Federation have launched the Eat for Goals book which showcases the footballers’ favourite healthy dishes.

The book gives nutritional values per portion, plus other healthy food tips to children between five and eleven.

It follows last year’s TV campaign, Get Active, which urged the public

to get out of their chairs and make physical activity a part of their daily lives.

But Patrick believes children are an area where education is most needed. He said: “The Get Active initiative came at a time when poor diets and low levels of physical activity accounted for six of the seven leading risk factors for ill health in Europe.

“Included within that research is the alarming fact that almost 22m children are overweight in the EU and that figure is growing annually by 400,000.

“It’s only one recipe but once that kid sees how his idol eats hopefully the knock on effect will come, and that kid will see how important a healthy diet is.

Place that with kicking the ball around and you have nutrition and exercise and are on the right road.”

“We needed to choose a public health issue on which to focus and this seemed the obvious choice, as the obesity epidemic is the biggest health problem in Europe.

“The particular focus for us was the kids. These are the people we can try and help educate from a young age, the ones who can learn from us and go on and live a healthy and active life.”

Patrick knows it will take more than a cookbook but feels if they can go someway to setting youngsters on the right path then the project has been worthwhile.

“We are doing something rather than nothing,” he said.

“The football theme is a particular hook we can use in our position.

“You think of a young kid in England. He idolises Steven Gerrard and suddenly there in front of him is something he can copy, something he can do.

Patrick Gasser

“It’s only one recipe but once that kid sees how his idol eats hopefully the knock on effect will come, and that kid will see how important a healthy diet is. Place that with kicking the ball around and you have nutrition and exercise and are on the right road.”

The book will be on general sale but will also act as a valuable resource for public health departments and teachers.

NutriSkill Programme improves children’s health THE NutriSkill Programme enables exciting, creative healthy eating and physical activity lessons to take place throughout the school year. The resource provides teachers with everything required to get started immediately, without the need for prior knowledge or training.

It is structured and progressive yet completely flexible, enabling varied sessions of any duration to be incorporated into the curriculum or added as a dedicated lesson. It is also perfect for Early Years, SEN and Extended Services provision and can be used under license by fitness instructors, sports trainers and gyms.

Written in line with government guidelines and age based competences, NutriSkill contributes to

Healthy Schools and Every Child Matters Agendas to improve children’s health and help reduce the obesity crisis. Pilots demonstrated the programme’s effectiveness and the online forum ensures creativity is harnessed and shared.

Enquiries: 0845 388 0789 Email: info@nutriskill.co.uk

21

15/12/08

14:18

Page 1

news 21 England international footballer Sue Smith says girls now have more opportunities than ever to play the sport.

Lyndsey Smith found out more.

Why footballer Sue is backing Footie Chicks SUE Smith is one of the most prominent names in women’s football. Having played for Tranmere Rovers since she was a teenager, Sue signed for Leeds in 2002.

She has also played for England and has twice won the Nationwide International Player of the year award.

However things weren’t always so rosy, and Sue admits the opportunities for her to play football as a youngster were very limited.

She said: “It was so different then to what it is now. When I went to school it was very, very traditional.

“Boys played football and rugby and girls played hockey and netball, it was so stereotypical.

“I was very sporty so I played all the sports available to me but I wanted to play football and that opportunity was not there for me in

school. I had to play at breaktime or lunchtime with the boys or after school.”

Sue played in a boys’ team from being nine before moving to girls’ team, St Helens.

But, she claims, it was a haphazard concept and she didn’t play with a ‘proper set up’ until she went to Tranmere, aged 14.

Sue is now an ambassador for Footie Chicks, which is running a series of girls’ soccer schools.

She added: “These schools take the uncomfortable elements away. They are for girls run by girls and they can feel more comfortable and relaxed and enjoy their football. They are a great idea and a good way to get girls involved and get them active.”

Sue will be coaching with international colleague Leanne Hall but she hopes to

offer an all round healthy package.

She said: “Whilst Leanne will be predominantly coaching I will be looking more at the fitness side whilst coaching as well.

“My background is sports science and I will be teaching the girls about nutrition and diet and hydration. It is all about educating them at a young age.

“Sometimes parents don’t know about all these things so it’s up to schools like these to educate kids.

“You see boys in academies from the age of six or seven and this is drilled into them so why should it be any different for girls?

“It’s not about being strict it’s about helping them to learn about food and diet for their own health benefits and if they want to progress in the sport.”

New programme launched A PARTNERSHIP development manager has launched a new programme that allows deaf youngsters to attend sports workshops with paralympians.

Former athlete Rebecca Foster, from the Outwood Grange School Sports Partnership, networked with England Athletics and Deaf UK athletics to arrange at event that allowed youngsters from the Yorkshire Deaf Athletics to meet paralympians at English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Rebecca, who does sign language and is a coach herself, said: “We needed some sort of support for these kids. They weren’t picked because they are disadvantaged, they were picked purely because of their athletic ability.”

The event included presentations

from Deaf UK athletics, a sports nutritionist and practical sessions led

by England Athletics coaches.

Rebecca added: “People may ask about why they are not integrated but the thing is they are often at a disadvantage. How do they hear the starter’s gun for example?

“It is all about supporting their identity. It’s not about isolating them it’s about making things easier and also allowing them to enjoy a social gathering.”

Rebecca networked with other PDMs in Yorkshire and Hull requesting for help with the event and she hopes it will continue.

She is also pushing for deaf athletes to train alongside hearing athletes at developmental camps.

Sue Smith

22

15/12/08

14:04

Page 1

22 news

BMX biking became an Olympic event for the first time in Beijing this year. Now a school in South Yorkshire has added the sport to its PE curriculum. Lyndsey Smith found out more.

PE curriculum overhauled at Winterhill Fiona Sedgley (head girl), Sally Gunnell and Abigail Sands (deputy head girl).

Sally opens sports facility at girls’ school

By Lyndsey Smith BRITISH Olympic champion Sally Gunnell has opened a new sports facility at a girls’ school in Worcestershire.

To celebrate, students from Malvern St James school were joined by pupils from Dyson Perrins, Hanley Castle and The Chase for community sports morning, run as part of their Sports Leader Award. 200 pupils aged between nine and ten took part in the circuit.

Malvern headteacher Rosalind Hayes said: “In just ten months we have created a state of the art, ecofriendly, modern sports centre.

“The excellent facilities and the variety of sports on offer are very much for the benefit of both the girls at Malvern St James and also the community in which the school is based.”

The facility has badminton, netball, volleyball, basketball and hockey courts as well as a gym and climbing wall.

Council partnership hopes to score a try with youngsters A PARTNERSHIP has been formed as part of a £25,000 initiative to offer rugby union to more youngsters.

Nottingamshire County Council has teamed up with the local rugby union club for a 12 month programme that will see coaching sessions offered in schools.

Geoff Huckstep, chairman of Nottingham Rugby, said: “This part-

nership will make a significant difference to young people. Over the past five years we have coached over 60,000 children of both sexes and from a variety of backgrounds.

“This new partnership will enable us to reach out even further across the county and to help inspire and challenge children to live active and healthy lifestyles whilst having fun.”

THE face of PE at Winterhill School was overhauled in September when the curriculum changed.

Lessons had primarily been gamesbased but head of PE Rob McGinty was keen to bring something new to the table.

The school adopted several new strands offered on the curriculum – the games based strand keeps the traditional sports and the aesthetics strand includes gymnastics, dance and aerobics.

But, Rob pushed ahead with the adventure strand, offering BMX biking. The school and Rotherham BMX Club donated £6,000 to buy the bikes and Kelvin Batey – who was the number one British BMX biker for ten years – was approached to be a coach.

Rob said: “He was due to go to Beijing but suffered a bad injury. He is from the area and had set his sights on becoming a PE teacher.

“We are supporting him with that and he has become a teaching assistant at the school. We are helping him with his development and in return the kids receive expert tuition.”

Kelvin also runs an extra curricular

club which Rob says is a huge success.

He added: “It is also true to say we are experiencing less behavourial problems and it is certainly working in this school.

“This shows we made the right choice in offering something that little bit different and basically students are running to their PE classes, they can’t wait to get there.

“Another thing is they don’t actually realise the level of exercise they are putting in because they are having so much fun.

“Kids’ fitness and health is a big issue in this country at the moment and when they are riding around the track and performing their skills they are undergoing a sustained period of exercise and there has been a huge improvement in exercise rates.”

Rob says self esteem and positivity from the students has increased and now more children are choosing the biking - rather than opting for the usual games-based options.

He added: “We operate on a choice system and it’s all about personalised learning and it’s certainly working for us.”

Students model sportswear TWO Cheshire students who took part in testing a new sportswear range have been asked to model the garments in a national catalogue.

Stephanie Wilson and Joss Cropper,17, were part of a group who took part in a 12 month project to put technical sports clothing

through its paces for Runcornbased manufacturer Sportswear International.

The Lymm High School pupils are taking a Btec National Diploma in sports coaching development and were asked to compile a monthly report on fit, fabric and durability.

23

12/12/08

15:47

Page 1

news 23 Pupils at a school in Southall have been the first in the country to take part in the FIA’s new Active At School community programme.

Some 20 ten to 11 year olds from Beaconsfield primary school, have participated during the six week period at Southall sport’s centre, taking part in multi-sports activities, games and athletics.

Pictured with the youngsters are, back, from left, Zerritha Brown (FIA’s programmes department manager), Andrew Rogers (Southall Sports Centre general manager), Neville Graham (fitness consultant, Southall Sports Centre), Alex Smith (FIA’s programmes co-ordinator). Local mayor Councillor Ian Green is also pictured.

School sports festival sees 47% increase AN annual school sports festival has had a 47 per cent increase in participation since teaming up with a Primary Care Trust and sports development team.

There were 101 taster activities and sessions across 25 sports and activities including open days, coaching sessions and exercise classes, with over 70 local clubs facilitating activities.

The Brighton and Hove SSP, led by the Dorothy Stringer School, ran the festival to offer a range of activities for free or at a reduced rate over a two week period.

“The link up between the school and clubs is all important,” said Andy.

“We need to get youngsters involved in out of school activities as well as in curriculum time.”

Partnership development manager Andy Marchant approached the council with the idea of expanding to involve the community and offer something different.

He said: “We started the festival in 2006 with an aim of getting more kids, clubs and parents involved in physical activity.

Shelley Mayern, sports development officer for the council, added: “It exceeded all expectations and achieved significant levels of participation and the challenge is to capture the momentum built as a result of the first year’s pilot and increase the number of participants in sport all year round.

“We had over 5,000 kids taking part and that increased to over 11,000 last year. It was obvious the demand was there so we teamed up with the council and PCT to come up with the first citywide sporting festival.”

“There will be four more festivals up to 2012 building the festival into one of the regions main legacy events for the Olympics and we hope to continue as an annual event for many years to come.”

By Lyndsey Smith

John and Youth Sports Trust chairperson, Sue Campbell, present a trophy to the winning PDM at the national School Sports Conference in Telford, after she did 291 skips in two minutes.

Skip2bfit joins Youth Sports Trust business honours club

By Lyndsey Smith THE Skip2bfit schools’ programme has become a member of the Youth Sports Trust’s Business Honours Club.

The company was accepted following a presentation by founder John McCormack, to a panel of YST judges.

Skip2bfit has already been proven to raise standards in numeracy in schools, by using digital skipping ropes to enhance learning, and by challenging children to improve and record their own data.

John said: “Motivation and sustainability are the key to our success and this is why I developed a six-week challenge.

“We visit for one day to motivate the whole school, and then the schools are given our kitbag of ropes along with classroom challenge charts, lesson plans and music to follow.

“Everyone is given fruit following our visit as I passionately believe you should talk to children about healthy eating when they have exercised.”

24

12/12/08

15:46

Page 1

24 Active Play

New play equipment brings boost for autistic children

By Lyndsey Smith AUTISTIC kids in Dorset are benefiting from new play equipment installed at their school, despite usually finding interactive play very difficult.

Yewstock School in Sturminster Newton report a hugely positive effect on the kids since they installed a range of Sutcliffe play equipment.

Headteacher John Lineton said: “Usually they tend not to be included, but since the completion

of our £120,000 playground, the opportunities for play are making our autistic children want to be part of what’s going on.”

Yewstock caters for 128 pupils, all of whom have some form of learning difficulties with many having additional physical disabilities too.

John said play is a very important factor in their education and development.

He added: “One of the reasons children are sent to a special school is because of developmental

delays, either physically, inter-personally or in social skills.

“Play is an important factor in helping them deal with these challenges and one of the core purposes of the school is to address the triad of impairment faced by autistic children.

“These are communication, social integration and interactive play, and the good news is that Sutcliffe’s innovative range of equipment is helping us tackle these challenges.”

The playground is also having a

Ex-pupils from a school in London were on hand to open a new range of play equipment at their old primary, which they have designed themselves.

Children at Fitzjohns school, Camden, met Hattie and Tim Coppard, a brother and sister who attended the school in the sixties, and are now designers at Snug.

Hattie said: “Snug is a completely new approach to school playground design, creating a flexible environment for play and learning which changes the psychology of the playground.

“Children work together to build their own

positive effect on the behaviour of his autistic pupils so they are much more settled back in the classroom, and John added: “As well as the other benefits, the equipment is visually stimulating, durable, safe and needs very little maintenance.

“To the best of my knowledge this is possibly the only truly inclusive playground in Dorset. “ I’m getting a regular flow of head teachers from other schools coming in to inspect it and there’s no doubt it’s been money well spent.”

playscapes and this encourages their cooperation and creativity.”

The design company have also launched a new campaign to bring creativity to school playgrounds and are offering five schools a free playground consultation.

Head teacher at Fitzjohns, Rob Earrey, said: “The moveable parts are used to great effect and the amount of imaginative play that now happens during the day is staggering – a very tangible result of this is the fall in the number of lunchtime complaints and incidents.”

25

12/12/08

15:45

Page 1

Active Play 25

Funding brings extension for play facilities

By Lyndsey Smith JUNIOR school children are enjoying new play equipment in West Sussex after funding allowed an extension to facilities.

The recreation ground had traditional play equipment suited for smaller children but nearly £30,000 in funding has allowed Pulborough Parish Council to extend the facilities for older children in the community.

Installed by Monster Play Systems the play area now provides a BigToys Highland play unit and a Rock’nCross multi rider see-saw overhead challenge.

Chair of the recreation and open spaces committee Coun Christine Barnett said: “We

An outdoor gym has been installed in Bedford offering a wide range of equipment to help youngsters get fit and keep fit.

Funding has allowed Bromham Parish Council to provide the al fresco fitness range, which includes varying units for stretching, flexing, toning and strengthening.

Researched, designed and developed by Wicksteed in association with Staffordshire

University’s Centre for Sport and Exercise, the range can be used by anyone over the age of twelve.

A Wicksteed spokesman said: “We all know that activities to promote healthier and happier bodies should be a part of our daily lives, but getting ourselves to the local gym or using facilities in schools sometimes proves too difficult. With outdoor fitness equipment such as this, there’s really no excuse not to have a go.”

London schoolchildren take a real shine to Snug EQUIPMENT designed to transform playgrounds into creative landscapes has proved to be a great success with primary school kids in London.

Children at Key Meadows school, Enfield, have taken a real shine to the Snug – developed by Snug & Outdoor and Sutcliffe Play – which can be used both indoors and outdoors.

The kit comprises nine large scale, inter-related, colourful, flexible shapes which can be moved, joined and arranged to create new environments for play.

Lawrence Price, head teacher said Snug had proved extremely popular.

“If anything, it has proved a little too popular, with 300 youngsters making a beeline for it.

“The children enjoy it very much.

They can be quite active and it’s very physical equipment with a lot of balancing.

“There are no limits, it can challenge youngsters, and I like that sort of play structure. Fixed apparatus has its place, but if it’s a boat, it’s a boat, and there aren’t so many things you can do with it.”

The concept is the result of research

and evaluation into the way children behave, react and play in specific environments.

The inclusion of the kit into schools allows children to develop new ways of playing and encourages creativity, social interaction and cooperation.

Mr Price believes the social aspect is just as important. He said: “There is a lot of co-operating so it’s quite a sociable experience.

“Snug teaches children about citizenship. They can learn to socialise, support each other, co-operate, take turns, negotiate, and even come through arguments.”

“I can see potential for Snug being used at social times, playtimes, lunchtimes but also curriculum times. “The obvious is PE and movement activity, but it also has great potential for language development – speaking and listening, drama activity, and story telling.”

Mandy Lawrence, phase leader, key stage one, added: “As a PE specialist I always say to the children that their brains should be as tired as their bodies and using Snug during this session has really got them to think.”

know from experience that older children want play equipment that challenges their ingenuity.

“It was robust so it would resist the hard wear it would inevitably get, and being manufactured from recycled materials was a real bonus, supporting the council’s policy of increasing recycling and reducing the amount of refuse going to landfill sites.

“Since it was installed, there are always groups of older children climbing over it and they sit at the top chatting and use it as a meeting place and the Rock ‘n Cross swing proved a real challenge as it took the young people several days to work out how to use it, but judging from the reaction of the children, it has been a great success.”

Have you got a story for us? Call Lyndsey Smith on 01226 734472 or email ls@whpl.net

26

12/12/08

15:44

Page 1

26 news

A St Helens-based project that aims to get school pupils into exercise with the support of the local independent gym is proving a great success.

Christina Eccles found out why.

Gym manager John Tatlock with some of the pupils taking part in the project.

‘We offer something different’ THE scheme is a good way to get those who do not like traditional school sports to get into health and fitness, according to the owner of the gym taking part.

John Tatlock – who owns St Helens Fitness 500 – said it is important to give young people a wider choice to help them find something they enjoy.

He said: “We offer something different.

“Not everyone wants to do football and rugby and they like coming into this type of environment.

“It’s working well and quite a

few of them have also joined after school.

“It is good for their health and fitness but we have also done it to help them mentally with doing their exams and providing stress relief.

“If it is only five out of 100 that take it up then they are still doing something constructive and making themselves look and feel better.

“We have also been able to get their parents into the gym as the kids go home and say what they have achieved and this encourages the parents to join too.”

Gym provides pupils with facility access SCHOOLS within St Helens have been supported by local gym St Helens Fitness 500 for the last seven years and this partnership provides pupils with access to the gym facilities and specialist training from its instructors.

The relationship began when the gym allowed its instructors to go into schools to deliver Boxercise sessions to groups of girls who did not want to participate in traditional sports. Since then, over 2,000 have taken part.

The gym closes its ladies-only section on set days to allow Sutton High Sports College to deliver GCSE sessions to its pupils.

Sutton School Sport Partnership development manager Rob Vaughan said the key to the programme’s success is that it offers something different to traditional after school clubs, allowing children who do not want to play team sports with an alternative way of keeping fit.

Rob said: “This has allowed the pupils to become familiar with the gym and the instructors as many stated that they would like to join a gym but felt embarrassed or intimidated.

It also meant that girls who came during the curriculum or out of hours sessions were familiar with the equipment and felt confident to access the

ladies-only section on their own.

“The Boxercise programme is focusing on key stage four girls as there is traditionally a drop off rate for girls in after school clubs so we were looking for different activities that girls can do that are good for them.

“There is a massive problem with obesity and we need to give young people the opportunity to take part in healthy activity. This programme gives them the opportunity to to go to the gym in groups and because they are with their friends, they are not embarrassed to train.

“Schools should be forging links with gyms. I can’t see any reason why this could not happen all over the country – there are a lot of young people out there who want to access the gym. This is an activity they can go to with friends without the stigma of going in front of people they do not know.”

Through a combination of lottery funding, extended schools and a 50 per cent price reduction by the gym, Pupils are also given a six month pass to continue with their friends in their own time. Over 160 passes have been given out to pupils on the Sutton partnership – with every one those students accessing the gym out of school hours.

Funding boost

Donation for school

LOTTERY funding from the Wales Sports Council has led to the formation of a village rugby union club.

A £992 community chest grant will help Glyn Ceiriog Rugby Union Club buy contact pads, balls and marker cones, and put two volunteers through level one and two coaching qualifications. Weekly two-hour sessions will be offered for 24 juniors.

Graham Edwards, coach and fixture secretary, said: “We want to provide local sporting opportunities for young people in the village and to encourage more young people to participate in rugby union in a recognised, controlled environment.”

A NEWMARKET school gutted by fire has received a boost after a sports company donated them over £500 of new equipment.

St Felix Middle school was destroyed by arsonists and Davies Sports have donated a selection of sports resources including a netball class pack, agility ladder, badminton shuttles and cricket balls.

Mike Tracey, PE teacher, said: “It has been a tremendous comfort to everyone and a much needed boost for the children at this difficult time.”

27

15/12/08

14:16

Page 1

news 27

A corporate health and fitness company has branched out into children’s health by taking a mobile gym to schools and youth clubs. Louise Cordell reports.

Why Maria went back to school LET’S Get Healthy was set up in 2006 with the aim of getting 50,000 of the country’s employees working out.

But founder Maria Bourke soon found that it wasn’t just the adults that needed help and started putting the company’s mobile health studio to work in schools and youth clubs.

She said: “We had been carrying out focus groups with unfit adults in order to find out why they disliked the idea of exercise, and they all suggested that we tried the same thing with children.

“So, working with Leeds Metropolitan University, we set out to to research the idea and carried out workshops with kids, parents, teachers, headteachers and primary care trusts.”

The trial was so successful that the company has developed a 12 week programme for seven to 13 year olds with lessons on physical activity, nutrition, healthy lifestyles and dealing with bullying.

Each weekly session lasts one hour and parents are invited to join in for the last fifteen minutes so that the kids can show them what they have learned.

Over 200 children have taken part in the pilot schemes throughout 2008 and from January another 4,000 are signed up to complete the programme.

So far over 90 per cent of the kids have stayed with the course for the full three months, and about 50 per cent of parents have come along to the sessions.

Maria added: “We train teachers, parents and youth leaders to run the course so that they can take it back to their school or club and hopefully run it again and again.

“We also know the parents’ involvement is key, so we have also come up with the idea of giving the kids takeaways each week, including pedometers, hoops and balls, anything that

Fun scheme goes nationwide A SCHEME to introduce pupils to a healthier lifestyle has been so successful it is now being rolled out across the county.

The Durham and Chester-le-Street Lifestyle Initiative introduced a local project to tackle child obesity three years ago and from April next year it will be taken up by every council in the area.

The Family Initiative Supporting Children’s Health (FISCH) scheme provides a physical activity officer for different schools each term who works with pupils from years three and four to help them get active.

The aim is to tackle child obesity before it becomes a serious problem and help to prevent young people needed specialist care later on.

Melissa Roach, physical activity officer, said: “Each term the coordinator

goes to different schools to get the kids exercising and having fun and it has proved to be a big success.

“The pupils take part in exercise and games classes in a mixture of before, during and after school sessions.”

Children taking part in the programme are given the chance to decide what type of activities they would like to take part in, and whether they prefer outdoor or indoor, team or individual sports, in order to help them keep up the lifestyle changes when the project is completed.

The activity officer also works alongside a PCT school nurse, who delivers lessons on nutrition, healthy eating and portion sizes to help get the kids into the right eating habits early.

will help to get the families active.”

get active.

The company is now also aiming to get local authorities involved in the programmes, by asking them to donate health club or swimming pool vouchers that can be given out to the children, encouraging them to

Maria added: “I think by working together with local authority and private clubs we have the best chance of getting as many kids as possible active, and filling up gyms in the process.”

28

12/12/08

15:42

Page 1

28 news

Fit future for former nightclub

By Lyndsey Smith

Olympic Gold and world champion cyclist Nicole Cooke (left) and Central YMCA chief executive Rosi Prescott (on right) with children from the Central YMCA Club Y Active programme.

Champion cyclist peddles physical activity to children A WORLD champion cyclist visited London’s largest health and fitness club in a bid to inspire children to become involved in physical activity.

Central YMCA – home to more than 5,000 members – played host to gold medallist Nicole Cooke, as she met children from the Y Active programme, set up to encourage children aged two to 14 to take part in regular exercise.

The kids had the chance to show off their own cycling skills on the club’s training bikes and Barry Cronin, club executive director, said: “We were honoured to have Nicole at our club. She is an inspira-

tion, not only to the children we work with, but to people of all ages throughout Britain.”

Nicole spoke about the essential ingredients needed to achieve cycling success and underlined the pivotal role her parents’ play in helping her realise her Olympic dream.

She also learned how the Club’s Y Active programme is transforming the lives of children and young people by providing activities including aikido, trampolining, drama classes, play schemes and holiday programmes in a safe and fun environment.

A FORMER university nightclub has been turned into a state-ofthe-art fitness centre in a bid to help students keep fit and healthy.

The Queen Mary University of London, Mile End, has spent £5m developing the Qmotion health and fitness centre, on the site of the student union entertainment facilities.

Manager Charlotte Kendrick said the aim was to provide students with an improvement on the small gym that the university relied on before.

She added: “It has proved to be an extremely positive development and the gym has over 2000 members already and we only opened in September.

“The health and fitness issue is constantly in the news and the university are trying to do their bit in developing this gym.

“Because it’s a brand new concept for us we have to put our own mark on it as we aren’t inheriting someone else’s ideas.

“We aim to be successful but not at the cost of our members which a lot of gyms do. I come from a fitness background and have worked in an environment

where prices are being continually hiked up.

“We need to take stock of how things work and find out what the students, staff and public want as we are also available for external membership and hire.”

The gym offers a fitness area along with a sports specific area, two studios, a sports hall, squash court and dedicated ladies only gym.

There is also a treatment section that provides acupuncture, homeopathy, sports and remedial massage therapy and the Bowen Technique which is a gentle and non-invasive series of soft tissue moves performed over muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Charlotte added: “We hope to keep adding and developing as we go along. The students have really taken to he concept and although we are open to the public our members are predominantly from the student body.

“We offer great membership rates for them and the feedback so far has been exceptionally positive. It is a case of trial and error but if we can continue in this vein hopefully we will continue from strength to strength.”

Sports self esteem programme is launched nationwide A PROGAMME that aims to raise self esteem through sport has been launched in schools across the UK. The Motive8 course – designed by schools manager Tim Holdsworth – centres on teamwork and communication, which helps students realise the importance of their contribution.

Tim said: “It is about feeling good about the person you are. While it’s normal for adults to lack confidence from time to time, it’s important that A £300,000 gym at a specialist college has been reopened after it was destroyed by fire last December.

Queen Alexandra College – for adults and youngsters with sensory, physical and cognitive impairments – was left with a burned out shell after the accidental blaze.

It has now been repaired and kitted out with 36 stations of Stage Two IFI accredited Cybex CV and resistance equipment, freeweights area and a balcony housing a stretch area and it has been branded as Feelgood Health and Fitness.

Feelgood Health and Fitness, which is located in Harborne area of Birmingham, is a dual use facility.

The centre currently has 400 members, 500 pay and play customers and is used by the 150 students and staff at the College.

children should feel happy about themselves the majority of the time.

“Many studies have shown that youths receiving extra physical activity have a tendency to demonstrate improved attributes such as advanced brain function, increased self-esteem and better behaviour, all of which influence many aspects of school and social life.”

The course is linked to a worksheet that supports individual lesson

objectives, such as communication skills, being open and gaining a sense of identity as a group.

The programme has already been trialled in one secondary school with with pupils from years seven, eight and nine chosen at a teacher’s recommendation.

Year seven children with particularly low confidence were chosen to participate whilst years eight and nine were selected for being ill-disci-

plined and having lack of concentration during lessons.

Tim added: “By using team work and thinking outside the box in physical activity, the children learned how to channel their attention to the task ahead of them.

“Self-esteem helps children try new tasks and skills without any worry of failure and it gives them the ability to make friends easily and also build a solid foundation for life.”

Four new FitKid franchises open across country A NATIONAL fitness brand which specialises in kids’ fitness has seen four new franchises open in the space of a month.

Nicky Kay, franchise director for FitKid, said the new franchisees will cover North Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Norwich, Islington and Stoke Newington, and Wood Green.

She added: “This franchise is so important to us to help spread the word about childhood obesity and work with as many people as possible to give our children the best start.”

The pilot franchise, in Poole and Bournemouth is now running over 35 classes a week and new projects have also been secured with Bournemouth School Sports Partnership.

29

15/12/08

14:13

Page 1

news 29

Kids with the new tandem

Tandem funding gives pupils a wheely big boost

By Lyndsey Smith FUNDING has been given to a school in Scotland to buy new equipment to help pupils with additional support needs get fit.

The sports and physical activities programme at Musselburgh Grammar school has been awarded money from the Ulvercroft Foundation for the Visually Impaired, to pay for two tandem bicycles.

Robert Woodhead, sport and physical activities co-ordinator for East

Lothian Council, is assigned to the school to deliver an alternative PE curriculum.

He said: “The tandems have been used to allow our visually impaired pupils and learning support pupils to access alternative physical activity, and they also increase the social aspect of exercise.”

The school also offers swimming, new age curling, boccia, skittles, Nintendo Wii and dance mats, non contact boxing, fitness, and heartstart, and Robert believes the variety

of options is beneficial for the pupils.

He said: “Part of my remit is to develop an alternative curriculum for disadvantaged kids who have behavourial problems, learning disabilities, or visual or hearing impairments, and providing a wide range of activities goes someway towards doing that.

“I have 15 kids who access my programme. They are integrated into the school and are in mainstream PE, but the quality for them is not so good.

“We give them another outlet where

they can enjoy a more relaxed environment whilst keeping fit and healthy and having fun.”

Robert also tries to access as many competitions as possible and the school is involved in the Scottish disability sport cross country, LD national swimming gala and LD Football.

They also link up with Edinburgh University to provide support to their trainee teachers to work with LD pupils to allow for better delivery with this type of group.

30 cyq

12/12/08

15:38

Page 1

31 Resource Directory

12/12/08

16:01

Page 1

23

Resource Directory.

32- Sound Dynamics

15/12/08

14:20

Page 1