Schools urged to encourage pupils to become more active

Primary schools in Suffolk are being urged to mark the start of a new school year by signing up to a campaign which is inspiring pupils to be more active.

Our latest awareness drive is calling for schools to support children to increase their levels of physical activity after a recent report by ukactive found that half of seven-year-olds are not achieving the recommended target of being active for 60 minutes a day.

Four schools in Suffolk have already signed up to the campaign and will be encouraging children to take part in regular clubs and activities not only during school hours, but also promoting out-of-school clubs and community groups as being good ways for children to get active. Schools already involved include St Helen’s Primary School and The Oaks Community Primary School (both in Ipswich), Trimley St Mary Primary School and Tollgate Primary School in Bury St Edmunds.

Ali Clements, our Schools and Young Peoples Services Coordinator, said: “We really want to encourage children and young people across the county to get involved with activities in their local community, whether that’s joining their local martial arts or trampolining clubs, or even groups like Cubs or Brownies. Being active for 60 minutes each day is really important for children’s development, wellbeing and long term health. It’s also a great way for them to socialise and try new experiences.”

As part of the campaign, we will be training pupils and school council members to become Young Health Champions and asking them to share their knowledge of local activity groups with their peers in a bid to encourage others to join in. We will also be loaning each school 60 pedometers, enabling them to organise inter-class challenges as another way of boosting activity.

Fifteen-year-old Chloe Hunt from Bury St Edmunds joined her local boxing club, the Eastgates ABEA Boxing Club in Rougham, after completing one of our children’s weight management courses. She said: “Before I signed up to the Live Well Suffolk course I didn’t exercise very much at all and ate a lot of unhealthy food. I found exercise hard as I got tired really easily.”

We worked with Chloe to help her make healthier food choices and encourage her to do more physical activity. She has since gone on to lose 16.2kg (over two stone) and joining her local boxing club is enabling her to maintain her weight loss. Chloe added: “My life is now very different. I exercise most days, eat my 5-a-day and eat a lot less food generally. Since I have lost weight my health and fitness has improved a lot.”

We are keen to hear from schools interested in being involved in our latest campaign, or from families who would like to find out more about our children’s weight management courses. Call us on 01473 229292.