Government’s Health Approach CHILDHOOD OBESITY (Chapter 2) – A Plan for Action


Improving the co-ordination of quality sport and physical activity programmes for schools


County Sports Partnerships have been asked by Public Health England to work with National Governing Bodies of Sport, the Youth Sport Trust and other national and local providers to ensure that every primary school in England has access to a co-ordinated offer of high-quality sport and physical activity programmes, both local and national.


Schools have an important role in defining habits and helping their pupils make healthier choices. We know that obesity rates double during the primary school years and increase further in secondary school. We must ensure that schools are equipping children with the knowledge they need to lead healthy lifestyles and creating environments which encourage their pupils to eat healthily and be physically active.


Regular physical activity has been linked not only to improved physical health but also improved mental wellbeing and academic attainment. The Chief Medical Officer recommends all school aged children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day – but we know only approximately one in five achieve this. The Government is to review how the least active children are being engaged in physical activity in and around the school day. The review will consider how the Primary PE and Sport Premium is being used, to help ensure that our investment contributes


towards helping all children to lead active lives.


It is recommended that during the school day, schools should be responsible for delivering at least 30 minutes of the total recommended daily minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity for children and young people. Active mile initiatives provide a simple means of significantly contributing to this recommendation and early research has suggested such schemes can deliver on well-established links between physical activity, and improved wellbeing and educational


attainment. Therefore, we will promote a national ambition for every primary school to adopt an active mile initiative, such as the Daily Mile. Schools will have the flexibility to do so in a way that best suits their facilities and students and we will review how the Primary PE and Sport Premium can be used to support it.


As part of Ofsted school inspections, inspectors currently evaluate how well schools support pupils so that children can explain accurately and confidently how to keep themselves healthy, including through making


informed choices about healthy eating and physical fitness. This evaluation contributes to a graded judgement on pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare. Ofsted is developing a new framework for Autumn 2019. This will consider how schools build knowledge across the whole curriculum and how they support pupils’ personal development more broadly, including in relation to healthy behaviours.


Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action-chapter-2 Wiltshire and Swindon Relay 13


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