Physical activity has lots of benefits for children’s health and wellbeing as well as the development of lots of other skills including helping them to concentrate better at school and has even been linked to higher academic achievement.

It is recommended by the Chief Medical Officer that children should complete a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity a day, broken down to 30 minutes at home and 30 minutes during the school day. This is activity where children are slightly out of breath, heart rate slightly elevated and just starting to sweat.

Resources available online

An Active Travel programme in school is a fantastic way to support children to achieve part of their 60 minutes of physical activity, which they might not get out of school hours. Active Travel also supports children’s readiness for the school day, as research has shown that children taking part in active travel to school, arrive calmer and more energised for the day. If your school would like to discuss implementing an Active Travel programme, such as 'Walking Buses' contact roadsafety@telford.gov.uk

NHS Better Health, previously known as Change4life, have resources for a large variety of physical activities, from their 10 minute “Shake Up” games designed to get children moving to their A to Z list of sports and activities.

The Better Health School Zone is where you as a teacher can create an account which will allow you to download Better Health campaign materials, resources and lesson plans to promote healthy eating, physical activity, dental care and mental wellbeing.

Travel Telford currently offer Bikeability levels one and two to every primary school within the borough with the training aimed at year six pupils. To find out more information on cost and bookings contact us at roadsafety@telford.gov.uk or by calling 01952 384000.

Is your school looking to develop a cycling offer to the children or looking to enhance your cycle to school programme? British Cycling have a number of courses aimed at school cycling provision from training teachers and volunteers to developing your own Ready, Set, Ride programme.

The Creating Active Schools (CAS) Framework has been developed by researchers and practitioners to sustainably embed physical activity throughout the school so that everyone understands its benefits and can easily implement it in their practice.

Energize (the local active partnership) has been part of the national CAS pilot and has created a series of videos to highlight how local schools have successfully increased the physical activity levels of their pupils.

Energize Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin are a charity and the local active partnership who work with local schools and communities to enhance physical activity provision to children and young people alongside reducing sedentary behaviour and providing support and training.

Funetics is an England Athletics initiative to help 4-11 year old children across the country to learn, develop and practice running, jumping and throwing skills all year round, for a healthy confident future. It has a number of programmes supporting schools to raise children’s activity levels, enhancing PE offers, and supporting school outcomes in line with the national PE curriculum.

Get active with Team GB and ParalympicsGB, find out more about the history and Values of the Olympic and Paralympic movements, or investigate the science and technology behind sport. Explore free, cross curricular resources for pupils of all ages.

A digital platform to help Primary Schools teachers get their children more active with thousands of fun, engaging and educational active blasts - providing perfect brain breaks every day!

A complete PE programme so you can deliver lessons with absolute confidence - from dance to gymnastics and games to OAA! Support mental wellbeing with the structured programme of activities covering social, emotional and physical wellbeing resources.

NumberFit was created by a group of socially-minded mathematicians, educators, designers, researchers and pop culture enthusiasts, passionate about sharing their knowledge and creating a fun environment for children to learn in.

Their mission is "a world full of healthy children loving learning" and they have created active learning resources to support children to develop their maths skills in a fun and active way.

There are some FREE resources for you to take advantage of that cover Early Years up to Year 6.

Better health have created a resource to give kids a head start by encouraging healthy habits during their first years at school. The resource helps you make the most of the year by bringing healthy choices to life with fun, practical activities.

The School Games is an opportunity to motivate and support young children across Telford to engage and take part in competitive sport. Our local School Games coordinator for all of Telford is Frankie Williams, who co-ordinates, organises and runs the inter-school competitions which includes, cross country, cricket, netball, dodgeball. If you would like to get in touch regarding the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin School Games county events, please get in touch by emailing jake.jones@energizestw.co.uk

The BBC movement to support children’s health and wellbeing with a number of projects for your school to get involved with and empower your children with their Super Movers Champions, Active Me and Active Friends programmes.

A multi-award winning resource that provides schools and teachers with lesson plans and resources designed to deliver the Maths and English curriculum through physically active learning for all year groups.

Joe Wicks created the "5 Minutes Move" to support children to still be active while at home, but these are also great to use in classroom when children have been sitting for a long period or have lost focus. Getting them up and moving helps move the blood around the body, as well as increasing oxygen to the brain, which not only supports health but also their learning and retention of information and it can also improve behaviour.

The Daily Mile is a 15 minute run or jog done at a child’s own pace during the school day as part of lesson time, so that children still have a full break and lunchtime. The Daily Mile is not designed as a sport or PE activity, but rather as a health and wellbeing initiative supporting children to reach their 60 minutes of physical activity. Currently in Telford and Wrekin 48 schools and early years settings are already signed up as Daily Mile 
settings. Here are some case studies of local schools taking part:

Research done by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities “What works in schools and colleges to increase physical activity?” have created a resource for head teachers, college principals, staff working in education settings, school nurses, practitioners, Active Partnerships and wider partners. Promoting the health and wellbeing of pupils and students within schools has the potential to improve both educational 
and health and wellbeing outcomes.

Download the guidance to increase physical activity among children and young people in schools and colleges from the GOV.UK website.