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Sport and fitness for today’s youth
April 2010 £2.75
Team ready to get kids more active By Louise Cordell A TEAM of specially trained coaches are set to be deployed across the country to help children become more active. School Sport Partnerships are being encouraged to recruit the Active Lifestyle Coaches, who can be anyone from teaching assistants to parents and lunchtime supervisors. Their job will be to help motivate kids to do at least one extra hour of physical activity per week, especially in alternative sports like breakdancing, cheerleading, martial arts or yoga. The scheme is being delivered through the government’s Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives strategy and coaches will receive training, resources and equipment to help get kids involved. If they are qualified, they will be expected to deliver the fun activity sessions themselves, but if not their role will be to help young people access activities delivered by local coaches. Dawn Primarolo, children’s minister, said: “School sport has been transformed in recent years. Nine out of ten children are now taking part in at least two hours of PE a week and we are committed to building on this to help children get five hours of PE and sport
a week, in school and in the community. But we know it’s not always easy to motivate children to do exercise. “So we hope that the new Active Lifestyle programme will help schools target children that are less physically active through fun, innovative and engaging activities. This will help children to develop confidence in their abilities and establish a healthier lifestyle throughout childhood that will last into adulthood.” It is hoped that 20,000 children from the ages of four to five, and ten to 11 will take part in the programme in the first year, with active lifestyle coach working in up to 1,100 schools. The government is providing the Youth Sport Trust with £1m funding for coaches and a number of SSPs aiming to deliver the project have also gained financial support from local partners such as the PCT and their local authorities. Steve Grainger, Youth Sport Trust chief executive, said: “We want to create more and better opportunities for all young people. However, sport does not naturally appeal to some children which is why, through developments such as Active Lifestyles, we continually strive to offer every young person the opportunity to be inspired.”
Grecians visit every school
Hinchingbrooke School in Huntingdon has received a national award for its innovative practice in PE. The specialist sports college has been held up as an example of how to provide pupils with an unmissable sports programme after undergoing a complete curriculum overhaul. Students are now able to take part in activity sessions including mountain biking, sailing, go-karting, orienteering and climbing. As well as making PE the school’s most popular subject, the changes have led to widespread improvements in performance and attendance. Full story, Page 6 Picture: Shaun Smith Photography
EVERY secondary school in the Exeter School Sport Partnership has received a visit from Exeter City FC players in a bid to inspire pupils to take part in PE. As part of the launch of an official partnership between the club and the Partnership, the players and coaching staff visited the schools to stage a series of workshops and training sessions. Kealey Sherwood, SSP manager, said: “We are all aware of the impact that sporting role models can have on the lives of young people. "Working in partnership with Exeter City Football Club provides us with a unique opportunity in which to bring some of our youngsters local sporting heroes from the club in to schools to inspire them to be the best that they can be in whatever arena; whether it is sport, art, music or academic.”