60 Active Minutes
What is 60 Active Minutes?
The Chief Medical Officer recommends that young people aged 5-18 should take part in an average of 60 minutes of moderate/ vigorous Physical Activity a day across the week (or 20 minutes per day for Disabled Children and Disabled Young People).
They should take part in a variety of types and intensities of Physical Activity across the week to:
- develop movement skills,
- strengthen muscles and bones,
- reduce the time spent sitting or lying down
- break up long periods of not moving with some activity
- spread activity throughout the day
Schools should aim to deliver 30 minutes of Physical Activity for every child and support them to access 30 minutes more outside of school.
The School Games supports schools to follow these recommendations by:
- offering events created to tackle inequalities by engaging those who would benefit the most from increasing the amount of physical activity they take part in
- creating daily activity strategies to engage the least active groups
- sharing and celebrating practice from active schools through training opportunities, impact awards and case studies
Other support available may come through:
- using the free activity resources available here
- downloading resources from the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) here or by visiting the Resources page on the School Games website, if your school is already registered. Your School Games – Your School Games
As a School Sport Partnership, we have developed 60 Active Minutes training which is available to all Chester schools to help them to understand:
- How much physical activity pupils should be doing
- What are the benefits of physical activity
- Key facts about the impact of physical activity levels
- Help to encourage pupils to be more physically active
By doing so we hope more pupils will enjoy the benefits of an active lifestyle. Please do contact us if you wish to find out more.
Physical Literacy
The Physical Literacy Consensus Statement for England has been developed to facilitate a shared understanding of physical literacy for those working in the sport, education, physical activity, recreation, play, health and youth sectors. The statement offers a broad overview of physical literacy, why it matters, and how it can be developed and supported.
It has been developed to facilitate a shared understanding of how our relationship with sport and physical activity changes over our lifetime and is shaped by our experiences and opportunities to be active.
A statement from Tim Hollingworth OBE, (who was Chief Executive of Sport England at the time of the release of the Consensus Statement) “In Sport England’s long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement, we said that every child and young person has the right to be active, to benefit from being active in a safe, positive and trusted environment, and to have an equal chance to achieve their potential. We must ensure children and young people have positive experiences of sport and physical activity that are fun, inclusive and help them develop. The new Physical Literacy Consensus Statement for England provides a framework to help us explore this in greater depth. While the foundations are set in childhood, physical literacy is relevant for all ages and everyone working to improve the activity levels of our nation.”
How active are your pupils?
As part of the Cheshire and Warrington School Games we ask schools to complete a Physical Activity and Well Being Survey.
The survey uses the online survey tool Koboca to ask pupils a series of questions about their physical activity habits and likes.
By undertaking the survey, schools will gain valuable personalised data about your pupils which can help you to design your PE, school sport and physical activity offer as well as giving your pupils a voice to help shape provision within their school.
Please contact us for more information and for details on how to register for the survey.
SMILE 4 A MILE
Working alongside Cheshire West & Chester Council, Vale Royal School Sport Partnership & Ellesmere Port School Sport Partnership, we are aiming to reinvigorate the concept (previously known as the Golden Mile programme) by supporting schools to offer regular physical activity which benefits children and staff alike.
The principle of Smile 4 a Mile is simple, every child will travel an agreed route in the school grounds (e.g. run, scoot, wheel, walk) for 15 minutes during the school day, every day.
The distance children will travel will vary from year group to year group, and from child to child. But importantly, all children can participate.
Smile for a Mile provides a consistent focus to achieve an extra 15 minutes of daily physical activity.
All children should be encouraged to achieve new goals, and will benefit from improved health and well being.
It gives a purpose that children can identify with and become used to, helping to create a healthy habit for life.
It is also a tool that teachers can use to weave the curriculum in and out of as appropriate across the school year, as they know best.
Downloads
Please click here to download the ‘Smile for a Mile’ Booklet.
Please click here to download the ‘Smile for a Mile’ Poster which can be displayed to show you are running this active mile programme in your school.
Please click here to download the ‘Smile for a Mile’ certificate which can be awarded to pupils or staff who show great commitment to the active mile programme.
For more information, please contact Claire or Elizabeth.