For years, the overstory for fitness testing in schools has been old school PE teachers, focusing on the more able children, using poorly administered practices that were insensitive and demoralising – especially for those children less fit, more inactive and more disengaged. I have written much on the positive value of fitness testing done well. I firmly believe it is time we changed this overstory.

Ten years ago, I left a wonderful teaching position to set about supporting more children to move more, move well and build fitter futures. With a strong focus on children aged 7-11 – when many physical self-perceptions begin to form – I created a movement program, as one part of a wider PE offering.

The unique feature of this program is a framework for monitoring every child’s physical progression (or fitness testing). Involving five carefully considered physical challenges, I have personally delivered this peer assessment 1,000+ times in 100+ school settings in the UK and abroad. Last week, I delivered this fitness assessment in the following contexts:

-Year 2-6 in a challenging school setting with 30%+ SEND children

-NHS CEW program (for children with complications from excess weight/obese children)

-Year 1 & 2 classes with Year 5 & 6 classes supporting as fitness leaders

In each of these scenarios the children flourished. Unanimous feedback from teaching and support staff, and from the children, was that every class, many with complex needs and low self-esteem, were more motivated and engaged than ever before within these assessment experiences.

This is fitness testing done well and I believe this is the norm in schools today:

-Inclusive and purposeful

-Focusing only on comparison with former and future self

-Challenging individual physical boundaries

-Appreciating diversity of body types and competencies

-Building focus and perseverance, cooperation and leadership, trust and compassion

-Celebrating progression with a simple award badge system

-Reflecting on how to become a better mover

I am tired of defending the inherent process of fitness testing to adults who had negative experiences in their own PE lessons and to academics referencing journals alluding to prior negative experiences of fitness testing. PE practices have moved on. Perhaps the key is the WHY behind fitness testing in schools (I could talk about this all day).

In summary, we can reframe ‘fitness testing’ to ‘monitoring physical progression’ and ask two questions. 1. Is ‘monitoring’ a positive educational tool? 2. Is ‘physical progression’ a positive educational tool? If the answer to both questions is yes, then ‘monitoring physical progression’ is a powerful educational tool.

Therefore, by definition, ‘fitness testing’ is a powerful educational tool.

In the schools in which my movement curriculum operates every week, with a physical fitness assessment woven in 2-3 times annually, we have evidenced a remarkable impact on fitness, physical competence and movement confidence (especially with less active/more disengaged children).

We are building fitter school cultures, while positively impacting wellbeing, academic learning and resilience. Meaningful, physical literacy informed fitness testing is at the core of this work.

Widespread support exists in the PE world today for developing children through physical literacy informed practice. PE is thinking, feeling, connecting and moving. PE is personal, social, emotional, creative, cognitive and physical. This all sounds wonderful. And it is.

The overarching remit of this wider subject area is and should be to develop the whole child. But might this rich diversity make it more challenging to affect a tangible impact on every child in PE?

I have always liked the distinction between PE and Games used in most Independent and Grammar Schools. It enables clarity of content and outcomes.

The Games Curriculum has long been considered as a powerful vehicle for developing personal, social and emotional skills. Games offers age and ability appropriate play based games. These Games move towards more recognisable modified sports and activities. These will vary in different contexts.

PE is unique in its capacity to stretch and challenge every child in the physical domain. Dance aside, what if the PE Curriculum was a more robust and explicit vehicle for building fitness, physical competence and movement competence – and creating better movers?

Children love to challenge themselves physically.

In this approach, physical, social and mental wellbeing, posture, alertness, academic learning and resilience will all be supported implicitly. The explicit focus is on creating better movers. 

The Games Curriculum remains a vehicle for character development and wider life skills. The PE Curriculum becomes a more explicit vehicle for the promotion of fitness and wellbeing.

Based on the latest National Child Measurement Program (NCMP) published in November 2025, 10.5% of Reception children (aged 4-5) and 22.2% of Year 6 children (aged 10-11) are living with obesity.

We have an obesity crisis and it is getting worse.

We cannot rely on parents – however much we provide fitness and wellbeing education for families. Creating well and active schools is part of the solution – but this will not guarantee we reach and support every child.

We can affect a tangible impact on the fitness and wellbeing of every child in PE. I know this to be true.

There has been much said about the potential for negatively impacting children through school-based fitness testing in these last few weeks – and I agree with much of it. 

How It Was

I went to secondary school in the early 1990s. I recall fitness testing lessons in which less physically competent children were exposed. These PE experiences were surely damaging to these children. Perhaps more empathetic than many of the other more able children in my class, I remember vividly the feelings of low self-worth on these children’s faces.

Would I use these old-school fitness tests in mainstream PE lessons today? No. Do I want every child to be aware of their own physical development? Yes.

Before I left full-time teaching to support more schools, I transformed PE in both state and independent school settings. I didn’t place much focus on fitness testing then – in part I think this was because I had faith in the PE teachers in the departments I led and in our wider PE programs. On reflection, I believe we would have made a greater impact on every child’s physical development with regular, inclusive fitness testing – particularly for the least physically competent children.

How It Can Be

We adapt the language focus from ‘fitness testing’ to ‘monitoring physical development’. This is our goal. I will now attempt to break down this phrase into its constituent parts.

Fitness or Physical

I have written before about how when we unlock physical competence (what we can do with our physical bodies) we land on physical fitness (amongst other things). I have always argued for the importance of supporting physical development in a physical education. I’m not sure anyone can disagree with me here.

Testing or Monitoring

This is more contentious. But children benefit from knowing where they are at physically. They benefit from knowing the progress they are making (and celebrating this). And they benefit from knowing if they are not making progress. Teachers, school leaders, parents and carers should be aware of these things.

Short-term honesty hurts less than long-term dishonesty.

From hospital waiting lists, to crime rates, to economic growth, monitoring exists where progress matters and is at risk of not happening without effective intervention. Increasing our understanding of the tangible impact of PE programs on every child’s ACTUAL physical development creates accountability.

Accountability here matters. It matters for developing physical competence and its links to physical literacy, for supporting physical and mental health and well-being, for improving posture, alertness and wider academic learning and it matters for building resilience in every child.

Three Short Case Studies

1. The fitness, physical competence and movement confidence of a child in our NHS CEW program have all increased dramatically, through a greater awareness of what they can and cannot yet do with their physical body. By their own admission, supported by their parents, this child is now happier, healthier and more active than before they started on this journey.

2. The least physically competent child in a class (by some way) has made incredible physical progress. They are acutely aware of their progress and celebrate every step with their class teacher. Their parents are hugely appreciative of the school’s physical movement program. They see how this program is building movement confidence and supporting wider physical literacy in their child. Progressing at their own level, this child is learning first hand how regular physical effort is helping them become a better mover. They are now more engaged and motivated in PE than they were in their earlier school years.

3. A very able child has pushed and challenged themself more than ever due to an increased awareness of what they can do with their physical body and what they want to be able to do. With clear direction and greater purpose, this child is now much faster, stronger and more athletic than they were.

Summary

The children in these three case studies would all have made less physical progress if their development was not monitored as one part of an inclusive and purposeful movement program. Such is their wider environment, in two of these cases, I believe these children would have regressed physically.

All three children are also now more physically resilient and willing to embrace both success and failure.

I can recount so many positive school-based and NHS CEW clinic stories.

At Gymrun, we now have year group and key stage wide longitudinal data on more than 75,000 children across multiple schools to support these findings. When done well, monitoring physical development – as one part of a wider PE program – fuels positive behaviour change, both for the individual and for the culture of the school.

To those who disagree with this position, I invite you to observe the Gymrun Program in action.

The Emperor

Who is tasked with spending the PE and Sports Premium

When afforded time and profile, Heads of PE can transform the culture inside their schools.

But Primary PE Leads are usually full-time class teachers with varying levels of experience and expertise in PE – a highly specialised and hugely impactful subject area. These class teachers are given few if any protected hours to undertake the sizeable duties required to carry out this role effectively. 

At the beginning of this academic year I was in conversation with a primary school deputy head, who has just returned to the role of PE Lead (and not by choice). She conceded how when she was responsible for both literacy (considered as one of the key responsibilities in primary schools with additional pay) and PE, the role of PE Lead was more time consuming and no less important.

The Swindlers

Who are taking the PE and Sports Premium

Some (not all) coaching companies will put profit before the development of every child. These companies sell PE Leads what they want in the short term, not what they need in the long term. Good coaching company staff are often not paid enough to remain at the coal-face. The best coaches (who can be very good) are then replaced by less effective staff. I believe there is a place for coaching companies, but in the delivery of co-curricular and wrap-around clubs, holidays camps and tournament delivery. Any curriculum support by coaching companies should be carefully considered by each school.

The absence of a PE vision from within primary schools has created a vacuum for non-teaching PE experts to ride-in to this subject area.

These non-teaching PE experts, many with little if any time as PE teachers behind them, shape initiatives which they do not deliver, and which rarely come to fruition. We need people in policy and academia, but with a committed record in PE teaching, so they will theorise with pragmatism. In this space, the case is often made for classroom teachers – many of whom disengaged from PE themselves as a result of negative personal experiences – to be best placed to deliver this subject area in primary schools.

Would someone who does not read or write be best placed to teach and inspire Literacy?

Class teachers with a strong desire to teach PE will do it well. 75% of those I speak to are indifferent to this subject – their headspace and teaching capacity is already consumed. Teaching effective PE lessons that will engage and inspire every child is incredibly challenging. Put most class teachers in open spaces, managing cones, bibs, balls, etc. with 30+ children of all abilities and convince me this is best practice.

Conclusion

The subject area of PE is vast. It spans PE curricular, co-curricular clubs, active learning, active play, active travel, inter/intra school competition, sports fixtures, club links, holiday camps and more. It’s time we stopped paying the swindlers to implement models of delivery in our primary schools that do not drive a powerful PE vision.

This subject matters more.

Within any meaningful and lasting educational impact, the critical ingredient is the people. Good PE teachers will possess both subject knowledge and pedagogical skills. They will create an inclusive PE vision, embed effective PE systems, look after PE environments and develop relevant PE content. PE teachers will inspire, role-model and champion physical education all day, every day, to every child.

The solution has always been simple.

Passionate, committed and expert PE teachers (or people) in every primary school.

In response to the BBC article by Dan Roan on 8 June 2025 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cz634pyz51po

I live in a town house with limited floor space on the ground floor. Stay with me. We were going to build an extension onto our kitchen but decided to bring most of the garage footprint into the house. Who uses their garage for anything other than bikes & storage? We were going to buy a smart sofa for this new family area but decided to bring down one of our two sofas from the upstairs living room.

‘Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing more to add but when there is nothing left to take away’ Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Why is PE in crisis when we know of its value & impact on the development of every child? 

We could throw a few political hand grenades out there, or we could draw attention to the enormous size & remit of this subject area.

PE incorporates Physical Literacy, Physical Activities, Play, Games and Sports. PE is responsible for developing just about every life skill. PE is personal, social, emotional, creative, cognitive and physical. PE is thinking, feeling, connecting and moving.

Might this rich complexity make it harder for us to evidence & take accountability for the actual development of every child? Where do we start? What do we measure? Since 2016, my work through Gymrun has always served to provide a solution for one component of an extensive subject area, based on what I consider matters most (many will disagree).

What makes PE unique is its capacity to stretch & challenge every child in the physical & cognitive domains. When we distil the physical to its most basic form, we expose the different areas of fitness. We can still address multiple development areas here, through innovative teaching methodologies & as collateral outcomes.

We monitor the fitness & physical development of every child. We support children’s ongoing development with a movement curriculum. We engage & motivate children using a badge award system. We enable all stakeholders to take accountability with progress data on every child, class & year group

School leaders using Gymrun protect PE time & PE teachers because they see, hear, feel & evidence this subject’s value & impact on every child.

Low fitness restricts life chances. We build fitness & physical development (& more) in every child. We recognise this work focuses on one component of an extensive subject area, but it provides a central foundation & an anchor for monitoring the development of every child. And this surely matters.

And here is why.

At the heart of a physical education is to develop and sustain in every child a positive relationship with physical activity (nurturing essential life skills long into adulthood). There are a multitude of factors influencing every child’s predisposition to be physically active – but the relationship between physical competence, confidence, motivation and physical activity is significant, impactful and reciprocal.

When we distil physical competence to its most basic form, we expose the different areas of fitness such as speed, agility, coordination, strength, stamina, balance and flexibility. Today, an increasing number of children (and adults) cannot: 

Move with control, speed, agility and coordination, engage their core muscles effectively, support their own bodyweight, exert force through their lower body, sustain an elevated heart rate and breathing rate, maintain their body in balance and/or demonstrate a reasonable range of movement. 

When physical fitness is supported and developed, we become more physically competent. We develop a more positive relationship with physical activity.

Beyond the propensity to relate positively towards physical activity, improved physical fitness provides significant long-term support to education and school leadership, the health industry and the economy. For every child, improved fitness will:

Enhance short-term mood, improve long-term mental health, facilitate the short-term buzz and endorphin release of exercise, improve long term physical wellbeing and increase alertness, posture and academic learning.

For most of us, fitness is not running fast, lifting heavy weights or competing against others. Fitness is surviving and thriving. The GCSE PE definition of fitness is, ‘The ability to meet the demands of the environment’ By its very definition, fitness matters. 

For children who are not meeting the demands of the environment, do we keep changing this environment, so they do not fail? Or do we support children, at their own pace and level, to face the environment, and to address its demands head on?

When children understand fitness goals are personal, and celebrate their own efforts and improvements, the sense of achievement they realise is palpable. Pitching fitness goals appropriately for every child requires a sensitive and skilled approach. I have long posited that we need qualified PE teachers in all schools.

I have worked in Physical Education since 2001. I have worked in the field of children’s fitness and physical development since 2016. In this time, I have supported so many inactive and disengaged children in very different school settings and in the NHS CEW clinical program to become faster, stronger and fitter. In doing so, these children become more resilient. 

And this is the crux. Fitness builds resilience.

Underpinning fitness development, within the pursuit of stretching what we can do with our physical bodies, we push, pull, run, ache, sweat and fail more. The more we fail, the more we learn, the more we become. These experiences build resilience and the quality of ‘not giving up’. Resilience is an essential life skill.

I wonder if the word ‘sport’ is sometimes cancelled in some school settings in a similar fashion. When inclusive, differentiated, age appropriate and personalised, sport can be for all. Words such as ‘fitness’ and ‘sport’ are not inherently positive or negative. What they represent to each of us is not fixed.

These words are likely to arouse feelings of incompetence in many of us, based on prior experience, context and perception. Should these feelings be sidestepped and brushed under the carpet, or should they be addressed, carefully and honestly, by passionate and committed subject experts?

As it turns out this meant I could attend my daughter’s first ever Sports Day and give her a cuddle when she fell over in her running race.

But I should have been delivering Gymrun/PE lessons that morning. The children absolutely buzz for these lessons. Their attitude and engagement is exceptional. They benefit hugely from this time as a multifaceted learning experience, while investing in their personal fitness, health and wellbeing. Life skills are addressed. Resilience is nurtured.

In addition, as an experienced, dedicated and qualified PE teacher whose expertise I know is valued by this school, these lessons would surely have strengthened this school’s inspection.

The decision to cancel Gymrun/PE/physical activity during an OFSTED inspection examples the continued low profile of this area of school life within the primary school setting.

I remain convinced that if we were to track the physical progress of every child towards inclusive standards, PE would become better protected and hold greater currency in the eyes of headteachers, senior stakeholders and our wider society.

I played cricket in school and club teams that never lost, and in a county team which hardly ever won. Looking back, I probably learned something about winning and losing, and picked up one or two life skills along the way..

As a PE teacher I have always enjoyed teaching Cricket to children who have received less in the way of more formal cricket coaching. This week I taught the first lesson in a six week unit of work based on Cricket to two Year 5 classes. I was mindful to ensure there were:

Slow tennis balls and larger balls for catching.
Small-sided games, carefully organised by ability.
Some rules chosen by the children.
Short-tennis bats as well as cricket bats for hitting.

In these lessons, Cricket simply provided the vehicle for developing throwing skills, and for learning about cooperation and sharing. During the last few minutes, I stepped back to observe:

Batting, bowling, throwing, catching, running, thinking, concentrating, cooperating, sharing, competing, winning, losing, playing & creating. We had created so many positive learning opportunities for every child.

While the focus of my work in schools is on building fitness and physical development, I try hard to keep abreast of the wider picture for PE, Sport, Physical Activity and Play. These two lessons reinforced for me how, Games (and modified Sports) are a force for good in the junior school years. And how Cricket can provide a wonderful vehicle for developing so many life skills.

These Year 5 classes completed a Gymrun lesson earlier on this same day. What a school day!

In his book Outliers, Malcom Gladwell explains that reaching the 10,000-Hour Rule is simply a matter of practicing well a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years.

Most full-time PE teachers will deliver about 20 hours of lessons a week for 39 weeks a year. To achieve expertise as a PE teacher will take 13 years (assuming your PE teaching hours don’t reduce as you pick up additional responsibilities).

I remember speaking with a teacher trainer who had come into my school to observe a colleague on the Graduate Teacher Program. One of the first things she said to me was, 

‘You can tell in an instant that you have been teaching PE for years and he has not.’ 

Working as a Director of Sport my greatest challenge was to lead by example as a committed PE teacher while protecting enough of my time to lead on an extensive PE/Games program. At the beginning of each day, I would look forward to non-teaching/leadership time. By the end of the day, the most rewarding moments were always from lessons I had taught.

Prior to this role, I worked as a secondary Head of PE with multiple Heads of Year in my department. I always remember my PGCE mentor suggesting how Heads of Year (and he was one) should remember 80% of their salary is for teaching (admittedly this role is tough and immensely time consuming). On the back of this memory, I wrote across our PE department whiteboard, ‘Teaching is why we are here’.

When we get the teaching bit right much of the rest of what we do in schools falls more neatly into place.

I qualified as a PE teacher 22 years ago and have been leading on a fitness/physical literacy program in schools since 2016. To this day I take enormous pride in teaching 15+ hours of fitness/physical literacy in schools every week. It enables me to directly impact my core purpose and it keeps me grounded.

In the coming Spring term, I will be teaching 27 x 30-Minute Gymrun lessons (& 2 x PE lessons) every week in schools and as part of the NHS childhood obesity program in locations including North/South Bristol. South Gloucestershire, Slough and London. And I can’t wait to get stuck in.

Using Malcom Gladwell’s rule, how many of those delivering PE in primary schools, and how many of those talking and shaping PE/physical literacy policy in schools, would qualify as expert PE teachers?

With primary schools in such short supply of qualified PE staff (and so overstretched), to those talking and shaping policy, what might it take to get you working with children in schools on one or two days each week where you will be directly impacting your core purpose?