Kim Leadbeater
MP for Bately & Spen
Dear Kim,
I am writing to you in response to your compelling new report ‘Healthy Britain’. I unreservedly agree with you, that we must: Position health and well-being at the centre of policy, focus on prevention and early intervention, and use social prescribing to tackle the root causes of low health and well-being.
I am a former PE teacher, Head of PE, personal trainer and Director of Sport. In 2016, I set up www.gymrun.co.uk to build fitter, more physically literate futures for more children by age 11. My work in the last seven years resonates strongly with your physical health agenda.
The Gymrun program combines inclusive challenges & badges, bodyweight exercises & short periods of running or walking. Graded badges are the unique feature, as used in swimming and gymnastics. Since 2016, we have awarded 35,000+ fitness badges in primary schools with from 26 to 900 on roll, spanning over 10 counties, including much of London.
Children love these fitness challenges and badges. Engaged and motivated, classes continually push themselves to achieve their physical potential. PE lessons take on direction and purpose.
‘This is a great scheme. It should be in every school in the UK.’
Kate Bosomworth. Former This Girl Can Lead & Sport England board member.
For some time, the wider PE remit has been to monitor physical activity time in schools. But we measure literacy and numeracy by every child’s progression in these curriculum areas. Assessment of every child is why literacy and numeracy are valued in primary schools, and PE is not.
Added to which, primary school PE has evolved to deliver a personal, social, emotional, creative and cognitive, as well as a physical education. Right now, there is very limited accountability for fitness and physical development in or beyond the school setting.
By combining Gymrun’s challenges (standards, assessment, badges & data) and curriculum (more movement in less time), fitness and physical development is monitored, understood, improved, celebrated and valued by all school stakeholders.
In a flagship Gymrun school, a 25-minute curriculum lesson every week has increased fitness levels by more than 40% in two years. In this time, the percentage of Year 6 children reaching the light blue fitness badge (stage 5/8) has increased from 42% to 75%.
During this school’s recent Ofsted visit, children talked at length about the positive impact of this program on their fitness, physical development & well-being. HMI shared these findings with the school’s governors. The official report is yet to be released.
A context specific example of this program is its reworking for the NHS Care of Childhood Obesity clinic, outlined here. Supported by a recent study led by Professor Russ Jago’s, ‘Rethinking children’s physical activity interventions at school: A new context specific approach’, context has relevance.
‘This has been amazing for my son. He has so much more confidence. He feels like he is taking ownership for his healthy eating/exercise journey.’
Parent of child attending the COCO clinic.
Since leaving my position as Director of Sport at St Paul’s Juniors in London in 2016, I have personally introduced these fitness challenges to more than ten thousand children in over 80 different school environments. These experiences have given me with an insight into monitoring and delivering a fitness curriculum in primary schools that is unprecedented.
I am seeking the opportunity to speak with you in person about engaging children in primary schools in your constituency in this cost-effective fitness and physical literacy program. I have copied in Alison Oliver (CEO – Youth Sports Trust). Ali, perhaps the YST might like to support this venture?
