Newton Prep School. London.
We have been using the Gymrun program at Newton Prep School for six years. I would consider fitness and health as the most important element of PE. Gymrun offers a simple and accurate way to monitor and celebrate physical fitness.
Our Gymrun Challenge weeks offer children a chance to test themselves, measure progress, succeed and reflect. Fitness levels have improved consistently at Newton Prep. Through our ‘Gymrun Skills’ starter to each lesson, children have an awareness of the physical literacy ‘toolkit’ they need to work on to be successful in whichever element of PE or Games they choose going forward.
Resilience is developed through personal reflection, quality teacher-student communication and engagement with parents. Gymrun fitness data acts as part of our reporting metrics to parents. It give us the opportunity to measure and compare between cohorts, and helps to inform our future planning. As an Independent School, we don’t receive sports premium funding, but Gymrun certainly achieves these aims in our school.
Assistant Headteacher & Director of Sport.
Malorees Juniors. Brent, London.
We began using Gymrun in 2017, as part of a London Sport initiative. The initial appeal of this program was to inspire children to challenge themselves through target setting. The Gymrun Challenges lesson enables us to focus on the relevant muscle groups for each exercise, what we use them for and how we can develop them through exercise.
The fitness assessment data generated by Gymrun allows me to show the children’s progress, and identify strengths and weaknesses. It gives me comparative data and guides progression. In our school, the Gymrun program supports four of five key indicators for the sports premium funding – all inside one PE lesson.
PE, Health & Wellbeing Lead.
Manorbrook Primary. South Gloucestershire.
I was made aware of the Gymrun program through our relationship with Future Stars Coaching. Gymrun partners with Future Stars. We have been using Gymrun now for five years. We decided to use this program as it was a new and unique idea that focused on many key aspects of children’s physical fitness, health and wellbeing – things that were not necessarily being covered at the time in our curriculum. The badge system appeared to be a great incentive for the children and a perfect fit for our PE assessment.
Using the Gymrun program, the percentage of Year 6 children achieving the light blue badge or higher has increased from 41% to 75%.
Our Year 3-6 classes complete a 25 minute weekly Gymrun fitness lesson. This structure allows the children to understand the five core elements. They learn a variety of exercises that work on those core elements and are explicitly taught why they help to improve their overall physical fitness. The badge system works as an incentive – the children love working towards the next badge and understand what they have to do to get there. They are also taught that the only competition is against themselves – the coaching element works really well to help the children’s resilience.
The badge system and termly assessments give me tangible data on how physically fit the children are, which is perfect for assessment. I can compare this fitness data to their scores in previous year groups, and also other cohorts. It also allows me to track the pupils’ progress throughout each year group. We have even used the data to deliver targeted fitness clubs and competitions. In our school, Gymrun certainly supports all five PE and sports premium funding guidelines.
PE Lead & Class Teacher.
NHS COCO Clinic. UHBW Trust.
This is the first outside of school activity I have been able to get my child to actually participate in. It has been amazing and so good to see him interacting with the trainer and actively participating in this with other children. I really hope it does continue as the long term benefits to him and his health will be amazing.
This Gymrun class has been wonderful for the children as a safe, motivating space to encourage exercise with peers. It is a challenging class but the delivery is positive and incredibly inclusive with varying abilities. My child has significantly less emotional/behavioural challenges than some, but Gymrun increases her exercise levels in and out of class, reinforcing benefits of exercise in life, and body image (she has changed shape). I think it is a support for the parents too, for role modelling in exercise and meeting other COCO families for support/discussions, as some appear to have many challenges at home.
COCO Clinic Parents.
St Paul’s Juniors. London.
We have been using Gymrun for six years now, and since 2017. It is an excellent way to assess our boys’ fitness in Years 3-6. The exercises focus on the three main areas of fitness (cardio/core/muscular endurance). They allow staff to focus/discuss the importance of these areas and how performing these exercises technically well will benefit them with their physical fitness and physical literacy. It is also possible to transfer all of these skills into the Games based sessions and sports we run at school.
Gymrun is a manageable assessment programme, that staff can use throughout our fitness module, and as an end of unit assessment. The scheme helps to engage boys in regular physical and fitness activities. The Gymrun fitness data is a great tool to help us demonstrate the impact of our PE program on the boys’ wider learning. It provides us with a regular reminder of and refreshment on our basic fitness and physical learning outcomes. The Gymrun Challenges lessons provide us with a clear focus, while inclusively engaging every boy in personal competition.