Sport and Being Active
Active children do better in every possible way. They perform better in school and are better behaved. Physical activity can increase attendance rates and levels of concentration. Active children have improved chances for better physical, financial, emotional and social outcomes in the future.
Our aim at Chaloner, is to become a physically active primary school, producing physical literate children. Children at Chaloner take part in many forms of sporting activities to keep active and fit, build stamina and resilience and develop cooperative skills through team work.
In our strive to become physically active, we looked at three areas to incorporate more opportunities for physical activity; these were our play, our curriculum and our sports education.
Sports Education
20-minute bursts of exercise increase brain processes and enhance cognitive control for up to one hour. 30 minutes of PE can improve children's focus immediately thereafter.
Sometimes an hours PE lesson is needed when children are learning a new skill linked to a specific sport but often 30 minutes intense physical fitness is more beneficial. We have developed our school curriculum to incorporate opportunities for both.
Curriculum
Primary school aged children spend the majority of their waking hours at school where between 50-70% of time is spent sitting, particularly in the classroom. We engaged in a project to help them incorporate ‘physically active learning’ into their daily lessons. This provided the unique opportunity to change the modern culture of sitting, by introducing active breaks and teaching through movement using many active break strategies, within the classroom including the popular 'Jump Start Jonny'. These activities range from from moderate to vigorous.
Chaloner Mile- All children from Y1 to Y6 run the Chaloner Mile regularly.
Play
The Ambassadors investigated ways in which children could be more active during set playtimes. They felt this was time wasted as many children were standing or sitting and not being active. They suggested zoning the playgrounds at lunchtime so every child could choose an activity to take part in and this has been very successful, also in improving behaviour issues. Some days we ask external coaching into school to lead team games.
Afternoon play has changed from a set time, which was a break from learning, to a teacher led active break at a time suitable for their children.
