Why are PE and School Sport Important?
You may well have heard in the press that the Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan has set out the ambition for all children to achieve one hour of physical activity every day, with schools being responsible for delivering 30 of these active minutes and the remaining 30 active minutes to be achieved outside of school by engaging families, clubs and community groups.
At Easton Royal Academy we are fully committed to support the Government’s ambition to reduce sedentary behaviour and childhood obesity as well as provide activities which enhance the physical and mental well-being of all the children in our care. It is well documented that not only active children are physically healthier, but that physical activity also increases memory and attentiveness, which leads to children being better learners. Active children develop a long-lasting desire to learn and achieve, and regular activity has multiple, far reaching effects that last into adulthood. For example, the physical training in a typical football practice session helps reduce the risk for depression while the strength training in that same practice will increase long-term skeletal health.
What are we doing at ERA?
At ERA we already provide an excellent broad and balanced PE curriculum, including the introduction last term of some more adventurous activities such as orienteering. Outside of timetabled PE provision we continue to provide good range of active clubs such as dance, football and gymnastics. This year we have also increased the range of competitive sports festivals available to our children, including football, tag rugby, kwik cricket, orienteering to name but a few. We have very active playtimes, utilising the skills of our older children to enhance the activities on offer. We have also had the opportunity to send a few children to the climbing wall at St Francis school as well as securing a hard-to-come-by place at Manton Riding Stables as part of the RDA scheme. Once a week we also all run the ‘ERA 1K’ which the children always remind the staff about!
What’s Next?
This term we wish to introduce some activity into the early morning session, just before the Register is taken. When they arrive in the morning, from 8:40am onwards, we would like all the children to come down to the hall after they have put their things in the cloakrooms. Mrs Batten will be leading a Morning Movers activity, and Mrs Wootton will also be on hand to supervise the children. If the weather is fine we will utilise the outside space during this time too. The children will then go to classes at 8:55am to have Registration as normal. This will start from Monday 11th June.
Looking ahead, we will continue to provide plenty of good quality sports and physical activities for the children at ERA, both within and in addition to the curriculum. There are many more ideas and developments in the pipeline which we look forward to sharing with the children soon.