It’s so important to encourage and support children and young people to participate in physical activity and ensure the opportunities are viable in their communities. By working with groups and organisations who also share this ambition, we are setting up a good foundation for young people to maintain this healthy habit into adulthood. Ready 4 Action, funded by Find Your Active has already begun to help children and young people by working directly with school staff to provide opportunities for students to get active.
The project aims to help pupils who have struggled during the pandemic. Studies found that the pandemic had a worrying impact on many young people’s physical activity levels, their confidence and even their social interaction. Ready 4 Action works with staff in schools such as Head teachers and PE leads to identify students who need extra support, due to the negative impact the pandemic has created.
Ant Seaman, Active Essex Children and Young Person Practitioner explained: “Ready 4 Action are keen to provide support to the pupils that need it the most, this aims to target some of the key transition phases, particularly new reception and year 3 students. So far, Ready 4 Action is running in Collingwood Primary to develop social skills amongst KS1 pupils, in the South Woodham area, and across Castle Point and Rochford School Sports Partnership, with plans for S1 schools to follow.”
Ready 4 Action will be running for a period of around 10 weeks and will be delivered before school, at lunch or during after school intervention clubs. With the support of school staff, children will be encouraged in a safe environment, help them regain confidence and boost social skills in order to reduce inactivity. Staff will be trained on how to deliver these sessions to students to help manage and support their development with long term change being the priority.
Lee Monk, Active Essex Children and Young Person Lead said: “An important outcome from this project is to work closely with the schools to monitor the impact of the clubs on physical activity levels and the pupil’s overall wellbeing. Ultimately at Active Essex everything we do is purposefully designed to help people lead healthy long lives. We want our children and schools to have the adequate tools and means necessary to achieve this, in a fun and engaging way.”
We look forward to seeing what the future holds for our younger generation, as we ensure brilliant projects such as Ready 4 Action are accessible across our county!
