Fitness & Health

Keeping children fit and healthy over Christmas

Reading time: 2 minutes

While the festive season is a time for celebration and indulgence, it’s crucial to ensure that children maintain their fitness and well-being amidst the festivities. By incorporating physical activity and healthy habits into their holiday routine, you can help them enjoy the festivities without compromising their health.

It’s important that when students break up from school they remain active and do not exhibit lazy tendencies. Here are some ways we can encourage children to stay fit and healthy, yet still enjoy the Christmas season.

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How can a PE teacher support students with mental health issues and anxiety within PE lessons?

Reading time: 2 minutes

In a generation where the prevalence of mental health issues is greater than ever and still increasing, educators must use the opportunities that they are given to support the young people whom they work with. This is especially pertinent for PE teachers, who can use physical activity as a tool to support mental health and well-being among their students. Below are ways in which this could be achieved.

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Simple strategies to improve the well-being for PE pupils

Reading time: 3 minutes

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. As PE teachers, we are in a unique position where we can positively impact all three strands of well-being among our pupils. In this article, we will be exploring a range of simple strategies to help PE teachers maximise pupil wellbeing.

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5 Ways to Improve the Well-being of PE Staff

Reading time: 2 minutes

Physical education (PE) staff play an important role in the health and well-being of children and young people. However, they can also be at risk of burnout and stress.

The Department for Education recently proposed a new plan to deliver high-quality PE and sport for all pupils. This should allow more support for teachers and students regarding their physical education.

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3 reasons why physical education benefits mental health, wellbeing and development

Reading time: 2 minutes

Physical education plays a significant role in the Mental health and well-being of children. Research published by the National Library of Medicine stated that:

“Regular physical activity promotes growth and development and has multiple benefits for physical, mental, and psychosocial health that undoubtedly contribute to learning”

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3 Ways You Can Support Students’ Mental Health With Physical Education

Reading time: 3 minutes

Mental health is as important as physical health for people of all ages. Having a good mental health state is crucial for a healthy lifestyle. Mental health for students becomes even more important as they have to face numerous challenges and uncertainties. Many experience anxiety associated with academic performance, career choices, and even societal pressures. These numerous factors ultimately lead to severe stress, panic attacks, and, in some cases, isolation.

Most students may even face violence or a lack of support from their parents, friends, and families. In these cases, teachers might be the only support system they have. Hence, it is crucial for teachers and mentors to support their students in whatever way they can. The most effective method to do so would be through the means of physical education, as physical activities refresh the mind and help increase focus, promote growth, build up mental capacity, and provide numerous other benefits. Here are 3 ways you can support students’ mental health through physical education:

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Why PE can help with children’s mental health following COVID

Reading time: 3 minutes

In the last months, there has been a significant increase in e-learning, which has resulted in students and instructors entering a new world of virtual lectures, tutorials, and evaluations. This has had a substantial impact on education. Regarding technology and availability, e-learning presents a challenge not just to students but also to their instructors.

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The importance and benefits of a defibrillator for a pe department

Reading time: 2 minutes

With the recent announcement that every state school in the UK will have a defibrillator by the end of the 2022/23 school year, we look at the importance and benefits of having these life-saving pieces of technology located within easy reach of the P.E. department.

According to the British Heart Foundation, there are over 30,000 hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) in the UK each year. Unfortunately, the chances of survival are extremely low- just 1 in 10 people in the UK survive an OHCA. One of the main contributory factors to this disappointing figure is the time taken to begin treatment of the casualty.

AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) are used in addition to CPR to increase the chances of survival after a cardiac arrest.

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5 fun fitness drills for isolation

Reading time: 2 minutes

Keeping fit has a range of benefits which means it should not be forgotten about during isolation. By taking part in fitness drills you can strengthen your immune system, boost your mental health and feel better about yourself during frightening times.

The UK Government has stressed the need to only leave the house for essentials, or to complete one form of exercise per day.

This blog post will provide you with a range of fun fitness drills, suitable for all ages, which you can complete in your home and garden.

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You can still revise at home if school closes

Reading time: 2 minutes

Speculation is mounting that schools could close for a significant period due to coronavirus – but you can still revise at home to ensure you don’t fall behind on preparation for summer exams.

Schools across the UK have been told to brace themselves for two week closures – and told to get ready GCSE and A-level coursework, as well as homework.

The Government COBRA meeting this afternoon is likely to decide when and for how long the school closures will be in operation. This blog post explains how during the inconvenience which is likely to be caused due to the virus, PEOffice can help you to revise at home.

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International Women’s Day: One million more women are cycling

Reading time: 3 minutes

British Cycling has announced that one million more women are cycling now than in 2013.

The statement comes just days before International Women’s Day, which takes place this Sunday. It aims to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

The target meets the organisation’s strategy to inspire one million more women to ride, race and be part of British Cycling by 2020; and it is a huge step to reducing the historic gender gap within the sport. 

But what does the announcement mean for cycling and fitness for women? This blog post explains.

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How coronavirus is affecting sporting events

Reading time: 4 minutes

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday that the world is in “unchartered territory” on the coronavirus outbreak. The UK Government is today expected to announce a plan to combat the virus, including an effect on school, travel arrangements and sporting events.

Sporting events have already been affected heavily by the virus around the world. Major international events have already been cancelled, while domestic sport in a number of countries is also under threat.

But what has been done so far to stop the virus spreading through sport – and how are this summer’s events such as the Olympics and European Championships likely to be affected. This blog post explains.

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Fitness and happiness

Reading time: 3 minutes

We stand on the verge of an all-out epidemic of childhood obesity. While we know all too well of the many heath implications of our youngsters’ struggle with weight issues, the implications for their mental health are lesser known and understood.

Yet, as we’ll go on to illustrate, fitness and happiness go hand in hand…

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Body image and exercise: the link

Reading time: 2 minutes

The link between exercise and body image is complicated. It is safe to say, though, that participating in a moderate amount of exercise – the government recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week – generally improves body image.

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Can exercise help children learn?

Reading time: 2 minutes

You know that exercise is a non-negotiable in the fight against childhood obesity. You’ve probably heard the news that fit, active children go on to lead healthier, longer lives.

But are you aware of the ways in which exercise boosts brain power? Did you even dare imagine that frequently active kids are more engaged and put in a better academic performance when compared to their sedentary contemporaries?

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Using PE to promote a positive body image

Reading time: 3 minutes

Lack of confidence and poor body image in girls as young as seven is driving them to give up sport, but what can be done to solve the problem and how can we use PE to promote a positive body image?

A lack of self-confidence is one of the biggest barriers to girls participating in sport, and one of the most problematic manifestations of this is poor body image. At a time when both obesity and eating disorders among young girls are at their highest, addressing this is of utmost importance.

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5 simple playground activities for Primary schools

Reading time: 3 minutes

Who said that school games had to involve tech to engage little hands? Or that outdoor tasks needed to be complex to help develop things such as coordination, inquisitively or agility?

Here we’ve put together five classic ideas for playground activities that need minimal equipment for maximum fun and skill development.

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Is sport accessible to all?

Reading time: 2 minutes

It’s not just lack of ability or desire stopping kids getting access to activity, there are a number of other barriers, too.

This series has looked at how to get kids moving, a goal we can all agree is worthwhile. But is physical activity accessible to all students? We look at some potential barriers preventing children from getting active.

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Increasing activity safely

Reading time: 2 minutes

It’s easy to overdo things when you’re starting out with a new exercise regime, and youngsters are particularly liable to get over-enthusiastic. Follow our advice to keep students safe and healthy.

If you’ve been following our series on getting kids moving, your students should already have made that all important first step to improving their activity levels.

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Using technology to encourage exercise

Reading time: 2 minutes

Technology is often cited as a key contributor to our children’s obesity levels.

Parents compete with games consoles, handheld devices, computers and social media when trying to encourage their children to lead a more active lifestyle, and this lack of exercise has a negative impact on participation and performance levels in school.

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A healthy lifestyle isn’t just about doing sport at prescribed times

Reading time: 2 minutes

In part one of this series we looked at how the majority of UK children don’t get the government-recommended minimum of 60 minutes’ moderate exercise per day, and ways to address this.

The activities suggested can be categorised as four main types: everyday activities; getting out in nature; organised sports; and active play.

Here we’ll consider each in a bit more detail.

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Perception, confidence, body image, and teaching methods can all act as barriers to girls participating in sport

Reading time: 2 minutes

The factors given previously – and others – combine to give girls the impression that sport is not for them. Unlike boys, for whom excelling at sport is a good thing, girls are put off physical activity because they don’t want to be seen as unfeminine.

This is compounded by the media, which often portrays successful female athletes as masculine. Another participant in the BioMed Research International study stated: “Sport is seen as a manly thing to do…they [the media] don’t see it as a girly thing.”

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What barriers to participation prevent girls taking part in sports?

Reading time: 3 minutes

In the first part of this series on Breaking Down the Barriers to Girls’ Participation in Sport we looked at how the majority of girls don’t get the weekly recommended minimum amount of exercise.

In this second instalment, we identify the barriers to participating in physical activity that girls experience. So, why aren’t more girls taking part in sports?

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Recovering from sports injuries

Reading time: 2 minutes

Sports injuries do happen. Most of the time this isn’t a problem and kids especially bounce back quickly and easily. Sometimes, however, it can be more serious, resulting in an extended absence from sport and even school.

Enforced periods of inactivity are frustrating for any youngster, but particularly for those who are used to taking part in sport. An injured student may well turn to you for advice and support.

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Implementing a Bikeability scheme at your school

Reading time: 2 minutes

For many schools, the battle against childhood obesity is a significant issue. A combination of lack of funding for PE and extra-curricular activities, and a generation of children addicted to smartphones, computers and gaming consoles, has created an unhealthy environment for our children.

While almost 20% of children in Year 6 (aged 10-11) are obese, a further 14.2% are overweight…..9.1% of children in Reception (aged 4-5) are obese and 12.8% are overweight.

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Lifelong fitness begins at Primary school

Reading time: 2 minutes A passion for sports and fitness can and should be instilled from the earliest of ages, yet primary schools undoubtedly have a tough challenge on their hands when they’re only granted a limited number of hours to commit to PE each week.

However no mistake should be made: the role of the primary school for lifelong fitness is today more important than ever.

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Healthy Eating for Healthy Living

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The importance of healthy eating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is taught to children in a number of subjects throughout the curriculum including food technology and PE. All children are told the saying “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away”, yet the population in England is becoming more and more obese.

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Cycling Proficiency

Reading time: 2 minutes

Cycling in Britain has never been as popular as it is today, with year upon year more and more people deciding to cycle to work, take up cycling as a hobby or as a sport. This could be attributed to the fact that the health benefits of the activity are more widely known now to the general population, but also the success of elite level cyclists since the 2008 Beijing Olympics such as Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.

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Gymnastics

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British Gymnastics is currently seeing a purple patch with medals for both males and Females, such as Beth Tweddle, Louis Smith MBE & Max Whitlock winning numerous medals over recent years.

Rhythmic gymnastics is a female only competition in the Olympics and the athletes can be 16 years old when competing at the highest level.

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Increasing Girls’ Involvement in Golf

Reading time: 2 minutes

When professional golf players are considered, names such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jack Nicklaus come to mind, but what about female golfers?

The progress of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has exceeded all expectations, but does this transfer to participation in girls taking up the sport?

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Football Outreach Programmes

Reading time: 2 minutes

Football in England is the biggest sport for participation, viewership and TV rights. This being the case, many people would assume that football outreach programmes would not be required, however, there are sections of society the figures suggest are not making it to the highest level.

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Dance in the Curriculum

Reading time: 2 minutes

As stated in the  PE National Curriculum, dance is first taught to pupils from Key Stage 2. At this stage, pupils perform dances using a range of movement patterns, which is developed to where the pupils should be able to perform dances using a range of movement patterns at KS3.

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Ice Skating – How to get started

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The basic skills outlined by Skate UK, who are part of the National Ice Skating Association of Great Britain & N.I, are ranked in levels from level one up to level eight. The difficulty degree rises as the levels get higher with beginners starting at level one. After undertaking each of the levels, which consists of 8 weeks’ worth of coaching, assessment is taken on the eighth week and if successful, a certificate is given to the individual. They will then be allowed to progress to the higher tier of the system.

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Basic Skipping

Reading time: 2 minutes

When skipping is mentioned, two things spring to mind. One is the game played by children in a playground all over the world, the other is a training exercise used by many sports including boxing and football. Both have the ability to have a positive impact on a range of sports and for those who participate in those sports.

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Getting Girls Involved in Football

Reading time: 2 minutes

With over 1.4 million women and girls currently playing football in Britain, it is the country’s most popular female team sport for participation. Since 2013 when a strategy launched by the football league trust, the FA and the Premier League the number of females between 14-25 years old regularly taking part in football has risen by over 20,000.

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Encouraging participation in cricket clubs

Reading time: 3 minutes

Teaching and coaching cricket in school is one thing, but as with any sport it should not stop there.

Many children may already be playing for cricket clubs and teams outside of school, but what can teachers do and what is out there to encourage participation in cricket outside of school for those children that currently don’t play?

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Promoting Active and Healthy Lifestyles

Reading time: 2 minutes

The ultimate goal of your teaching sport is to promote healthy and active lifestyles for your students. To do this effectively, you must introduce a healthy way of life early on in your activities.

Promoting active and healthy lifestyles is easy; it only gets difficult when you try to persuade your students to actually lead a healthy life. You should have the full trust of your students, and as long as you do, then your students are more likely to follow your example and your lead into an active life.

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Creating Sporting Legacies

Reading time: 2 minutes

No one can deny the way sports can unite a nation. For brief glorious moments it seems that the entire nation is cheering for one person, or one team. The mood lifts and everyone is happy.

But what about the next generation of athletes, the school children who are watching these games: does cheering for their team translate into sporting success?

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Creating a Cycling Legacy

Reading time: 2 minutes

At the beginning of this month, I was lucky enough to see the Tour de France go through my home town of Sheffield in Stage 2 of the Grand Départ. Taking my spot amongst the crowds, the atmosphere intensified as we waited to be a part of the magic by seeing the cyclists an arm’s breadth away.

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Physical Education Aims in the New National Curriculum

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Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities

This competence is developed through continued practice and development of fundamental skills to accurately replicate movements and tackle different activities and competitive sport. Key areas for development include balance, co-ordination, agility, flexibility and strength.

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Golf in Schools

Reading time: < 1 minute

May is National Golf Month, an initiative encouraging people of all ages to get playing golf.

As the New PE National Curriculum encourages a diverse range of sports to be offered in schools, the benefits offered in golf are extensive, making it a great sport to include in your department.

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Skipping in Schools

Reading time: 4 minutes

It was a beautiful sunny day in St Anton, Austria and two snowboarders were cutting their way through the snow high in the mountains. They’d already done this route an hour previously and so were really enjoying the weather, laughing and having a great time.

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The Importance of Physical Literacy in the New National Curriculum

Reading time: 3 minutes

As a physical education teacher, it is paramount that the physical literacy quest has been at least introduced, if not ‘drummed into’ a child’s education from the start, as it is not a scheme of work or highlighted part of the curriculum.

The most effective way of achieving these goals is by actively emphasising the importance of physical literacy, rather than remaining an unseen objective.

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Raising Participation Through Competition

Reading time: 3 minutes

As part of a recent assessment of participation in sport at our school, we reviewed the number of students taking part in physical education lessons and also extra-curricular activities.

The results showed that something had to be done in order to raise the participation levels of particular groups of students: principally the girls and the Asian and Pakistani communities.

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