Fit to Succeed - 2002 Report
A partnership between the children of Exeter, Exeter Academic Council, Exeter City Council, Devon Curriculum Services, the Schools Health Education Unit and DC Leisure Management, to promote physical activity and achievement in schools.
SUMMARY of activities 2002
This report charts the further expansion of the Fit to Succeed project from Exeter schools to encompass a mentored project in a neighbouring town Tiverton. It also outlines the use of the monitoring questionnaire as an on-line tool to inform the Devon School Sport Coordinators working to raise the profile of physical activity in 77 primary schools in the county.
This third report looks at some of the comparisons between the Exeter Fit to Succeed data and the Schools Health Education Unit (SHEU) wider data. It looks at some of the changes in the data as we follow youngsters into their secondary schools. Also included are some further analyses of the correlation between the data, for example, the relationship between energy levels and breakfast food items. There are also some interesting findings emerging from the new questions on water consumption.
INTRODUCTION
The progress of the Exeter project has been monitored by Right Fit and in the Autumn of 2001 the project team were approached to apply for a mentoring/ dissemination grant to expand upon the work that was happening locally. In addition the Schools Health Education Unit were commissioned to design an on-line version of the monitoring questionnaire to increase potential access to the research tool.
Presentations
Members of the Exeter Fit to Succeed team have been asked to present the findings from the project to a variety of different audiences. The key presentation was given to the Right Fit Conference held at Saddlers Wells in December 2001. Other presentations have been given to Plymouth City Council, The Devon Community Priority Schools Group, South West BAALPE representatives and the Food Advertising Units’ Annual Conference in London.
We have also disseminated the project findings to a number of Devon schools representatives and other interested bodies at the Fit to Succeed conference held on February 7th 2003.
Comparisons to SHEU data
We have been able to make direct comparisons with the Schools Health Education Unit’s wider databanks for the questions that are identical to see how the Exeter data compares to a broader picture. The following analysis (Chart 1)also takes into account the new project starting in Tiverton. The Tiverton data represents only one secondary school so the Year 8 and 10 data may be reflecting relatively small numbers.
The most exciting differences seen in the Exeter and SHEU data are in the secondary school data especially for the girls. One of the key initial aims for the project team was to find activities that these older girls would want to be involved in so that there would not be the drop-off in activity level that was seen in 1999 with girls moving from primary to secondary school.
Chart 1 Last week how many times did you exercise and have to breathe harder? Percentage responding ‘Three times or more’
~The ultimate aim for the project is to get all pupils active enough to raise their heart rate at least three times a week and it would appear that there is still a long way to go although the Exeter data is encouraging when compared to the wider SHEU data.
It is interesting to see that the local Exeter data is consistently higher for this question than the wider SHEU data (Chart 2). It is also interesting to see that the Tiverton data is also higher that the wider data. The original pilot project work used Tiverton schools as a control group and found that the data was similarly high in 1999 so it is not surprising to find that it continues to report high levels of self reporting for fitness.
Chart 2 How fit do you think you are? Percentage responding ‘Fit’ or ‘Very fit’ (October 2002)
Although it is general levels of activity that we are interested in increasing rather than just sport. Sport does play a huge part in the Fit to Succeed project. The levels of playing sport last night were seen to increase in the early stages of the project although we still have a way to go in increasing the opportunities for sporting activity for the majority of young people. The October 2002 data for Exeter and Tiverton are compared favourably here against SHEU wider data (Chart 3).
Chart 3 Percentage reporting playing sport last night
From the wider research that SHEU has done we know that fear of bullying does decrease with age but these figures are very encouraging for the schools involved. Indeed if you look at the figure of 59% for Year 5 girls in 2002 (Chart 4), this is higher than the Year 6 2001 figure of 56%. The suggestion is that there is something more than just increasing age that is having an impact on the fear of bullying in these schools.
Chart 4 Those who report 'never' being afraid to go to school because of bullying.
Energy levels and enjoyment of PE and Games
The correlation here is significant for the boys in particular. Proportionally more of those pupils who say they are always tired in afternoon lessons say that they only enjoy PE/Games 'a little' or 'not at all'.
Are you tired in the afternoon lessons?
Enjoying PE / Games 'a lot'
The majority of pupils enjoy PE and Games. Of all those pupils who said that they are never tired in morning lessons 76% of the boys and 56% of the girls said that they enjoy PE and Games 'a lot'.
Are you tired in morning lessons?
SHEU wider data has revealed that the percentages of young people that miss out on breakfast has increased over the past 20 years. In 2001 the Year 10 girls' figure was 41% and the Year 8 figure was 33% that have no more than a drink for breakfast.
If we are to ensure that pupils are equipped to learn effectively in school lessons, then they need to have eaten something in the morning before school starts.
The data for Fit to succeed that tracks the cohorts illustrates a leap for the older girls missing breakfast between 2001 - 2002 from 17% to 29%. By the time we surveyed again at the beginning of Year 10 these older girls were reporting no increase above 29% so perhaps this can be seen as encouraging when the wider data figure is over 40% missing breakfast.
Percentage having only a drink for breakfast
The chart here looks at the relationship between the question 'Do you feel tired in morning lessons?' and those who had nothing for breakfast. For those youngsters that said they are 'always' tired in morning lessons, proportionally more of them had nothing for breakfast than those who said that they are 'never' tired. There is a clear step upward for both boys and girls but the girls are clearly ahead of the boys.
Breakfast and energy levels
When the breakfast food items were looked at individually it appears that those pupils who said that they were always tired in morning lessons were more likely to have had a chocolate bar for breakfast than those who said that they were never tired in morning lessons.
Energy levels and chocolate bar for breakfast
The reverse picture appears for those who had fruit for breakfast with proportionally more of those who say that they are never tired in morning lessons saying that they had fruit for breakfast. It is interesting to see that the girls are ahead of the boys. Is this because they would rather have fruit for breakfast than other food items?
Energy levels and fruit for breakfast
Having cereal for breakfast is one of the most popular food choices. For those who say that they are 'never' tired in morning lessons 60% of the boys and over 50% of the girls had eaten cereal for breakfast. For those pupils that said they are always tired in morning lessons 44% of the boys and 35% of the girls had eaten cereal that morning.
Energy levels and cereal for breakfast
The question 'How much does your school teach you that physical activities are good for you?' has been correlated with those that are active three times or more last week.
There is a clear suggestion that the more the school teaches youngsters about the importance of activity, the more active the pupils will be.
School teaching and levels of physical activity
Whereas we might expect that a school that teaches its pupils that physical activity is good for them are likely to find their pupils are more active. It is not as clear to see the link between a school that teaches its pupils about healthy eating and the activity levels of its pupils.
The correlation is clear however that the more that a school teaches about healthy eating the more likely that its pupils will be active.
Healthy eating lessons and levels of physical activity
Conference summary
Over 90 delegates attended the Fit to Succeed conference, mainly from interested Devon schools but also School Sport Coordinators, Sports Development Officers and representatives from Sport England.
The programme was introduced by Michael Gent with a brief overview of the development of the project which emphasised the way schools had been enabled to offer a wider range of activities through the ‘partnership approach’, developed by the management group. This made a ‘good idea’ realisable without the necessity for additional resources. Using local organisations, agencies and sports clubs (with common goals for increasing pupil and adult activity both now and in later life) enabled Headteachers to increase pupil activity levels without placing additional burdens on staff. Stress was also laid on the collection of data from pupils which provided evidence for the link between increased activity and pupils academic achievement.
The practical part of the day was given to project schools to illustrate some of the approaches which have worked for them in their schools. (Limited mention was made of the benefits of the partnership approach as this would be covered in the afternoon.) Lorna Baker from Pinhoe School set the scene and explained how Fit to Succeed had played a part in moving them from a school with several weaknesses and poor academic performance at Year 6 to a follow-up Ofsted inspection that demonstrated how the school had been turned around. Their latest SATs scores have also shown huge improvement.
Quin Cook (Pinhoe) taught us a number of Brain Gym techniques that can be used variously throughout the school day and which have helped his pupils to be more focussed. We all enjoyed following the ‘Fit Kids’ video that they use in school at the beginning of the day.
Members of the Fit to Succeed team join in with the rest of the delegates to follow the 'Fit Kids' video.
Jane Roberts from Redhills showed us some video footage of her pupils enjoying an ‘energisers’ session that they use with two year groups in the playground at the start of every day. The pupils have even been sponsored with a shirt each that has 'Redhills Fit to Succeed' embroidered on the back; this has given the project a high profile and the message has really gone home to pupils about the importance of exercise. Jane reported that she has really seen an improvement in the fitness levels of the pupils.
Sarah Durkin from St Michael's school reported that her personal policy of chasing 'every new opportunity for activity' has paid off for the keen members of her school community and she has been working hard to encourage the less enthusiastic athletes among her pupils. For the three week period before SATs last year she took a very successful half hour activities session before school with the Year 6 pupils. She already has her current Year 6 asking when they are going to start their activity sessions. Sarah says that she would like to be able to do it all year round as it also had a very beneficial effect on the more challenging pupils within the year group; they were much calmer in morning lessons.
Steve Kibble brought us up to date with some of the latest information about research into brain activity. The fact that the brain uses up to 25% of the oxygen and nutrition taken in by the body each day and is very susceptible to dehydration suggests that there are key messages about breakfast and for ensuring easy access to water during the school day. Points highlighted by our research evidence. Steve also indicated that the oxygen levels in classrooms might be detrimental to the potential for learning 'How often do you see children yawning in the afternoon? No wonder, the afternoon is the worst time for low levels of oxygen in crowded classrooms'.
The afternoon sessions were an opportunity for the partnership team members to describe where they contribute to the project and to give an update of developments that they have been involved in directly. Angela Balding (Schools Health Education Unit) explained the approach used to gather the evidence which underpins the project and showed examples of some of the interesting outcomes. The SHEU questionnaire provides a range of information which schools can use across the curriculum. An on-line version of the questionnaire is now available.
The Exeter Sports Development Manager, Kevin Hack explained how vital the data collection exercise had been in informing his team's planning and delivery of support to youngsters across the city. He gave the introduction of Baseball to the city, identified by children in the questionnaires, as an example of how sporting activities are being developed to match demand. The Exeter team that emerged from this initiative have now been National Champions for two years in a row.
Reorganisation of Health into Primary Care Trusts limited their involvement in the Exeter scheme but Brenda Marshall (Mid-Devon PCT) outlined the varied contributions they are currently making to the Tiverton Fit to Succeed programme. Members of the team can provide free support for Healthy Living schemes, developing balanced diets, school travel plans etc.
The Tiverton group are now collaborating with Devon Highways to develop safe cycle routes throughout the town.
Nick Masson (DC Leisure) outlined the contributions the private sector can make to both pupil and adult activity and the opportunities which exist for lifetime involvement. He emphasised that where you are attempting to increase the levels of physical activity in young people, consideration needs to be given to local infrastructure.
Sue Shorman from Alphington School gave us some insights into how pupil councils work in schools and how she has learned to cope with the high and low points of 'giving young people a voice'. The Fit to Succeed message suggests that pupil councils are an ideal place for some of the results from the school surveys to be discussed.
Steve Kibble provided an update about how the Schools Sport Coordinator programme is developing on a national level and the programme concluded, as it began, with the important message that schools can make Fit to Succeed a reality through the mutually beneficial partnership approach.
The benefits of water
We have included a new question on water into the latest version of the questionnaire in response to schools reporting that they have seen a difference in the concentration levels in pupils since the promotion 1of having more access to water in school. The findings need to be explored in more detail but early indications suggest that there is an association with drinking water and the behaviours listed below.
Academic performance data to be collected in the summer term will be added to the questionnaire information to see if there is any significant correlation with water consumption.
Sports Development update
MARTIAL ARTS
Throughout the three-year period of Fit to Succeed, the research has consistently shown a strong level of interest in martial arts by children of both sexes. As a consequence of these findings, the Exeter Sports development team is now running sessions of ‘Junior Combat’ in three primary and two secondary schools.
‘Junior Combat’ is a fitness activity, but has a distinct Martial Arts feel, using kicking and punching actions. The sessions have been run during curriculum time in all five schools and have been very popular. One secondary school now has a regular after-school session and one of the primary school has a regular session BEFORE SCHOOL !
CLUB INFORMATION
Another development from Fit to Succeed will be the circulation to schools of SPORTS LINK information sheets. These sheets will show the school who they can contact to bring into the school to run curricular or extra-curricular sports sessions. This may include coaches from local clubs, from Football in the Community Schemes, freelance sports coaches, or sports development staff.
However, these sheets will only detail resources that can be brought into the school. They are not designed to be a general sports information directory. One of the key findings from the Fit to Succeed work done with the schools in Exeter was that children wanted sports activities brought to them. They did not want to have to travel to clubs and facilities to try out a new activity.
The expansion of the project
The Tiverton Fit to Succeed programme has benefited from the lessons learnt from the Exeter Project and this has enabled the Management team, schools and other partner agencies to make good progress in developing opportunities.
The local Sports Development Officer has been a key partner locally and has supplemented the time that the Tiverton Fit to Succeed coordinator has been able to devote to the schools. She has responded positively to requests to help pool resources, particularly for the smaller schools and has provided identified taster sessions and training sessions for prospective coaches for new activities.
There are plans to involve Year 11 students, who are pursuing their ‘Young Leaders Award’, in the project by linking their practical work with activity sessions in the primary schools. This will provide the older pupils with real opportunities to develop their skills for leadership and good ‘active’ role models the younger pupils.
Other activity sessions that have been planned in conjunction with the project include:-
Devon School Sport Coordinator Programme
The school sport coordinator programme (SSCo) is part of the Government’s plans to provide more and better physical education and sporting opportunities for young people. The fit to succeed initiative fits well within the nature of the school sport coordinator programme.
The on-line baseline assessment questionnaire has been offered to a number of Partnerships in Devon to inform the development of the programme. Immediate feedback is available to each youngster that completes a questionnaire and any earlier finishers are invited to visit the government health website suitable for their age to explore the issues further.
Each school has a set of baseline information for their pupils separated by year group and gender. Each school is also provided with a written report that compares their school to the others in the survey.
The local coordinator is then able to work with their primary link teachers to identify individual development programmes based on what the pupils have indicated that they are interested in.
Toolkit [TOP]
The Fit to Succeed toolkit is available and will provide more detailed information about the project with case study examples.
Funding for the Exeter project has now come to an end so we will be looking for new sponsors or grant applications - if you have any suggestions please let us know.
Over 90 delegates attended the Fit to Succeed conference, mainly from interested Devon schools but also School Sport Coordinators, Sports Development Officers and representatives from Sport England.
The programme was introduced by Michael Gent with a brief overview of the development of the project which emphasised the way schools had been enabled to offer a wider range of activities through the ‘partnership approach’, developed by the management group. This made a ‘good idea’ realisable without the necessity for additional resources. Using local organisations, agencies and sports clubs (with common goals for increasing pupil and adult activity both now and in later life) enabled Headteachers to increase pupil activity levels without placing additional burdens on staff. Stress was also laid on the collection of data from pupils which provided evidence for the link between increased activity and pupils academic achievement.
The practical part of the day was given to project schools to illustrate some of the approaches which have worked for them in their schools. (Limited mention was made of the benefits of the partnership approach as this would be covered in the afternoon.) Lorna Baker from Pinhoe School set the scene and explained how Fit to Succeed had played a part in moving them from a school with several weaknesses and poor academic performance at Year 6 to a follow-up Ofsted inspection that demonstrated how the school had been turned around. Their latest SATs scores have also shown huge improvement.
Quin Cook (Pinhoe) taught us a number of Brain Gym techniques that can be used variously throughout the school day and which have helped his pupils to be more focussed. We all enjoyed following the ‘Fit Kids’ video that they use in school at the beginning of the day.
Members of the Fit to Succeed team join in with the rest of the delegates to follow the 'Fit Kids' video.
Jane Roberts from Redhills showed us some video footage of her pupils enjoying an ‘energisers’ session that they use with two year groups in the playground at the start of every day. The pupils have even been sponsored with a shirt each that has 'Redhills Fit to Succeed' embroidered on the back; this has given the project a high profile and the message has really gone home to pupils about the importance of exercise. Jane reported that she has really seen an improvement in the fitness levels of the pupils.
Sarah Durkin from St Michael's school reported that her personal policy of chasing 'every new opportunity for activity' has paid off for the keen members of her school community and she has been working hard to encourage the less enthusiastic athletes among her pupils. For the three week period before SATs last year she took a very successful half hour activities session before school with the Year 6 pupils. She already has her current Year 6 asking when they are going to start their activity sessions. Sarah says that she would like to be able to do it all year round as it also had a very beneficial effect on the more challenging pupils within the year group; they were much calmer in morning lessons.
Steve Kibble brought us up to date with some of the latest information about research into brain activity. The fact that the brain uses up to 25% of the oxygen and nutrition taken in by the body each day and is very susceptible to dehydration suggests that there are key messages about breakfast and for ensuring easy access to water during the school day. Points highlighted by our research evidence. Steve also indicated that the oxygen levels in classrooms might be detrimental to the potential for learning 'How often do you see children yawning in the afternoon? No wonder, the afternoon is the worst time for low levels of oxygen in crowded classrooms'.
The afternoon sessions were an opportunity for the partnership team members to describe where they contribute to the project and to give an update of developments that they have been involved in directly. Angela Balding (Schools Health Education Unit) explained the approach used to gather the evidence which underpins the project and showed examples of some of the interesting outcomes. The SHEU questionnaire provides a range of information which schools can use across the curriculum. An on-line version of the questionnaire is now available.
The Exeter Sports Development Manager, Kevin Hack explained how vital the data collection exercise had been in informing his team's planning and delivery of support to youngsters across the city. He gave the introduction of Baseball to the city, identified by children in the questionnaires, as an example of how sporting activities are being developed to match demand. The Exeter team that emerged from this initiative have now been National Champions for two years in a row.
Reorganisation of Health into Primary Care Trusts limited their involvement in the Exeter scheme but Brenda Marshall (Mid-Devon PCT) outlined the varied contributions they are currently making to the Tiverton Fit to Succeed programme. Members of the team can provide free support for Healthy Living schemes, developing balanced diets, school travel plans etc.
The Tiverton group are now collaborating with Devon Highways to develop safe cycle routes throughout the town.
Nick Masson (DC Leisure) outlined the contributions the private sector can make to both pupil and adult activity and the opportunities which exist for lifetime involvement. He emphasised that where you are attempting to increase the levels of physical activity in young people, consideration needs to be given to local infrastructure.
Sue Shorman from Alphington School gave us some insights into how pupil councils work in schools and how she has learned to cope with the high and low points of 'giving young people a voice'. The Fit to Succeed message suggests that pupil councils are an ideal place for some of the results from the school surveys to be discussed.
Steve Kibble provided an update about how the Schools Sport Coordinator programme is developing on a national level and the programme concluded, as it began, with the important message that schools can make Fit to Succeed a reality through the mutually beneficial partnership approach.
The benefits of water
We have included a new question on water into the latest version of the questionnaire in response to schools reporting that they have seen a difference in the concentration levels in pupils since the promotion 1of having more access to water in school. The findings need to be explored in more detail but early indications suggest that there is an association with drinking water and the behaviours listed below.
- Enjoyment of physical activity.
- Enjoyment of PE / Games.
- Want to do more activities.
- Taking part in all sports except dance (for boys) and horseriding, martial arts (for girls).
- Mum, dad and teacher enjoy physical activity.
- Family members are active.
- Used the computer for homework last night.
- Last night – read a book, went to a club, had a music lesson, played sport.
- Parents ask about school day.
- Did homework last night.
- Less likely to have nothing for breakfast (girls).
- School teaches you about healthy eating and physical activity being good for you.
Academic performance data to be collected in the summer term will be added to the questionnaire information to see if there is any significant correlation with water consumption.
Sports Development update
MARTIAL ARTS
Throughout the three-year period of Fit to Succeed, the research has consistently shown a strong level of interest in martial arts by children of both sexes. As a consequence of these findings, the Exeter Sports development team is now running sessions of ‘Junior Combat’ in three primary and two secondary schools.
‘Junior Combat’ is a fitness activity, but has a distinct Martial Arts feel, using kicking and punching actions. The sessions have been run during curriculum time in all five schools and have been very popular. One secondary school now has a regular after-school session and one of the primary school has a regular session BEFORE SCHOOL !
CLUB INFORMATION
Another development from Fit to Succeed will be the circulation to schools of SPORTS LINK information sheets. These sheets will show the school who they can contact to bring into the school to run curricular or extra-curricular sports sessions. This may include coaches from local clubs, from Football in the Community Schemes, freelance sports coaches, or sports development staff.
However, these sheets will only detail resources that can be brought into the school. They are not designed to be a general sports information directory. One of the key findings from the Fit to Succeed work done with the schools in Exeter was that children wanted sports activities brought to them. They did not want to have to travel to clubs and facilities to try out a new activity.
The expansion of the project
The Tiverton Fit to Succeed programme has benefited from the lessons learnt from the Exeter Project and this has enabled the Management team, schools and other partner agencies to make good progress in developing opportunities.
The local Sports Development Officer has been a key partner locally and has supplemented the time that the Tiverton Fit to Succeed coordinator has been able to devote to the schools. She has responded positively to requests to help pool resources, particularly for the smaller schools and has provided identified taster sessions and training sessions for prospective coaches for new activities.
There are plans to involve Year 11 students, who are pursuing their ‘Young Leaders Award’, in the project by linking their practical work with activity sessions in the primary schools. This will provide the older pupils with real opportunities to develop their skills for leadership and good ‘active’ role models the younger pupils.
Other activity sessions that have been planned in conjunction with the project include:-
- Orienteering: training of staff and construction of courses in each school plus joint schools session at the Knightshayes course.
- Development of cycle routes for the whole town in conjunction with the Devon Highways department, cycle training, BMX sessions and assistance with making bids for safe bike storage at schools. Links have been made with the county ‘Travelplan’ coordinator in an effort to afford real opportunities to encourage young people to walk and cycle to school.
- Family Swimming. Saturday evening sessions, once a month, starting in May, have been negotiated with the new Exe Valley Leisure Centre. The Academic Council and the PCT will fund the initial sessions for parents and children and then reduced rates will be charged. It is intended to include other activities in the future.
- Links with local clubs are being established. Welcome sessions at Clubs for potential participants supported by ‘buddies’ from their own schools and in-school coaching have already taken place.
- Extension of the ‘Tiverton Challenge’. This town-based walk in late June provides Year 6 pupils a rigorous but achievable experience which not only provides healthy exercise but provides opportunities for pupils from different schools to meet and take part in activities together just before they transfer to Tiverton High School.
Devon School Sport Coordinator Programme
The school sport coordinator programme (SSCo) is part of the Government’s plans to provide more and better physical education and sporting opportunities for young people. The fit to succeed initiative fits well within the nature of the school sport coordinator programme.
The on-line baseline assessment questionnaire has been offered to a number of Partnerships in Devon to inform the development of the programme. Immediate feedback is available to each youngster that completes a questionnaire and any earlier finishers are invited to visit the government health website suitable for their age to explore the issues further.
Each school has a set of baseline information for their pupils separated by year group and gender. Each school is also provided with a written report that compares their school to the others in the survey.
The local coordinator is then able to work with their primary link teachers to identify individual development programmes based on what the pupils have indicated that they are interested in.
Toolkit [TOP]
The Fit to Succeed toolkit is available and will provide more detailed information about the project with case study examples.
Funding for the Exeter project has now come to an end so we will be looking for new sponsors or grant applications - if you have any suggestions please let us know.