Why active Lessons are needed more than ever!

Why active Lessons are needed more than ever!

1 in 5 children are overweight or obese when they begin school.

1 in 3 children are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school.

Surprised?

What about when we tell you that:

• The number of children walking to school is decreasing.
• On average, 70% of children’s classroom time is spent sitting.
• Children spend up to half of their after-school period sedentary.
• Children become less physically active in primary school.
  

Still surprised?

190 days a year of a child’s life is spent at school, that’s the majority of their time.

So, what does this mean?

It means schools, your school, has a unique chance to have a significant impact, to change the statistics. Because they’re not just statistics; it’s the lives of children, it’s their present and future well-being and it’s part of our responsibility.

How do you seize this opportunity to support children’s health and well-being?

• Increase physical activity by making the most of the school day.

And in doing so, we’re not only supporting a child’s physical health, we’re inviting a whole stream of benefits, from enhancing academic achievement, to increasing confidence, to relieving stress, to improving concentration, to elevating moods, the list goes on.

But hang on, there’s only so much you can do right? You’ve got PE, break and lunch for children to be physically active, it’s not like we can just get pupils jogging during lessons.

But who says you can’t?

What we know is that children spend around 5 hours a day, 190 days a year in a classroom and what we want is to increase children’s physical activity.

Combine the two and we have our answer.

• Physically active learning (Learning whilst being physically active).

It seems logical when put this way. But we know the barriers that exist.

Time pressures, assessment pressures, lack of clarity, degree of confidence, are just some factors preventing implementation.

With this in mind, we want to share with you a means of removing these barriers.

And that’s through our physically active learning programme, Maths on the Move (MOTM).

What is MOTM?

It’s what it says on the tin, it’s doing maths and moving.

Why use MOTM?

Two key reasons:

1.      To increase pupils’ physical activity

2.      To enhance pupils’ attainment in maths

What does MOTM cover?

All learning outcomes of the maths curriculum for KS1 & KS2.

How can your school use MOTM?

• SATS booster
• Group interventions
• Gifted and talented sessions
• Curriculum enrichment
• School holiday activities

What’s the structure of MOTM?

1. Select your bespoke booklets to meet the needs and current learning of the pupils during the 12 week programme.
2. Each session covers a different maths topic and at the start of each session pupils complete 5 questions.
3. Next, pupils implement the methodology into physical activities, applying the learning to real life situations with the support of the educator.
4. To finish, pupils complete a further 5 questions.
5. See the pupils’ improvements!

What about different needs?

No pupil is the same, we get that, which is why you can tailor MOTM to suit pupils’ individual requirements.

Use the programme as an intervention to support lower achieving children or extend the learning of those who are gifted and talented.

How can your school budget for MOTM?

Funding is accessible through several streams:

• PE and Sport Premium – Addresses key indicators and raises the profile of PE and sports across the school, as a tool for whole-school improvement.
• Pupil Premium – Raises the confidence and attainment of pupils and ‘closes the gap’.
• Maths budget – Introduces innovative methods and helps pupils achieve national standards in maths.

What support will you get?

Tracking pupil progress is paramount. We will provide experienced educators and learning materials, in addition to sharing the impact of MOTM via an online platform and regular reports (just the ticket for justifying your premium spends when Ofsted come knocking).

Interested in bringing MOTM into your school? Get in touch! For further details, you can call 0121 695 1394 or email info@rbgymandsport.co.uk