Acting on inactivity

March 2015 saw the formal integration of Compass – the nation’s leading representative body for children’s physical activity providers – into ukactive. This marriage culminated in the birth of ‘ukactive kids,’ a new dedicated branch of the ukactive organisation which specifically focuses on championing children’s physical activity in the UK.
    
ukactive is the leading representative body and advocacy voice for physical activity in all forms in the UK, working with over 3,500 organisations that have a role to play in helping it to achieve its mission of more people, more active, more often. Membership spans a broad range of partners in the public, private and third sector, all of whom are dedicated to improving the health of the nation by getting people of all ages moving.
    
The main catalyst for the merger between Compass and ukactive was the obvious benefits that such a move would take in uniting the network and policy reach of ukactive’s award winning campaigning team with a activity army present in thousands of playgrounds, sports halls and public spaces supporting children and young people to discover the fun of an active lifestyle. The two bodies shared an overwhelming agreement that the awareness of children’s total activity needs to increase.

More than just PE lessons
The fundamental belief that efforts must be focused on correcting physical inactivity amongst children in all settings, including schools, was a shared one. They agreed that this was about more than just PE lessons – it was about a wider lifestyle pattern, supporting children to enjoy 60 active minutes per day, encouraging schools to take a whole school day approach to promoting activity (including the means of commuting to school), and championing the integration of activity into established lessons, reducing sedentary behaviour in the process.  
    
Around 40 top tier children’s activity providers that made up the Compass organisation have now been invited to join ukactive. Many of these members work tirelessly throughout the year in schools and beyond, instructing, encouraging and most importantly engraining a love of activity in children. They bring to ukactive first-hand experience of the most fun and impactful methods to engage inactive children and to maintain their interest with a natural enthusiasm for being physically active.
    
Engaging the disengaged is a key priority for ukactive Kids, and the organisation is committed to the notion that there are numerous fun and accessible activities that lie outside the realms of competitive sport and PE lessons that can serve to bring the joy of physical activity to the most disengaged children. Furthermore engraining physical activity throughout the entire school day such as incorporating small and fun elements into lessons outside of PE can also benefit children who are less physically confident. This can be as simple as using more physically active methods to answer questions, a fun and engaging way of reaching younger children.
    
On the quest to make more people, more active, more often, ukactive understands that it is paramount to improve the health of the entire nation and not just particular sections. This integration has brought many more committed, determined and knowledgeable children’s activity stakeholders into ukactive and our reach and available expertise in the children’s activity landscape is at an all-time high.

The least active generation in history
It’s never been a more important time to address this issue. The modern day child is surrounded by a glut of technology and entertainment platforms that can engage them for hours without them moving from their seat. Such inactive lifestyle choices are lending themselves to what Lord Sebastian Coe has dubbed ‘the least active generation in history’.

The children’s inactivity problem is perhaps of little surprise when we also acknowledge the poor example being set by adults, with 29 per cent of adults in England failing to do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a week.

With a strained National Health Service and inactivity said to cost the UK economy £20 billion per year it is essential that we stop the sedentary practices of today’s young people continuing into adulthood. It is crucial to engage children in being active from a young age, in order to implement physical activity as the behavioural norm, and increase the likelihood of them remaining active later on in life.
    
As figures released in 2013 show, the numbers of young boys and girls meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity a day has fallen below one in five.
    
Being active can help prevent a vast array of chronic and cardiorespiratory diseases such as diabetes and heart disease and being physically active every day is vital for the healthy growth and development of babies, through to school-age children and teenagers. In addition to preventing illness, young children who are more physically active are more likely to achieve higher academic success, less likely to develop mental health problems, and less likely to start smoking than children who are more sedentary.    
    
This is why activity within schools must be promoted and children’s fitness levels should be measured together with the height and weight measurement that takes place through the National Child Measurement programme. ukactive Kids passionately believes that activity should be given just as much emphasis in the curriculum as English, Maths and Science, as it is an essential component of a child’s development and their mental and physical wellbeing.
    
Currently parents have an awareness of how their children are progressing in core subjects such as English and Maths, but this same importance is not afforded to their children’s fitness or activity levels with very little formal measurement or tracking. It’s like measuring the performance of Maths by assessing how much is on the timetable, as opposed to the attainment of young people. It’s time to ensure no child is left behind, with personalised support and engagement to support any child falling behind before they’re turned off activity for life.

2015 action plan
Dean Horridge, founder of Fit for Sport, former Compass chair and now chair of the ukactive Kids Board, stated: “At a time when the new government will be looking to robustly review its approach to children’s activity it’s essential that the sector has a strong, unified voice on the critical issue of promoting an active childhood.”
    
This ambition to get children more active will be integrated across all ukactive activities. For example, this year’s National Fitness Day on 9 September will give schools the tools to run events aimed at engaging higher numbers of school children in physical activity and integrating this into the school day. ukactive Kids will work closely with Ofsted, the Department for Education and the broad range of stakeholders with an interest in this agenda because it will take our collective effort to raise awareness of children’s inactivity and plant the seeds of change to improve the health of this nation’s children.
    
To date, the existing evidence base for children’s physical activity and fitness levels is vastly inferior in comparison to the evidence base for adult physical activity. To put it simply there is just not enough data to give us the complete picture of children’s activity and fitness in the UK.
    
The many experienced children’s activity providers that are core members of ukactive Kids, have an invaluable first-hand insight and are a fantastic source of primary data in expanding the evidence base. ukactive Kids will encourage its members and the wider activity sector to help expand this evidence base by working in closer collaboration with government and the academic community, sharing data and insights in a professional way that enables all to improve their services and support provided to schools, parents and young people.

Inaugural children’s activity report
ukactive’s 2014 Turning The Tide campaign raised the profile of physical inactivity as a top tier public health issue through the publication of two ground-breaking reports. With a similar impact in mind ‘ukactive kids’ will publish their first report examining the ways in which the most inactive generation in history can be encouraged to become more fit and active in June 2015. The report was produced using extensive primary and secondary data, interviews with senior teachers, experienced children’s activity providers and leading academics.
    
To gain unique primary data, ukactive Kids sent freedom of information orders to over 200 primary schools and primary academies in England to explore the steps they took to record and measure children’s fitness and activity levels, from sophisticated measurements of cardiorespiratory fitness and motor skills to basic tracking of time spent in PE. Some of the results gathered were found to fall far short of expectations, and emphasises the need for government and key stakeholders to continue to support schools when it comes to promoting and assessing children’s activity and fitness.
    
The report is set to be launched at a set piece event for key children’s activity stakeholders, policy makers and leading figures in the Education sector on the 16th June 2015. The event which will be the first official speaking engagement of the new ukactive chair, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, will take place in the form of a Children’s Physical Activity Symposium and dinner. It will bring together the leading minds on children’s activity and the surrounding debate to answer the question of how to solve the problem of generation inactive and set a course for the next government to turn the tide of children’s inactivity. It will also be a chance for stakeholders to hear the latest thinking on policy and the research underpinning the next steps in policy development.
    
The arrival of ukactive kids marks a seminal moment in the history of the organisation and the children’s physical activity sector. ukactive will continue to do its utmost to halt the growth of this inactive generation so our young people can have a brighter and healthier future and looks forward to working with all stakeholders to make this happen.

Further information
www.ukactive.com
www.compassassociation.org.uk