Many schools find keeping children physically active challenging. With busy timetables, limited resources, and the pressure to meet curriculum outcomes, ensuring every pupil gets the recommended 30 minutes of daily physical activity is challenging. This is especially important as schools strive to meet the PE and Sport Premium key indicators and enhance pupils' health and well-being.
But what if there were a solution that made it easier for teachers to engage pupils in fun, self-paced activities while tracking their progress without adding to their workload? That's where innovation comes in. In this blog, we'll explore the importance of physical activity, the challenges schools face, and how a new platform offers a simple solution to these problems.
The importance of physical activity for children
Physical activity is critical to a child's development. It promotes better health and fitness and improves concentration, behaviour, and academic performance. According to the World Health Organisation, children aged 5 to 18 should engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily, with 30 minutes during school hours.
For primary school PE leaders, ensuring pupils stay active isn't just about improving health; it's about fostering long-term habits that can lead to healthier, happier lives. Studies show that physically active children are more likely to continue exercising into adulthood, reducing their risk of serious health issues like obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Beyond individual health, physical activity plays a vital role in improving pupils' social skills, teamwork, and self-confidence. Whether through team sports or self-paced activities like walking, jogging, or running, schools have a unique opportunity to create an environment where pupils can thrive physically and mentally.
The challenges schools face in meeting activity goals
Despite the clear benefits of physical activity, many schools need support to meet the WHO guidelines and the PE and Sport Premium five key indicators, particularly when engaging all children in 30 minutes of daily physical activity.
Several factors contribute to this challenge:
- Limited time: With packed schedules and curriculum demands, finding time for physical activity can take time and effort. Also, PE sessions often take a backseat to other subjects.
- Lack of resources: Many schools need more tools to track and monitor physical activity. With no simple way to log progress, ensuring that every child meets their activity goals becomes more arduous, and it becomes nearly impossible to demonstrate the impact of programmes or initiatives.
- Pupil engagement: Not all pupils are naturally inclined to participate in physical activity. Some children may feel self-conscious or unmotivated, making engaging them in traditional activities challenging.
- Tracking and reporting: Teachers are already overburdened with administrative tasks, and tracking physical activity adds to their workload, making it harder for schools to demonstrate the impact of their work.
These challenges highlight the need for a solution that simplifies the process, engages every pupil, and helps schools track and report on their progress.
Introducing Run:ED
Enter Run:ED, a simple, web-based platform designed to help schools engage pupils in physical activity, track their progress, and meet key guidelines, all without adding to teachers' workloads.
Run:ED makes it easy for schools to facilitate self-paced activities like walking, jogging, or running, allowing pupils to participate at their own level. Whether your school already runs initiatives like The Daily Mile or is looking for a unique approach, Run:ED ensures that every pupil can meet activity guidelines in a way that works for them.
The key features of Run:ED include:
- Easy setup: Teachers can organise classes and set up challenges in minutes, without the need for extra equipment or complicated systems.
- Self-paced activity tracking: Pupils can easily log their activities, whether they're walking, jogging, or running. Run:ED's 'Tap-to-Lap' feature or manual entry makes logging simple.
- Engagement tools: Gamified challenges, customisable avatars, and team leaderboards motivate pupils to participate in physical activity daily.
- Comprehensive dashboards: Teachers can track progress at individual, team, and school levels, making it easy to see who's participating and who may need more encouragement.
- Automated reporting: Generate reports with just a few clicks to showcase progress to parents, school leadership, or inspectors. Run:ED helps schools meet four PE and Sport Premium key indicators.
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Why schools should consider Run:ED
Run:ED builds on the core principles of encouraging daily self-paced activity but takes things a step further by making it easier to track, log, and report pupil progress.
RunED's focus on self-paced activity means that every child can participate and succeed regardless of their ability or fitness level. Pupils can walk, jog, or run, creating a more inclusive and supportive environment where everyone feels motivated to stay active.
Beyond engaging pupils, Run:ED simplifies the administrative side of physical activity. For teachers, tracking and reporting are quick and easy, giving them more time to focus on their pupils. Plus, the built-in reporting tools make it easier to demonstrate impact and, where necessary, impact on PE and Sports Premium spend.
Would you like to see how Run:ED can transform physical activity at your school?
Join us for a free 30-minute webinar. We'll showcase the platform and explain how your school can be one of the 20 participating in our exclusive pilot programme.
Sign up for the Run:ED webinar today!