Earlier this year a study I was involved in, with 393 children from 23 different schools across Bristol, revealed a 13 per cent drop in physical activity since the pandemic.

For those of us who study public health, this was a worrying finding because it suggested that the pandemic had exacerbated a trend seen before Covid that children are exercising less.

Obesity levels in children made headlines when recent government data showed the increase of obesity in primary school children from 2013 to 2019.

Of course, nutrition is the biggest contributor to maintaining a healthy weight, but these figures provide further support for the argument that we must find ways to ensure that young people have a healthy lifestyle.

How much physical activity is enough for school pupils?

The government recommends that all children should do an average of an hour of physical activity that gets them slightly hot, sweaty and out of breath each day.

This is called moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA).

However, lots of research has shown that many children don’t meet this recommendation, and that this problem gets worse as children get older.

For example, in 2019 we conducted a study of 2,000 children of primary school age in Bristol, and looked at their daily activity rates. The results told us that not only were a significant number missing the government target, but also that activity levels decreased as the children progressed through the school.

For example, 37 per cent missed the target of one hour a day in Year 1, but this increased to 59 per cent in Year 6.

After the pandemic, things have only got worse.

We went back to the same schools that took part in our Bristol-based study to see whether physical activity levels had changed following the lockdowns.

In the period from May to December of 2021, when restrictions were lifted to allow schools to fully open and organised sport was once again allowed, we found that children’s MVPA was lower post-lockdown by around seven to eight minutes per day. This was a drop of around 13 per cent.

Not only that but we also found that the time that children spent being sedentary was higher by nearly half an hour per day.

To find out why children were moving less after the pandemic, we talked to children, parents and school staff about their experiences. They told us that many children found the return to school after the school closures and national lockdowns overwhelming.

They also reported a high level of physical fatigue in this transition, when pupils went from spending lots of time at home during the lockdowns to being busy in school.

So, after the pandemic, there is a clear need to help more children to be more active, more often.

Why does physical activity matter?

Physical activity is important for children’s health and happiness but also their academic performance, as a major umbrella review by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of 41 separate studies shows.

“Physical activity is beneficial for the development of cognitive, motor and social skills, as well as good metabolic and musculoskeletal health. There is also a knock-on effect on academic performance,” says Stephen Whiting, technical officer in the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and one of the review authors.

What can schools do?

Children spend a lot of time at school, and school is therefore an important setting to help children to be physically active.

Helping children to be as physically active as possible requires pupils, families, schools and the wider community to work together, and there is no single solution. Schools, however, do have a key role to play, and the greatest benefit is derived from helping those children who are not active with more opportunities to be active.

1. Review what you have in place

The first step is to review the current provision you offer - both in terms of curriculum and non-curriculum time. Three key themes for this review could be:

• What is currently being delivered, where and by whom? Are you offering a variety of different activities? For example, have you considered activities such as “capture the flag”, which provides lots of activity but is not based on team sports?
   
• Who is using the current provision? Is it just already-active children attending team sports such as football or netball? Can you put a tracking system in place to see how many pupils are taking advantage of your offer?
   
• How is current funding being used? Is the current approach providing good value for money and supporting all pupils to be active?

Once you have carried out your review, school teams can then think about building on their physical activity offer and increasing pupil participation.

Where programmes are currently in place, maximum value can often be achieved by improving the content of provision to engage the less active children and encouraging new children to join; for example, by inviting children to attend a “taster session”.

2. Encourage children to walk, scoot or cycle to school

Walking to school is a really easy way to begin the day with physical activity and it has been proven to benefit the overall health of a child.

As well as the obvious promotional messages during school assemblies, schools could consider infrastructure changes, such as the addition of bike or scooter storage, the provision of crossing guards, and installing lighting around storage areas.

Sustrans and Living Streets are two charities that have lots of resources and support for schools looking to encourage non-car alternatives for travelling to school.

3. CPD for school staff

If teachers don’t feel confident in delivering physical education then that will have a direct impact on the quality of their lessons.

However, there is currently limited time devoted to physical education provision during primary initial teacher training and so staff may lack the confidence in helping young learners to move around more and pick up healthy habits.

As such, providing CPD training to help staff to feel more confident to deliver engaging PE classes for children is a good investment in resources.

4. Promoting different activities during school break times

School break times are a great opportunity for physical activity but can often be dominated by ball games, especially football.

Schools can zone areas of the playground for different activities, promoting other ball games, chase games and skipping.

Take-up can be encouraged by offering sample activities during PE lessons, and then leaving the equipment set up during break periods.

5. Less sport and more games

Many schools will provide a range of activities after school, but it is important to make sure that these appeal to all children.

Is there a new activity that can be added where the focus is on games, small-sided activities and just having fun through movement rather than sport-specific drills?

Why getting it right matters

One of the key indicators of whether someone will be active later in life is if they enjoyed physical activity as a child. Active children are more likely to go on to be active adults.

So, whatever approach schools take, the focus needs to be on encouraging participation and enjoyment.

This is why, when thinking about activity, we think beyond organised sports. While some will like competitive elements, like adults, there are many children who are often put off by lots of competition.

To address this challenge, keep all of the activities fun and focused on encouraging children to think about how they can develop their skills and mastery to boost their confidence.

Russ Jago is a professor of physical activity and public health at the University of Bristol