It’s common knowledge that improving physical fitness can bring a huge boost to mental health. But for young people whose only activity is a couple of PE lessons a week, the full benefits aren’t being felt. And for their teachers, whose packed schedules leave little time for enjoyable exercise, that’s doubly true. So, Rahi Popat and his colleagues decided to do something about it, implementing a whole-school approach to fitness with the aim of improving wellbeing. He tells Tes how it’s gone so far.

What made you think you needed to change your approach to mental health support?

As a special school that specialises in social, emotional and mental health, we always try to look underneath what is going on and find the root of the problems, and help students regulate their feelings and emotions. We look at how we can best support them, such as through one-to-one working, small interventions or accessing our therapy department.

We felt we were taking an individualised approach, but now we’re taking a whole-school approach to ensuring that students are more active and improving their wellbeing in a preventative way. We’re giving them opportunities in team sports and other activities to help them to make new friends, hone their skills and participate and thrive in an environment they are comfortable in.

What prompted that decision?

The decision to prioritise and increase physical activity was decided as a whole school. We could see that when students were active, especially in team sports where they were connected to their peers, it improved their mental health and wellbeing, and we wanted this to be rolled out across the school to benefit all students and not just those accessing PE and sport.

We also decided that twice a week for 15 minutes, students and staff would take part in some form of physical activity, such as yoga or high-intensity interval training (a cardiovascular exercise that alternates short bursts of intense exercise with less intense recovery periods), in their classrooms.

How does this new approach work in practice?

We wanted to get away from the idea that PE is just football, so we have implemented several new extracurricular team sports, such as badminton, tennis and rugby, and offer opportunities to play sport every break and lunchtime, as well as after school (restrictions allowing). Staff are always on hand to offer sessions or to take part in running, walking or a sport of the students’ choice.

The message was shared collectively among all staff and the whole school community. We modelled and shared the vision that it didn’t matter what your starting point was, you are always welcome to participate in any sport, for however long you want, and that there are no barriers in place. We relayed this to parents and carers, too, and worked together to ensure that all students had the same access across the whole school.

It did take time for the approach and message to filter down to everybody but now it has become part of everyday school life. The majority of our students now do some form of physical activity at break and lunch, and they are keen to access after-school sports again as soon as pandemic restrictions allow.

And how have the 15-minute sessions been going?

For the twice-weekly 15-minute sessions, staff were given ideas and continuing professional development around how this may look in their individual classrooms, and what adaptations they could make to facilitate this. Owing to our class numbers being low, we are fortunate in that we can accommodate students and staff safely.

Staff did need time, at first, to adapt to the changes, and those who weren’t as comfortable or confident were offered support and guidance from trained staff.

We gave all staff the chance to observe lessons, collaborate with the PE staff and also try new things out in their class, and all staff had the chance to access CPD in areas they had an interest in. We have seen non-PE staff really come on board and even lead some of the short 15-minute sessions in class, which has been a joy to see.

This move has proved very effective as we have noticed a change in mood among staff and students, who are happier, more engaged in lessons afterwards and show an increased level of alertness.

What were the biggest challenges you have faced since implementing this approach?

We found the younger students often didn’t want to take part in extracurricular activity, possibly because they were settling into the school and hadn’t seen sport in a manner that interested them yet. We looked at creating exciting, bespoke and creative lessons to try to motivate them.

It was also evident that many of our students had never taken part in, or even heard of, some of the sports we are offering. But the positive impact we have seen in them trying and exploring has been very high. We now take students off site to participate in different sports, such as archery, kayaking, high ropes and so on, to engage them in sports that they normally wouldn’t be able to do in school.

And what has the impact been on mental health?

We have made huge strides in improving students’ mental health and wellbeing. They report feeling happier and generally enjoying school more, and we can see that they are more aware of themselves and how they act around school, and how their behaviour impacts themselves and others.

We operate a “gears” system in school, whereby a child can achieve the maximum gear 4 in each lesson for their attitude, learning and adhering to school values. In PE, we see an average of gear 3 or above across the board now, compared with previous years, where it was significantly less.

And across the school, we have seen an overall improvement in gears because of this new approach to looking after our students’ mental health and wellbeing. We also have a therapy team, which offers amazing holistic support to our students.

Attendance is up from 76.9 per cent last year to 81 per cent this year. We have also seen a huge reduction in physical restraints as well, down 90 per cent from last year. This is hugely significant and shows how focusing on other elements - and not just behaviour - has really improved key areas of the school.

What advice would you give to another school that might want to replicate this approach?

My advice to any schools out there thinking of starting or replicating our approach is to do it! I strongly believe that sport has the power to unite people when they may be struggling with their mental health. Seeing the impact and benefit that sport has had on our students and school community is fantastic - and quite overwhelming at times.

Rahi Popat is a pastoral support officer, designated safeguarding lead and mental health first aider at Keyham Lodge School in Leicester

This article originally appeared in the 14 May 2021 issue under the headline “How I…got everyone active to boost mental health”