We have an obesity crisis on our hands - and we’re missing a trick.

I have a love/hate relationship with the gym: it’s the idea of being fit versus feeling out of my depth. The fancy jacuzzi, pretty lighting and snazzy machines versus the faff of getting changed afterwards.

But, unlike pupils, I have as much time as I give myself. Is it really a surprise that they aren’t enthusiastic about getting sweaty and red-faced when they have to throw their clothes on in two minutes without showering (because they are too embarrassed)?

It baffles me that PE lessons aren’t timetabled as double lessons as standard. Giving students longer to get changed - time to lower their heart rate, get clean

and feel invigorated - would help them to get back in the right frame of mind to learn, and in the right physical state to return to the classroom.

Team sports provide another barrier to participation. There is something to be said about the adrenaline and competition that come with being part of a sports team, but that’s different from how teams are organised in lessons. The practicalities dictate this, of course; staff expertise, ratios of students to staff and availability of equipment are all factors. If we were to offer gym time, yoga and step aerobics, surely there would be an increase in participation and enjoyment.

Then there’s the issue of kit. Thankfully, my school allows students to choose what they wear for PE. Ill-fitting uniform is one thing when you’re writing an essay in a corner - it is quite another when you’re running cross-country under the full glare of all your peers.

There’s also the funding issue, of course (as always). I’m paying for my own photocopying at the moment and, if the school budget can’t stretch to that, then paying for individual shower cubicles is likely to be far down the list.

But my point still stands: to keep our young people fit and healthy, we need to think about what they enjoy.

Sam Tassiker is a secondary teacher in Scotland