News

Pupils become less active during primary school

Research has revealed that by the age of 11, children are doing more than an hour less of physical activity a week compared to when they were six-years-old. Dorothy Lepkowska takes a look...

Theresa Harris has an on-going battle at her primary school to maintain levels of physical activity among pupils.

The PE lead, who works in a large primary in North East England, said that not only do children feel less inclined to do exercise as they get older, but the time set aside in the timetable to do it becomes scarcer.

“When they’re little, children love being outdoors and play-times are fun and very active,” she said. “They run around and make up their own games together. But as they progress through school this becomes noticeably less obvious.

“By the time they reach key stage 2, they’re not even doing much at break-time. Boys might be kicking a ball around, but many girls will be sitting around on benches chatting.”

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