This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Early Years Advisory Teacher, Karen Loft, for the attention of all Early Years and Primary Schools.
Invitation for your setting into the Healthy Movers programme - supporting physical development of 2-5 year olds
For those of you that don’t know me my name is Laura Brookstein and I manage the Slough School Sport & Physical Activity Network (SSSPAN) which supports schools in Slough with ensuring there is lots of high quality PE, School Sport & Physical Activity in our schools and provides lots of opportunities for children to be active and develop healthy habits for life. One of our priority areas is the development of early adoption and enjoyment of physical activity from a young age and hence my email to you all to invite you to be part of something special.
I am very excited to be able to offer your school/ setting one fully funded place on a new award-winning national programme we are piloting in Slough called Healthy Movers. Thanks to some funding from Get Berkshire Active who are very keen to support this area of development between us we have been able to fund this pilot programme completely free to your setting.
What is Healthy Movers - it is an award-winning, fully inclusive programme that supports the physical development of children aged 2-5 years. Healthy Movers helps children get a better start in life by developing their physical literacy, communication skills, emotional wellbeing and school readiness. Healthy Movers improves children’s physical development, supports their social and emotional wellbeing and creates healthy, happy children that make a good level of development across the EYFS curriculum.
Evidence of Need
Children need to move from birth for good health and development. If they sit too long we will see significant problems that continue with children’s health, development, and wellbeing throughout childhood into adulthood.
If children don’t develop the basic movements and physical attributes through early childhood they are at risk of delays in their physical, social and emotional development.
We are seeing more children that need a foundation of physical development and access to play to maintain good health, make a good level of development and be ready to learn as they transition into primary school.
What’s involved?
- One full day, introductory training session on Thursday 19th June (flyer attached)
- A follow-up half day training session on engaging families – date TBC but will be end of Sept/ October time
- You’ll receive a Healthy Movers Toolkit and Homepack to take back your setting
- A survey about your progress with Healthy Movers, about 6 months after the initial training
During the fun, interactive training you will:
- Be introduced to Healthy Movers, including the activities and resources involved
- Practice Healthy Movers activities and learn how to deliver and adapt them for your children
- Learn about the importance of developing good physical literacy and how Healthy Movers links to all areas of development
- Discover how these activities can support and enhance your current practices
- Learn how to engage families in active play at home
Here are some quotes from practitioners that have taken part in Healthy Movers:
- “Absolutely loved being able to join in with Healthy Movers! The resources have been so much fun and there are lots of great ideas in the cards provided. Such a fun way to get parents involved as well”
- “As I watch the children I am constantly reminded that Healthy Movers is not just about the Physical, it really improved the children’s communication and speaking as they talk about the card, story and the activities”
- “It has been a relatively short time and we are already seeing a big improvement in the mathematical language of the children. All children know in front of, behind, and under, since doing the Hide and Seek Healthy Movers card. We love it and incorporate it into our everyday routine at the setting”
Course details are as follows:
- Date: Thursday 19th June
- Timings: 9.15am arrival for a 9.30pm start and 3.30pm finish
- Venue: Phoenix Infant Academy, Warrington Avenue, Slough SL1 3BQ
- Cost: FREE – fully funded by Slough School Sport & Physical Activity Network and Get Berkshire Active for one place for your setting
- Aimed at: EYFS staff working with 2-5 year olds, reception teachers – colleagues in schools this isn’t a course for your PE leads please.
- Booking link for delegates: https://youthsporttrust.force.com/YST_EventRedirectUpdate?id=a4ON2000001aLi5
Places have been allocated on an invitational basis so this hasn’t gone to every setting in Slough as places are very limited, therefore if you would like to take up your place please book on using the link above by 9am on Thursday 5th June at the latest after that all remaining places will be offered to other schools/ settings. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list for additional places for your setting please contact me directly to arrange this.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me and we look forward to meeting and working with your staff on 19th June for what promises to be a really exciting programme for children and their families in Slough.
Contact details | Laura Brookstein | Slough School Sport Network Manager | LF@wexham.slough.sch.uk