A Healthy Primary to Secondary Transition

This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Senior Programme Officer for Public Health, Adults and Communities, Tim Howells, for the attention of Secondary Schools.

With the summer holidays fast approaching, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about a transitional programme that you may notice having some impact in September. The programme is currently being delivered in 24 primary schools in Slough.  

Active Movement is our behaviour change programme from Early Years to Secondary school.  As part of that process, we use Active Movement as the link from Reception to Year 1 and Year 6 to year 7. The main aim of the programme is to reduce inactivity and help contribute towards reducing childhood obesity, something that is of particular concern in Slough and is leading to a higher mortality rate from coronavirus (in adults).

What Might You See

  • Students may stand up or want to stand up to answer questions, or at other key times during the lesson.  This is an embedded behaviour to help prevent the ill affects of sedentary time. It is also used for process called “anchoring” which makes it easier to remember key terms or phrases when standing.
  • Students may walk more and/or want to be more active between and after lessons. This one of the key outcomes of the programme as it aims to shape their overall behaviour to make them a little more active all day.
  • Students may want to walk before a test or exam – Studies show that being active immediately before an exam or test can contribute towards more positive outcomes on the test.
  • Students may want to stand every 20 minutes during a test or exam.  This breaks sedentary time, and studies have shown it can lead to higher academic outcomes of that test/exam.
  • There are a range of other healthy behaviours that we have been working on embedding during primary school including knowledge of immunisations, oral health, hand washing and active travel.

What Can You Do

  • Support your students to continue to follow these healthy behaviours. They won’t impact on lesson time or disruption, and will help contribute towards the overall health and wellbeing of your pupils, and will help contribute towards academic achievement.
  • Consider adopting Active Movement as a programme for your school. We are able to fund schools to take part in this programme, so there is no cost to you! We have 3 secondary schools signed up for September, and would love for you to be part of this programme.
  • Read more about the programme – Attached are 2 documents. One is a case study from Eden Girls Secondary school and the other the results of the independent review that we performed on primary schools. With both of these you will see the huge impacts that the programme can have.

For more information please contact timothy.howells@slough.gov.uk.