Thinking Outside the PE Box
Thinking Outside the PE Box is a resource designed to introduce daily physical activity into secondary schools. Many people are aware of the benefits of resources such as Take 10 and Wake Up Shake Up, aimed predominantly at primary-aged children, but the introduction of such schemes in secondary settings has obvious difficulties.
Thinking Outside the PE Box is a collaboration between Norton Hill Secondary School (Bath and North East Somerset), the Department of Health and the national Healthy Schools programme. It consists of four sections:
· a five-minute taster film
· a twenty-five minute film with more detail about the initiative
· a series of ‘how to’clips
· a downloadable school information pack.
It looks at various different activities that were tried at Norton Hill and proved to be successful. Some of these include skipping, yoga or tai chi, walk around a country, multi-skills bag, shake up or theory sessions on being fit and healthy. For the activities mentioned there are brief session outlines in the information pack, along with details of space required and the time needed for each session.
The programme aims to increase the amount of physical activity in secondary schools but staff have also reported improvements in behaviour, better relationships within peer groups and increased motivation and concentration among pupils as a result of using the resource.
The programme steers away from traditional sport, looking instead at short sessions of alternative physical activity without the competitive aspect and without the need to change into PE kit, ensuring that a wider range of pupils are more comfortable in participating.
The introduction of such a programme is a great step towards working on the Physical Activity core theme to achieve Healthy School status. It can also be used by schools that have already validated as Healthy Schools as part of their work towards Healthy Schools Plus. You can adapt the programme to suit your school and your pupils.
If you've seen this resource and want to tell us your views or would like to discuss it with others and see how they are using it please do so in our forum.
For further information or for a copy of the resource please contact us.
