With over 1,000 children being referred to hospital as a result of obesity, and 1 in 3 children between the ages of 2 and 10 being overweight, these figures are truly alarming. Regardless of who is to blame, schools are being encouraged to increase and improve physical activity in the playground as every child deserves the right to a healthy lifestyle. As a result of extensive independent research commissioned by ESP and carried out by Liverpool John Moores University, we discovered that the average amount of physical activity taking place during PE lessons was remarkably low. The report demonstrated that “68% of a child’s PE lesson is spent stationary”. This research helped ESP re-define their unique solutions and supporting tools to ensure that this figure was improved when utilising their proposition. Further research has proven a 19% increase in physical activity as a result of ESP’s methods and playground environments.

Our multi-skills concepts and CPD training programs have been carefully designed to dramatically improve the activity levels in the playground, both during break times and PE lessons. Playground markings designed with multi-skills as a core activity ensure children are able to: “walk before they can run’, include children of all abilities and develop their fundamental movement skills”. Staff at the school are given comprehensive training to implement these multi-skills lessons through our CPD training programs, which are designed to up-skill school staff and improve their PE lessons and knowledge of multi-skills activities. The PE and Sport premium which is available to all schools throughout the UK can be used to invest in professional development for teachers and for facilities to improve PE and sport. This funding comes as a result of recent Ofsted reports, which state a great disappointment in PE lessons within some schools.