A campaign designed and created in Yorkshire to support teachers, parents and carers to teach physical education has received national recognition from the Department for Education.
The #ThisIsPE campaign, led by Yorkshire Sport Foundation, uses specialist teachers of PE from across the county to film two-minute videos with activities that can be replicated at home, all linked to the primary PE curriculum.
Supported by the Association for Physical Education, North Yorkshire Sport and the Youth Sport Trust, the resource has been listed as one of four ‘high-quality resources’ in physical education, alongside those produced by the NHS, BBC and Disney. The resources, which cover multiple subjects, hope to support both teachers and parents adapting to the current coronavirus restrictions that has seen many schools closed.
A new video is added at 1pm on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the Yorkshire Sport Foundation Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, and are hosted on the charity’s YouTube channel. PE specialists from across the country are set to be involved in the weeks to come as the campaign evolves.
Alex Ogden, lead for PE and School Sport, has led the development of the campaign, and is excited by the early response.
“We noticed that there were a lot of physical activity and exercise initiatives out there -which absolutely have their place - but nothing that really counted as physical education.
“PE is more than just exercise, and the skills it teaches in terms of coordination, balance and strength are crucial to a child’s development. We want to make the activities easy to replicate at home, so the videos include things you can find around the home rather than sports equipment.
“We also know that children are far more engaged when something is fun, so all the activities have that at their core, and we hope parents in particular find them useful to both educate and entertain.”
Sue Wilkinson MBE, afPE CEO added: "In these unprecedented and challenging times, we know that physically activity is important. However, PE offers children and young people so much more than fitness activities.
"The PE activities commissioned by Yorkshire Sport Foundation are relevant, age-related and safe to undertake in the home environment. They will also help to develop character, determination, decision-making and communication skills, to name but a few.
"We are delighted to be a part of this initiative to support everyone who is wanting to engage in physical education to support children’s development and emotional and social well being. The focus on fun is also important as teachers will tell you that when children ‘want’ to learn they do so much better when they just ‘have’ to!"