Schools Active Movement - SAM

Schools Active Movement (SAM)

The pandemic has shone a light on the poor state of our nation’s health, compounded the physical and mental health crisis affecting our young people and fully exposed the societal inequalities that government are anxious to address. The sport, physical activity and wellbeing agenda is our most powerful tool for addressing these issues. We owe it to all our young people to provide them with an entitlement to a happy, healthy, and active life.

The Schools Active Movement (SAM) was established in October 2020 and is a network made up of prominent not-for-profit local organisations and experienced practitioners who work to support schools to provide the best and most beneficial experience possible for all our young people.

SAM is the collective voice of local infrastructure, working tirelessly to interpret and apply national strategies and initiatives to ensure the most effective and appropriate local results.  The Plymouth School Sports Partnership are a member of SAM.  There are currently 196 members, representing 12,000 schools and 3,250,000 children.

SAM has a unified vision to ensure all children are happy, healthy, and more active. Plymouth SSP are passionate about realising this vision and believe this is fundamentally in line with the governments levelling up agenda. 

SAM have proposed to the government, the FIT model to form a strategic approach to tackling the issues highlighted.

• F - It is our belief that a more strategic funded approach to physical activity, school sport, PE and wellbeing for all school age children will provide far greater outcomes for young people
• I - We believe that a coherent approach to an infrastructure that is accountable for an evidence based approach to meaningful targets, locally and nationally, will also ensure more positive outcomes
• T - This strategic approach needs time to be more effective for all children (particularly disadvantaged and target group children).  Two definitive five year cycles in line with Sport England’s 10 year strategy will provide much more effective results

If the government give us FIT, the SAM network and extended partnerships will be able to, locally and effectively, utilise its extensive professional knowledge, expertise and national reach to deliver Happy, Healthy, more Active children.

Anna Clooke, Partnership Leader for Plymouth SSP has written to our local MP’s; Johnny Mercer, Luke Pollard and Gary Streeter asking for their support for #FIT4HHA 

SAM Advocacy Briefing Paper goes into more detail about the FIT4HHA proposal.

At the end of April 2021, Plymouth SSP sent out a survey to all partnership schools asking for their input on the impact of the most recent COVID lockdown on their children’s physical and emotional wellbeing.  This was to ensure SAM has a valid data set to present to government ministers. 

In the short 5 days that the survey was active, 2647 schools took part and provided their insight into the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of their children following the third national lockdown.  Questions were asked under the headings; Happy, Healthy, Active in line with the FIT4HHA proposal.

Key Plymouth Data

• 77% said that their pupils’ resilience was worse than before lockdown
• 74% said that their pupils’ physical fitness was worse than before lockdown
• 71% said that their pupils were doing less activity than before lockdown
• 56% said that their pupils had put on excessive body weight during lockdown

The data whether looked at locally, regionally or nationally, all paints the same very bleak picture.  COVID lockdowns have had a detrimental impact on children’s physical, emotional and social wellbeing.  It’s very, very clear that something needs to be done.

The upkeep and maintenance of activity that promotes respiratory health, weight management and physical health is essential as our children recover from lockdown, but will also ensure that they build good habits in order to remain both physically and emotionally healthy for the rest of their lives.