Schools Should Provide 30 Minutes of Exercise a Day! But How?

8th September 2016

Three weeks ago the Department of Health published a plan in order to tackle childhood obesity before it grows out of control. It is important to tackle this sooner rather than later and that is why school exercise should be taken more seriously and it is now recommended that schools should take action and provide 30 minutes of daily exercise for their students every day! Whilst some schools try to achieve this on a regular basis, there are certain boundaries that come in the way. So what can you do about it?

School Exercise: The weather

How many times do you hear ‘wet playtime’ in an academic year? The teachers don’t want to hear them as it could disrupt their breaks and the children should be able to get some fresh air even in wintery weather! 10 minutes on a morning, lunch time and afternoon could make all of the difference and equate to the Department of Health’s guidelines of 30 minutes a day! The wet weather doesn’t have to disrupt the school day. Our synthetic surfaces are all weather proof and much more efficient in wet weather than slippery, muddy grass or cold hard concrete that can prove to be very dangerous in icy weather. Artificial turf can help… a lot!

pupils playing on school sports playground

Whole class PE session

School Exercise: Lack of facilities

The first point to mention is the lack of facilities that a lot of schools have. If students don’t have access to a football pitch, how do we expect them to take up this incredible popular sport? Here at STM, we can provide a variety of different sports facilities including football, hockey, tennis, rugby and athletics in addition to our bespoke playground ideas which aim to support physical activity within education.

School Exercise: Attractiveness of the facilities

Of course it is not just about the facilities that your school offers, we have to be able to encourage pupils to use these facilities. Make them colourful and attractive, something they want to ‘have a go’ at. That is one thing we always try to ensure at STM. All of our school sports and playground turfs are available in a variety of different and you can design your new surface however you want it! Better yet, ask the children how they would like it and we will always strive to achieve the best for your school.

primary school muga