Primary continues big drive to improve sports and PE provision
PARENTS AND the local community have helped to fund a new playing area at a Yorkshire primary school as part of a major drive to improve its sports and PE provision as efforts continue to tackle childhood obesity.
The Friends of Calverley Primary School in Leeds have donated £6,000 – almost half the cost of a new playing area, which will cost £14,000 to build.
The school does not currently have usable areas outdoors for play or sport and the new facility will be used for PE lessons and at lunchtimes, during which a sports coach will lead various organised games for the pupils.
The playing area is being built to increase levels of participation in exercise and play. The school is already providing a wider range of sports and PE activities following increased support from staff, parents, clubs and a company which has sponsored new kit.
Along with football and netball, the school now offers athletics, cross-country running, cricket, golf, climbing, gymnastics, tennis and orienteering and some pupils run a daily mile.
In a bid to further improve sports at the school, a sports development plan was drawn up a few months ago.
Headteacher Bob Curran said: “We want the new playing area to encourage those children who exercise less regularly to do a bit more.
“The school has thought hard about providing an even better sports offer. Some of the ideas came from the school council. Staff regularly put time into coaching the pupils and we get a lot of support from parents.
“The efforts we are making are already paying off.” Earlier this month
revealed childhood obesity was on the rise, with almost one in ten four and fiveyear-olds hitting dangerously fat levels. Data from NHS Digital revealed that obesity among children in the first year of primary school had risen for a second year in a row. In Yorkshire 9.7 per cent of children in reception classes in 2016/17 were obese, up from 9.4 per cent the year before.