When we think of our school days, we often have fond memories of break times, socialising with friends, enjoying the fresh air and having time to relax, away from the pressures of the classroom.
Playtimes are essential for developing friendships, having a break from learning and for stretching your legs. We all feel better and refocused after a break from whatever task we are doing, as a break improves concentration levels and improves our wellbeing.
Simply walking to school can bring many health benefits. Why not help your pupils to take the pledge to walk to school and join in with this country-wide celebration of walking? You can set your own ‘Walk to School’ challenges and encourage your children to come up with their own ideas to get active.
Do your pupils or school have pedometers and could they measure their steps to school? Then extend this to investigating their steps during the school day. They will be amazed at how their steps can soon add up!
Daily phonics is an essential and integral part of everyday learning in a primary school, so sometimes both teachers and pupils start to feel that they are on an endless phonics treadmill. So why not revitalise your phonics sessions with a dash of fresh air and fun, by taking the children outside to play some hands-on phonics games?
We all know that day light, sunshine and the natural environment improve both pupils and staff’s well-being, so what’s not to love about taking phonics learning outside and reaping the multiple benefits at the same time as ringing in a change?
Time is so important to every one of us… we all get the same amount of time every day, but how we use and manage our time can change the dynamics of our day. Understanding time and having good time keeping can reduce stress levels, improve work-life balance and be an essential skill in the modern world of work.
So if telling the time is such an important, everyday skill, why are our children finding it harder and harder to tell the time, especially in an analogue format?
Is it because we live in a world where time is increasingly represented in a digital format, where children do not have to think about the meaning of time? Is it because our children’s chances to see and practise telling the time with a clock with moving hands is decreasing year upon year?
The western world has a growing obesity problem and worryingly the rising numbers of children and young adults are becoming overweight or obese. Parents and educators need to join the movement for change and should model and teach children that activity levels are directly linked to weight gain, as well as the diet they consume.
Physical activity can both reduce or even prevent future health problems as well as help to control a person’s weight. Children need active play to develop and grow properly and it even strengthens their brain and the connections between bones, muscles and brain.
