A network of physically active schools for a healthier happier Rossendale – inspirational places to play and learn

The effects of the pandemic, health data locally and the overwhelming research of the benefits of physical activity, there really is no better time to start a movement such as this.

Our desire is to share ideas, connect and collaborate with all local schools, nurseries and special schools. I know there are excellent pockets of practice throughout Rossendale. The aim is to learn from each other and find ways to make our children move more for a happier healthier Rossendale.

We are living in extraordinary and difficult times, our connection and Ready Set Rossendale is not just about Physical Activity in the curriculum, but about our staff well-being, the children’s well-being and connecting to help each other to recover, plan and reset from a very turbulent and distressing period in ours and our children’s lives.

The Motivation to create the Opportunities

The evidence of PA, play and sport is overwhelming in terms of child development. We can’t argue with that,

Children should be supported to spend time active, playing with other children and being outside. There is and will be a reduced academic motivation. Children do not learn effectively if there mental health is poor. The evidence of the benefits of physical activity are huge! So much talk around catch up, months of lost learning, data around six to five months behind, but they won’t catch up, if the conditions to be successful are not there. Teachers, schools and Head Teachers are heroes, the very best ones know the real stories behind every child, we are aware of these stories, we know the effects of this pandemic on our families, we all want to protect their futures.

Ready Set Rossendale will ignite our communities passion to move more and think clearly about health and well-being. Physical Activity is not just sport, its play, its being outdoors, its forest schools, problem solving. Ready Set Rossendale is not about creating a thousands of  elite athletes. Ready Set Rossendale is about giving our children the opportunities to be happy, healthy. To create lifelong learning habits. Now is the time to rethink, revise our curriculum in schools. How many opportunities do our children get to move? How can we develop opportunities for wellbeing and children being active.

Let’s use Physical Activity  to improve the things which matter, Physical Activity to be the golden thread to which everything else hangs from. You can raise standards this way, you can improve the mental and physical health of everyone in your school or nursery, you can improve attainment, better behaviour from all, an increase in attendance. In 2018/19 we were in the middle of an obesity and mental health epidemic, add to that now, a pandemic. All of which are detrimental to academic performance. We need to kick start a new positive health trajectory, now is the time to find the solution, this is the solution. Ready Set Rossendale, where schools and nurseries come together, learn from each other, connect and collaborate to make a difference to our children.