Why diversity in PE is important

PE is now one of the most important subjects taught in primary schools because there is an increasing issue with the number of primary-aged children who are overweight or obese. Almost 1 in 5 children are overweight or obese when they start primary school, rising to 1 in 3 when they start secondary school.  By the end of this year it’s estimated half of all children will be overweight or obese. There is also a strong relationship between deprivation and overweight/obesity prevalence. In 2015/2016, 40% of children in England’s most deprived areas were overweight or obese, compared to 27% in the most affluent areas.

We know that for many children we see during the week, doing PE with Junior Jam will be the only opportunity that they have to do physical exercise, so we not only make that time fun and engaging, we make sure that it is varied. Variation is massively important because not all children will enjoy all activities, so by allowing them to have a go at many different types of activities will give us a much greater chance of inspiring more children to take up a sport or activity, and carry it on outside of school and even later in life.

We have specialist, experienced instructors who deliver the more traditional, team-based sports such as Football, Cricket and Basketball. They also do individual sports such as Athletics and Tennis. These are tried and tested sports that have proven to be successful in engaging large numbers of young people and most children will be enthusiastic to take part.

However, to inspire those who may not like the mainstream sports, we also provide Dodgeball, various styles of dance such as Street Dance, Bollywood and Capoeira. And we also provide Martial Arts like Taekwondo and Kickboxing. The best thing is children will do a separate sport or activity each half term so everyone will get to try something different.

No other PPA Cover provider can offer this amount of variation when it comes to PE and that is something that we are extremely proud of. As we have worked in so many primary schools across the country, we get to see the success of having such a diverse offering. For example, we have seen individuals learning team-based sports in the Autumn terms, and despite our best efforts have been unable to get them excited about it. Then, come a new half term, they are doing Kickboxing and suddenly you see certain children who were not initially interest in PE or exercising come to life.

We see examples like this all the time, which is why we will continue our diverse PE offering and are always on the lookout for new and unusual activities that we can add to our range.