It’s been 20 years since I was last here. As I make my way into my old primary school, much looks the same; from the bright yellow flowers by the astroturf to the blue canteen cups. The same old slogan hangs on the wall in the entrance: Aspire, Succeed, Lead.
But one thing has changed here at Lady Royd Primary School, Bradford. Like every school in Britain, it is dealing with a crisis in childhood obesity. Recent modelling by the Royal Society of Public Health predicts that, in the next decade, 90 per cent of all 10 to 11-year-olds will be overweight or obese thanks to the increasing accessibility of cheap junk food, sedentary lifestyles and mental health problems.
Bradford has one of the highest rates of child obesity in the country. According to data from its Council, 41.7 per cent of children aged 10-11 are living with excess weight and obesity – 5.7 per cent higher than the national average – 23.2 per cent of children in the city are overweight by the time they start primary school.
It is just a short drive to the West Yorkshire moors and the rolling hills of the Dales, but a considerable portion of Bradford kids have never left the city. It is one of Britain’s most deprived cities – 29 per cent of children in the district live below the poverty line.
Now though this state primary is finding ingenious ways to buck the statistics. It’s one of 36 schools taking part in a £250m initiative by Sport England called JU:MP (Join Us: Move Play), to tackle childhood inactivity and obesity. Children involved in the scheme have so far upped their activity rates by an average of 70 minutes a week.
In the past three years, physical activity classed as “moderate to vigorous” increased by six minutes on weekdays, while “weekend inactivity” fell by about 22 minutes a day. Researchers believe this is the highest increase in physical activity ever recorded by an intervention scheme. The scheme interventions began in 2022, although there are currently no plans to roll it out nationwide.
PE teacher Emily Heckler-Biglin, a former Premier League footballer, says: ‘If we can be positive about physical activity, it will stick for the rest of their lives’ (Photo: Colin McPherson)On the day I visit, I barely see its pupils sitting down. As soon as the morning break was signalled, excitement erupted. I watched the children run to the football corner of the playground; others to the dance corner where a speaker was due to play pop anthems. Some had already made a beeline for the teachers in high-vis, holding cricket bats.
The scheme is simple in its approach; there are no dietary overhauls or enforced sports. It targets children’s daily routines; their break times, their journeys to school; working with schools as well as madrasas in the area to encourage outside play across the city.
“There are no other whole-system physical activity interventions for children that we know of globally – it’s the first one of its kind,” says Dr Sally Barber, director of physical activity at Born in Bradford and co-research director of JU:MP. “Some children don’t engage in sports clubs, so we asked: how can we get those children more active?”
It’s a question that is always on head teacher Chris Tolson’s mind. “We started with three areas: PE and getting the kids in competitions, outdoor learning, and creating active playgroups and playtimes,” he tells me. “We employed Emily with that in mind; we wanted someone who could really push that agenda.”
Emily Heckler-Biglin is the school’s dedicated PE teacher and a former England footballer who played for Doncaster and Leeds United. Despite starting work at 7.15am that morning, she is a ball of energy. She shows me around the grounds, pointing out a playing field the size of two football fields; as well as inside squash courts. “I saw those grounds when I came for my interview last year,” she says, gesturing out to the view of fields and greenery. “I thought, I have to work here. The opportunities I’d have.”
Pupils have active lessons and often seem to be exercising without realising (Photo: Colin McPherson)When I was a pupil at Lady Royd, it was a private school. In 2013, it closed down thanks to dwindling numbers and became an academy – meaning it still has expansive sporting facilities: from a football pitch-sized sports hall to several tennis courts. Still, I am struck by how many games the children have on offer and how readily they take them up.
That’s because the ethos has changed. During every part of the day, teachers here are focused on encouraging the kids away from screen-focused introversion; hoping to push them into more active lifestyles.
Heckler-Biglin, or as the kids call her, Mrs H-B, is well-loved by the kids, who seem excited in her company. “A lot of our girls don’t engage in sport. That’s obviously something that we need to hit now,” she says. “If we can be positive about physical activity, and get all this information to them, it will stick for the rest of their lives.”
As Mrs H-B predicted, the girls I speak to aren’t a fan of sport. Do you like PE? “No,” a few chime back with brutal honesty. Fair enough. I hated it too. But the magic of this Lady Royd scheme is that the children seem to be exercising without even realising. Take the badges. As I watch Year 6 play rounders on the astroturf, I spot that Heckler-Biglin wears dozens. “I have eight,” one pupil tells me joyfully, as she waits for her turn to bat. “I only have four, but I only joined in year four,” another joins in.
These badges, I learn, are the rewards for taking part in the walk-to-school initiative. Every day, the children go to the front of the class and tap an iPad if they walk from home. Once each child’s ring is completed, they are awarded a badge. The girls tell me their daily walk is around 30 minutes each way; not an easy feat for an 11-year-old. I ask if they track their steps. “I do, I do!” one of the boys excitedly offers. The most he has ever done is 15,000. As I walk back from the astroturf, I notice dozens of children running around the field. A teacher with a clipboard watches on. “That’s a science class,” I’m promptly informed.
Samina Hussain, the head chef at the school, has overhauled the lunch menu and banned UPFs (Photo: Colin McPherson)The chef who banned UPFs and makes fresh sandwiches and curries instead
The day flies by, and suddenly it’s 12.15 pm. Lunch is being cooked by the new head chef, Samina Hussain. As well as the active lessons, the school diet has also had an overhaul. Around half of children at Lady Royd are entitled to free school meals. Since Hussain started in October, all UPFs have been removed from the menu, and frozen food has been banned. Up until this year, the school was spending £1,000 a week on pre-bought sandwiches. “It’s much cheaper now we cook everything in-house,” she explains.
On this week’s menu is chicken masala, tomorrow is fish fingers; breaded and baked in-house. For many kids, this might be the only meal they get, so she always allows seconds of bread rolls or beans to keep them full.
Over a chicken curry in the canteen, deputy head Ben Wood tells me about the recent school trips which have helped to keep the kids active. There was the seven-mile walk from Nell Bank to the Cow and the Calf rocks on Ilkley Moors. “Some of the children had never seen a sheep or a cow before,” he tells me. To keep costs down, the kids may soon walk to Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre to see a show. It will take about 40 minutes. Some parents are jubilant – though for some, who aren’t used to walking themselves, the journey seems unsafe or overly strenuous for a child.
These fears are part of the problem. Heckler-Biglin spends a few hours a day with under-confident children, helping them build their self-esteem by showing them how to take risks on the playground. She introduces me to a four-year-old boy with an American accent – not because of any relatives, but from spending so much time on YouTube.
He is nervous on the tyre swing. Mrs H-B encourages him to climb onto the tyre himself, and it’s delightful to see him stand up on his own. A few of the other children join, all of them scared at first. One by one, they pluck up the courage to stand, their faces lighting up as they do so.
As I walk around the school, I notice boards dedicated to the school’s wheelchair basketball club. Despite the team being made up of able-bodied children, Lady Royd was the first school to introduce it in the UK. “I’m part of an adult club, and I thought it could help children with their self-esteem,” says Wood. “They might not be the most sporty, but wheelchair basketball requires different skills. When they can do it, they think to themselves: ‘I’m suddenly better than the sportiest kid!’ which is really good for their confidence.”
‘My daughter was shy and inactive – now she loves football, swimming and wheelchair basketball’
This is an essential part of Lady Royd’s strategy. The more confident that children feel trying new things, the more their self-esteem builds and the more active they become. Sofia, aged 11, is one of the school’s early success stories. Just last year, she struggled with shyness, and then she tried wheelchair basketball. It’s not easy. “I have to use my arms a lot,” she says. “But I love sports now.”
“It’s made her want to join more clubs,” says her mother, Faeeza. “I also think it’s helped her cope with all the pressures of school nowadays, like SATs exams and having to play catch-up since Covid.”
Parent Faeeza Jamal believes the school’s sports initiatives have helped her daughter Sofia become more confident (Photo: Colin McPherson)Sofia tells me her favourite sport is football and she often plays at lunch. I hear about the trip to Manchester City, when Mrs H-B took some of the Year 6 girls to watch their first women’s game. “That day was really inspiring for her,” her mother says, beaming.
I join the children for their after-school clubs. When I was last here 20 years ago, we would sit in a classroom with a few biscuits and pens. But today, as they have been for most of the day, the kids are outside. Heckler-Biglin points me to a stick den under one of the chestnut trees. “It’s one of the projects we did last September after school,” she says.
Today’s lesson is how to toast bread over a fire. The kids run around looking for sticks to attach their food to. Eventually, they will learn how to fillet a fish and cook it on an open fire. Were there health and safety concerns? “Oh, the fire pit got some pushback at first,” she grins. “But they have to learn these things. It’s so much cheaper to buy a whole fish from the fishmonger section than buying it pre-cut for £7. If they know things like this, they can eat healthier for cheaper.”
Throughout the day, it’s impossible to ignore the stark reminder of the inequality the children are facing. Even though they have benefited from the facilities built when it was a private school, funding to maintain the facilities have dried up. Last year, the swimming pool was officially condemned and now sits empty and boarded.
If it hadn’t been for these spacious grounds, would all these outdoor lessons and clubs have even been possible? “A lot of our children are not privileged, so they wouldn’t have had those opportunities,” says Heckler-Biglin. “We’re quite fortunate here because the setting is amazing, but the children are different from the kids who were here a decade ago.”
“It’s really important that our children see themselves as being able to have aspirations,” she says. “I want them to know: in life, they will be able to do whatever they want to do.”
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