CASE STUDY
The Active Families Programme In Birmingham
We were invited by a charity to deliver an eight-week programme in 11 primary schools in the Erdington and Aston area of Birmingham.
The aim was to improve the health of both children and parents by combatting sedentary lifestyles and increasing the amount of time spent physically active each week.
A wider aim of the programme was to promote healthy eating tips and lifestyle pointers through the inclusion of nutritional content in each session.
Aspire provided specialist equipment to support the participants’ understanding of healthy, active lifestyles. Food group replicas, healthy eating plate floor mats, portion size fruit guides and key information posters were integrated into physical activity sessions to allow active learning to take place.
As well as becoming more active and better informed parents, the programme also strengthened the home-school link for many families.
The Big Numbers
100% of parents said they would continue to do physical activities with their children after the programme had finished.
95.83% of parent respondents felt that they had increased their involvement in their child’s school since the programme began.
83.67% of children said they had spent more time doing physical activity with their parents since the start of Active Families.
There was a 47.4% increase in activity levels for parents as a result of taking part in the programme. Parents took part in physical activity for 30 minutes, an average of 2.4 times per week, before the programme started. This increased to an average of 3.5 times per week after the programme.
A 38.8% rise in portions of fruit and vegetables eaten per day. Families recorded an average of 2.8 servings prior to the programme, rising to an average of 3.8 servings after the programme.
An 11.7% reduction in hours spent per night in sedentary activities. Families spent an average of 2.9 hours per night before the programme, which reduced to an average of 2.5 hours after the programme.
