Aspire Sports Run runs in the Great Midlands Fun Run 2018

Sunday 3rd June marked the eighth consecutive year Aspire Sports Trust ran in the Great Midlands Fun Run. And what a day it was!

CHARITY GOLF DAY
Thursday 12th July 2018
Aston Wood Golf Club
Little Aston, Sutton Coldfield B74 4EU

Parents and carers have a vital role to play in engaging their children in a healthy and active lifestyle.

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Delivered over an eight week period, the Active Families programme consists of weekly one and a half hour long sports or activity sessions.

 

The courses are delivered by experienced coaches, with each session intended to involve at least ten families. There is a variety of physical activities including sports, cycling, ultimate frisbee, fitness circuits, dance, circus skills, and more.
The programme also has a large nutritional education element which gives the participants a greater knowledge and understanding of how to live a healthier lifestyle.

The 198 people that took part in the 2016 programme were recruited through referrals from school staff, teachers and school nurses. We mainly aim to work with those children who have weak social skills, poor health and fitness, or younger children with issues with physical development (coordination, motor skills, or strength). Poor health and obesity were identified as priorities for tackling by the participating schools.
Our project helps the children most at risk of long-term poor health by getting them to play alongside their parents, who act as role models ensuring their child continues to take part in an active, healthy lifestyle in the future.

The following report is an overview of the impact the programme had on the participants from 11 primary schools from the Erdington and North Aston areas of Birmingham.

Each programme ran for 8 weeks. The age range spanned from 4 to 60. The average age of child attendee was 8.42 and the average age of parent attendee was 38.1.
The following table details the schools that took part as well as the number of parents and children. 85.9% of the families involved took part in at least 6 of the 8 sessions.

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Increase in physical activity levels
and reduction in sedentary activity

The programme aimed to improve the health of both children and parents by combatting sedentary lifestyles and increasing the amount of time spent physically active each week.
Parents were asked how many times they had exercised for 30 minutes or longer in the last week as well as the number of hours their family spent per day in sedentary activities (e.g. watching TV, playing computer games, reading). The data, shown in the figure below, was collected prior to the programme and on completion.

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The chart shows 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 and increased to an average of 3.5 times per week after the programme.
The data also shows a reduction of 11.7% 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.

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Taking time for physical activity

Families were also asked how many days per week
the family took part in physical activity together.
The data is shown in the chart below.

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Prior to the programme, families took part in physical activity together an average of 2.6 times per week which rose to 3.4 times per week after the programme.
The table below shows whether parents and children felt that they had spent more time exercising with their family as a direct result of the programme.

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Continued physical activity

In order to encourage sustained physical activity, the programme taught families games which could be played without specialist equipment at home as well as providing them with free equipment and ideas to take away.
This was highlighted in the feedback given at the end of the programme. An example parent and child comment are shared below.

 

“This programme gave lots of ideas to take part in physical activities
with my children and enhanced my knowledge of healthy eating”

Rizwana Jatala, Parent, St Barnabus.

 

“I enjoyed that you can get active with everybody and get to learn new games that are fun”

Francesca Ship, 11, Maryvale.

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Wider benefits

A wider aim of the programme was to promote healthy eating tips and considerations through the inclusion of nutritional content in each session.
In the pre and post programme questionnaires, parents were asked how many portions of fruit and vegetables they ate daily as well as the amount of unhealthy snacks (such as crisps, chocolate or cake) they consumed.
The figure below shows an increase of 38.8% of 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.

The programme also had a positive impact on the quantity of unhealthy snacks consumed per day. Families consumed an average of 1.8 unhealthy snacks prior to the programme and an average of 1.5 unhealthy snacks after the programme; a 13.3% reduction.

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The resources used on the programme included 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. The physically active sessions have created memorable learning experiences, as noted by a parent at St Barnabus:

 

“It’s been great, lots of activities that the boys have loved and a balance of information about healthy food and activities to remember that. Also we have definitely benefitted from an enthusiastic motivated and friendly teacher”

Clair Cox-Peel, Parent, St Barnabus

 

Furthermore, the impact data shows that parents felt their knowledge of healthy active lifestyles had improved as a direct result of the programme. Prior to taking part in Active Families, all parents were asked to rate themselves out of 10 on their knowledge of healthy active lifestyles, with 10 being an excellent knowledge and 1 being very little knowledge. The participants increased their knowledge by 21%, averaging 6.9 before the programme and improving to 8.3 after the programme, as shown in the figure below.

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Strengthening home-school community link

The programme has also strengthened the home-school link for many families across Erdington.
By directly accessing the school to take part in the sessions, 95.83% of parent respondents felt that they had increased their involvement in their child’s school since the programme began.
On completion of the programme, all families were signposted to local leisure facilities and community physical activity centres as well as parks and gardens across Birmingham to foster lifelong participation in activity.
Many participants commented that the social group created through the active families programme provided encouragement to come back.

 

“I enjoyed the activities and the bonding with the other adults and children. The trainer was also excellent in her approach and teaching.”

Nigel Warmington, Parent 48, at Birches Green

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Potential Improvements

School didn’t allocate suitable sized hall for session requirements. Percentage of families completing the programme could have been higher if the hall space was allocated for the session.
Some schools were oversubscribed with a wait list of 20 families and other schools struggled to get participants. The sessions could be very effective over 2 nights per week in certain schools.
Grandparents attended some sessions where parents were unable to attend – this could be actively encouraged.

The following report details the impact the Healthy Holidays programme had on both the children and adults of families participating in one or more of the three programmes. The majority of the data was collected on the October 2017 programme, unless otherwise stated.

Who took part?

Over the 28 days the programme ran 140 hours of activities were delivered along with 700 lunches and 1400 snacks. 64 children attended Healthy Holidays over the three programmes and were aged 4-11, with the average age of participant being 8 years old. 53% of participants were male and 47% female.

With one of the aims of the programme being to provide support to those families whose children are on free school meals, it is estimated that over 60% of the children who attended are entitled to free school meals and all are from low income families. A number of the children are from single parent families, living with grandparents or carers with many receiving support from Home-Start

 

What led parents to bring their children?

The impact of the programme reveals the way in which parent’s requests have been met.

Heard about it and thought kids would enjoy it (working also)

For health benefits; better lifestyle choices

They both enjoy coming

To get him more active and out of the house

To keep him active and healthy through the break

Get more exercise and eat healthy

It’s an excellent scheme, well run by staff who are dedicated to what they do

Because they had nothing to do and to socialise

 

What were the physical impacts?

An aim of the programme is to tackle the lack of physical activity in the school holidays by providing children the opportunity to be more active.

67% of children asked on the summer holiday programme said they had taken part in more activities this summer holiday than during their last. One child noted that they would usually be on their phone during the holidays and when asked what was better they said Healthy Holidays “because you interact with people face to face not just on your screen”.

100% of participants asked on the summer holiday programme said they enjoyed taking part in the physical activities. 100% of children asked on the October programme said they preferred attending Healthy Holidays to staying at home during the holidays. One child revealed that “I didn’t like sport before this week now I do”. As a means to create a lasting difference we aim to introduce the children to new activities to inspire ideas that could be used at home. 100% of children asked said they had learnt new games and 77% said they have been more active at home and would continue these new activities after the completion of the programme because “they’re so fun and entertaining”. This impact was revealed in action as one parent said their child is now “playing sports and activities they may not have played before” and another said that their child “enjoys football and wants to do more activities”.

The parents involved noted the change they had observed in their children with the majority saying their child has been more active since the start of the programme. One parent stated that their child had “become more athletic” whilst another said that they and their child had begun “trampolining and gym class with personal trainer”.

 

What were the nutritional impacts?

As stated by Darryl Moffat, former Project Manager, a goal of the programme was to “allow children that are on free school meals to not only eat in the holidays but eat healthier in the holidays”.

Over the 28 days the programme ran 700 lunches and 1400 snacks were provided. Snacks would consist of fruit or yoghurt and lunch options included jacket potatoes, pasta, wraps, cheese, ham, tuna and was always accompanied with salad. 100% of the children asked on the October programme said they liked the food provided.

When asked why, several of the children said because it’s “healthy” and “tasty”.

The programme aimed to introduce and encourage children to try different food. 67% of the participants asked said they had eaten new foods; wraps, jacket potatoes, melon and pepper were amongst these new foods. 87% of children asked on the summer holiday programme said they had enjoyed trying different healthy meals. One child said they liked the food “because it’s different and good to try new food” and another said “I love the food because it’s so healthy. I normally like biscuits and crisps but ever since I came here I eat healthy stuff”.

75% of children asked said they would continue eating different foods at home. The parent’s comments revealed similar results. 67% of parents asked said their child had eaten different types of food since starting Healthy Holidays. One parent noted that their child is eating “more vegetables, more fruit and eating breakfast in the morning”, another revealed that their children “are willing to try healthy foods before dismissing them”.

 

What were the social and emotional impacts?

Attending Healthy Holidays and interacting with both new peers and people of different ages resulted in the increase of confidence in children.

69% of children asked said they felt nervous prior to starting.

One child explained they felt “a little bit scared because I’m going to meet new people”. When asked how they felt at the end of the programme the majority of children focused on the positive relationships they had built with peers and coaches. One child said their favourite part of the programme was “meeting new friends” and another child said the coaches “made it fun”.

When asked whether they felt more confident since the start of the programme, 100% of the children asked said they did, with one child saying it was because “I met different people and made new friends”. 100% of children asked said they had made new friends and 77% said they would keep in contact with them.

Parents involved also reported changes in their child as 83% of those asked revealed their child had increased in confidence.

One parent noted that their children “are both more confident when playing and making friends with new children. They are better behaved and excited to get up in the morning”.

 

What were the wider impacts?

Parents

Receiving feedback revealed the wider impacts. 100% of the parents asked said that the programme had benefited them, with several explaining that it has enabled them to have “a break” whilst another commented on the reasonable cost it offered.

Home-Start

The programme ran in partnership with the charity Home-Start with several of the children being from families the charity work with. Alison Foden, Home-Start manager, noted that “We know that lots of the parents we work with their children are on free school meals. Healthy eating is a big issue for us. It’s trying to encourage and introduce healthier options. So we thought [the programme] would be good for our parents as well”.

Being involved in this project, Alison reveals, “is definitely having an effect […] The one thing that I think has been really positive for us [is] that with the families that we support, because we only see the preschool children, we hear issues with the older children for the parents but we don’t actually see it. So for us it’s been really helpful to see the older children, so that we can now support the parents with the issues they’ve got, having a better understanding of […] what these children are presenting.

“With two children I’m going to be getting in touch with their schools in September just to see how we can work together to try to improve situations for both parents and children”. Alison recognises the joy the programme brings to the children as she notes “the squeals of glee that come from the hall are just lovely and that says it all”. When asked if she would change anything on the programme, Alison replied “no, I think it’s been brilliant”.

 

What is the future of Healthy Holidays?

100% of parents and children asked on the summer holiday and October programme said they would return to Healthy Holidays.

What the children said:

“We like it and we might meet our friends”

“I have lots of friends now”

“It’s fun”

“Everyone is nice to me”

“I like the games and food”

“It’s just so fun and I love all the teachers […] You get to make new friends. You get to eat. You get to go outside. It’s just like a mini school”

“You wake up in the morning and you feel excited to go every single day”

What the parents said:

“It’s an excellent scheme, well run by staff who are dedicated to what they do”

“Child enjoys it, I need it, it seems makes her happy and healthier”

“Both extremely happy here”

Along with Alison Foden, numerous parents on the summer holiday and October programme said that they would not change anything about Healthy Holidays, however, as a project we are always aiming to develop. During the running of the programme developments are made as Darryl Moffat notes “at the end of the week we do a feedback meeting with the kids. So the coach will get all the kids in […] and they’ll say what did you enjoy, what didn’t you enjoy, what else would you like? And then we use that to make it better next time […] We want the whole programme to be child driven […] because [the children] know what they want, what they need and then we also want to show that we’re delivering the project to their needs and not to what we think, to what they want”.

 

Reviewing Healthy Holidays has enabled us to make plans regarding the future of the programme.

What the children said:

“Add rugby”

“Different sorts of equipment”

“Doing creative stuff […] like pictures and making baskets for Easter”

“Mashed potato and on a Friday pizza”

“Healthy pizzas”

“More food options”

“More space”

“Friday treats”

“More promotion”

“More equipment”

“Basketball, football, cricket”

“More time”

“More food”

 

What the parents said:

“Put the children into age related groups when doing some activities”

“Less bread, sandwiches/wraps”

“Second child discount would be great (20% off)”

“Dislike the time it finishes 6pm would be better due to work commitments”

“Maybe take children to local park on last day as a treat (weather permitting)”

“9am – 5pm start and finish. This club should run through the 6 week holiday as well”

Changes we will make:

1. Deliver lessons on nutrition to the children

2. Extend the range of activities to include more dance and art related activities

3. Expand the programme across different parts of North Birmingham

4. Continue to involve children in designing the menu and in food preparation

5. Provide an opportunity for children to prepare and serve a simple meal for their parents by the end of the programme