Call for school sport to tackle 'crisis of inactivity'

Baroness Sue Campbell fears that many schools fail to understand the impact of sport on the development of children and young people’s personal and social skills, as well as their educational attainment.

She wants teachers to encourage pupils to engage in sports both inside and outside of school hours in a bid to help them become more physically active.

Her comments come as Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled plans to keep the primary PE and sport pupil premium until 2015.

The fund, launched in September last year, sees an extra £150m provided to schools at the start of the academic year for the provision of sport.

Campbell wants schools to make the most of the investment to ensure children and young people have access to sport and the opportunity to improve their wellbeing.

She said: “Being inactive not only adversely affects children’s physical health, it can also undermine their mental and emotional wellbeing, and limit their ability to achieve in all areas of school life.

“A healthy, active child is more likely to perform better academically across all subjects, they will be more confident individuals, have greater employability skills, and are far more likely to have higher levels of self-esteem.

“It is important that head teachers understand these benefits and use PE and sport creatively across their schools.

“Whilst many schools understand how to use PE and sport to make a much wider impact, others are missing the opportunity and risk not tackling some of the major issues facing young people.”