Active Recovery Hub launched to get children moving

A new Active Recovery Hub is launching to provide schools, local authorities, and families with easy access to free resources to get children moving before, during and after the school day.

The Youth Sport Trust and Sport England have led the creation of the Active Recovery Hub with the support of funding from the National Lottery.

This follows a commitment in the Government’s School Sport and Activity Action Plan to extend the School Games website to help teachers and parents find opportunities for young people to compete and get active. It also follows an ambitious Government investment of £1.7 billion to boost learning and recovery for children and young people following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new hub will sit on the School Games website and provide the platform to get all young people more active. More than 18,800 schools already take part in the School Games nationwide. A total of 38 sports organisations have provided content and expertise to create a diverse range of activities that are inclusive.

Baxter College in Kidderminster is one of the schools which said it will use the hub. Principal Matthew Carpenter said: “At Baxter College we have prioritised an active recovery, making the most of the opportunities in our curriculum to support the space and time needed for students to have an active summer. When we’ve replanned our calendar, we’ve made sure we’ve built the time in for as many opportunities as possible and made sure our Covid control measures don’t stifle student participation.

“For us the benefits go beyond the impact on physical fitness, the relationships and resilience that grow through a broad range of active opportunities are a vital foundation to recovering from the challenges of the last 12 months.”