Food & Health Alliance

Research report covering the nature and uptake of the publication The Class Moves! which promoted physical activity in Scottish primary schools.

In September 2002 NHS Health Scotland published and distributed The Class Moves! to all primary schools in Scotland. This was part of an initiative to promote physical activity in conjunction with related developments such as the work of the Scottish Physical Activity Task Force and the initiative of Active Primary Schools.

The Class Moves! was originally developed in the Netherlands by physiotherapists working with teachers, creative movement specialists and speech therapists. In addition to Scotland and Wales the project is being developed in Germany and the Flemish speaking part of Belgium. The European Commission contributed financially to the programme through the SOCRATES/Comemius programme. The initiative also has a partnership element within Scotland as SportScotland have contributed to the development and facilitated access to active primary school co-ordinators.

The Class Moves! aims to encourage children to engage in different types of physical activity on a daily basis and promotes body awareness, relaxation, creative movement and fun. The activities are grouped by themes and age and are provided on seven wall mounted monthly calendars. There are a series of themes such as emotions, stability and balance and these are returned to in the same month each year but with different activities to illustrate the theme. The calendars for P1 to P5 also have a CD to assist teachers with the songs, which are integral to parts of the programme.

Each primary school in Scotland received one free set of seven calendars, seven teacher’s manuals and five compact discs, delivered direct to their school with the prior permission of the Directors of Education. The Class Moves! was also given free of charge to all schools with young people with special educational needs.