Clive School Students Rewarded For Moving It

An inter-school competition designed to encourage children to be more active has had a successful first year, with Clive School announced the inaugural winner. Seven Hastings district primary schools took part in the six-week Move It competition that began mid-October this year and challenged children to walk, cycle or scooter to school, in a contest to clock up more activity than the other competing schools. The children were given a card each week that was clipped for every day they walked or rode to school, and the final results saw Clive School take out the top honours for the highest participation, just pipping Haumoana School at the post. For its efforts, Clive School was rewarded with a $500 voucher from EdSports to buy sports equipment. Clive School principal Brian Eales said that while this was the first year of the competition, the school had been involved with the Move It programme since it began in 2014, with the number of children walking, cycling or scootering to school increasing each year, regardless of the weather. He said the school supported the Move It programme because it was healthy, got students out of cars, and reduced traffic volumes outside the school gates at key times. “To win this competition means that the efforts by children over these past four years have been noticed.” Sport Hawke’s Bay community cycling and walking development officer Fran Rose said they were delighted with how the competition went in its first year. “We definitely saw children benefitting from it and the schools noted a positive difference – the students had more energy and were ready to start learning as soon as they got to school. “One of the teachers also said to me that the kids found biking a reward in itself.” In general, it’s recommended that children get at least one hour of active exercise per day. Active travel to and from school significantly increases the amount of exercise that children get each day. In addition, such exercise has been found to give children a boost of energy that makes them much more willing to learn and participate in class. Posted: 19 December 2018