Children and young people

At a glance

Every child or young person has the right to be active and benefit from doing so in a safe, positive and trusted environment, and to have an equal chance to achieve their potential.

Building positive attitudes

Positive experiences at an early age help build the foundations for an active life.

If children and young people have experiences that feel fun, positive and give them a sense of confidence, they're more likely to want to be active in the future.

That's why building positive attitudes to sport and activity is one of the five big issues being tackled in our Uniting the Movement strategy.

Learn more about our strategy

Getting young people active

There are currently seven million children aged five to 15 in England and more than half are not doing the recommended daily amount of exercise.

The Chief Medical Officer in England recommends children to at least 60 minutes of activity every day - for one reason or another, this isn't the case for the majority of young people.

Physical literacy

We know physically literate children and young people are more likely to be active.

Physical literacy has five elements - enjoyment, confidence, competence, understanding and knowledge. Each one is key in getting more children and young people active, and the more elements present, the more active a child or young person is likely to be.

Learn more about physical literacy

The role of families

Our insight tells us that families, and particularly parents and caregivers, play a key role in shaping a child's attitudes and behaviours

Find out more

Our work

You can find out more about our work to build positive attitudes to sport and activity in children and young people in the third tab on this page - the work currently includes:

Sharing the learnings from our programme of free teacher training to staff in every secondary school in England.
The Studio You programme designed to engage girls who have previously been disengaged with more traditional PE lessons.
Ensuring children and young people feel safe when taking part in sport and activity.

Learn more about our safeguarding work

Research

Active Lives Children and Young People provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children aged 5-16 engage with sport and physical activity.

Our latest report, which can be seen on our Active Lives page, outlines the key findings about children and young people’s attitudes to sport and physical activity.

Read the Active Lives report

1. Physical literacy changes with age

As children and young people grow older, they report lower levels of enjoyment, confidence, competence and understanding.

2. There are important inequalities that must be tackled

Girls and those from less affluent families are less likely to enjoy being active.

3. More physically literate children are more likely to be active

Physical literacy has four elements –motivation (measured through enjoyment), confidence, competence and knowledge and understanding. The more elements present, the more active a child or young person is likely to be.

4. More physically literate children are happier, more resilient and more trusting

The more elements of physical literacy present, the higher the levels of reported happiness, resilience and social trust.

1. Creating positive experiences

Positive experiences at an early age help build the foundations or an active life.

If children and young people have experiences that feel fun, positive and give them a sense of confidence, they're more likely to want to be active in the future.

Learning from our satellite clubs work has helped to unearth what it's taken to create positive experiences for young people in this programme.

2. The role of families

Our research tell us that families, and in particular parents and caregivers, play a key role in shaping a child's attitudes and behaviours.

This is also true for physical activity and sport. They can:

Provide support and encouragement - but they can also add pressure
Share their own sport and physical activity passions – they can also share their fears
Facilitate access to various opportunities to be active – but they can also limit options
Model active behaviour by taking part with children – but can also model sedentary behaviour.

3. Engaging young people through the School Games

Delivered since 2012, the School Games is a National Lottery and exchequer programme delivered by a network of 450 School Games Organisers, 42 Active Partnerships, London Youth Games, the Youth Sport Trust and schools.

The mission of the games is to keep competitive sport at the heart of schools and to provide more young people with the opportunity to compete and achieve their personal best.

The vision of the games will continue to make a clear and meaningful difference to the lives of even more children and young people.

In 2020, Everfi conducted independent research that outlines some of the impact the School Games is having on children, young people and schools, and how our partners have been working to make their vision and mission a reality.

4. Engaging 16-24-year-olds

In our November 2019-20 Active Lives Adult report we saw the activity levels of 16-34-year-olds decrease - with a sharper decrease more evident in the 16-24 age group.

We're currently working with partners on a piece of research to understand this decline further and will share what we find when it's available.

However, we've learnt from our work in Further and Higher Education that it's important to offer opportunities that focus on socialising, fun or de-stressing, rather than ability, winning or competition.

These types of offer have helped to change inactive student's attitudes towards taking part in physical activity, resulting in a positive impact on behaviour.

5. Putting pupils' enjoyment at the heart of PE and school sport

Young people's attitudes to sport and physical activity are shaped heavily by their experiences at school, and our research shows having a bad experience of PE can put them off being active for life.

Our Secondary Teacher Training programme is aiming to address this by giving teachers the resources they need to engage all pupils in physical activity, regardless of sporting ability.

Find out more about the programme

The Daily Mile

We previously supported the Daily Mile to recruit a network of national and local coordinators to support more schools in England to sign up.

As part of the two-year investment (2018-20) we've created a report which has highlighted what was learned from the programme.

Insights into behaviours and motivations

We've uncovered a range of insights into young people's behaviours and motivations

Under the Skin builds on our youth insight published in 2014, with a number of findings to help influence how we encourage young people to get active.

Working with research agency YouthSight, we've delved into the personalities, behaviours, attitudes and aspirations of young people.

Our review into young people's lives found sport needs to adapt how it presents itself to broaden its reach and increase the proportion of young people regularly taking part.

Highlights from the Youth Insights review include the fact that many young people take part in sport and activity for more functional or lifestyle reasons - and that sport can provoke strong emotional responses and must often compete or connect with wider interests or priorities.

Read the full insight pack at the link below:

Mental health

We published a report in October 2024 that shows there is "strong and consistent evidence that sport and physical activity interventions had positive effects on the diagnosed mental health problems of children and young people".

Previously there had been little documented evidence on the role of sport and physical activity in the treatment of diagnosed mental health conditions in children and young people.

So we commissioned Edge Hill University to collate and review existing research from across 143 studies to assess the strength of evidence.

Read the report

Coronavirus

The impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) was felt in all aspects of life, including our own activity levels as restrictions on movement and social contact affected how children and young people got active.

We’ve combined data from our own Savanta ComRes activity surveys during lockdown, with data from Childwise’s omnibus Summer 2020 survey, to give an insight into how coronavirus impacted activity levels of 5-17-year-olds.

The research shows life in lockdown was highly disruptive to children’s lives, with some struggling to get active at all, and one data set showing just 19% of children and young people meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 60 minutes of activity a day.

The figures showed increased levels of activity as a family, though, as well as girls and children from Black, Asian and other culturally diverse communities finding it easier than others to be more active than usual.

See our full report on children and young people

Getting children and young people active

Secondary Teacher Training Programme

Between 2018 and 2021, up to £13.5 million of National Lottery money is being invested by us in a Secondary Teacher Training Programme - with more than 2,500 schools having already benefitted.

It’s being run by a consortium of organisations including the Youth Sport Trust, the Association for Physical Education, Activity Alliance and Sheffield Hallam University.

The programme's designed to provide teachers with access to professional development opportunities, as well as support to reimagine their PE provision so that it meets the needs of all their students - not just those who are 'sporty'.

Here's what two of the schools involved in the pilot thought:

1. Impington Village College

"Sport England’s Secondary Teacher Training programme allows schools to be creative and ambitious, and in being so they can do something meaningful to help improve PE for their students."

2. Thomas Gainsborough School

"The programme created a buzz around the department. Sport England has created a programme that could have an unbelievable impact on students."

For more information, including how your school can get involved, click below.

Find our more about the programme

Studio You users

Studio You

We've invested more than £2m of National Lottery funding into education specialists, Hopscotch Consulting, to create Studio You and help every girl enjoy PE and give every teacher the resources they need to get their students moving.

Taking This Girl Can’s ambitions into schools, Studio You is a product of countless conversations with teenage girls and PE teachers across the country around the stereotypes, status quos and real, tangible barriers that make PE less appealing to young women.

The digital hub is home to hundreds of free PE lessons, covering a range of non-traditional disciplines including yoga, boxing and dance, designed to make exercise more inclusive, accessible, and more open.

The platform supports teachers to integrate Studio You into their curriculum, with planning tools and resources that help them focus on students’ progression and assess the impact of lessons on their learning, behaviour and knowledge.

All Studio You content has been developed alongside and in partnership with the Association for Physical Education, EMDuk and Activity Alliance and is free to access for all secondary schools in England.

Find out more

School Games

Through the School Games, we're inspiring young people across the country to take part in competitive school sport.

The School Games will keep competitive sport at the heart of schools and to provide more young people with the opportunity to compete and achieve their personal best.

They will continue to make a clear and meaningful difference to the lives of even more children and young people

Find out more about the Games

Tools and resources

Studio You

We've helped create a new digital platform for secondary schools that will give teachers across England access to a free digital library of video-based lessons.

Studio You has been developed with teachers and young people to inspire less physically literate students to feel confident and comfortable being active at school.

A Studio You instructor climbs on the shoulders of another instructor

Find out more

Families Fund learnings

Our research tells us that families, and in particular parents and caregivers, play a key role in shaping a child's attitudes and behaviours.

Creating positive experiences

Taking the learnings from our Satellite Clubs programme, we've developed a resources that can support deliverers to create positive experiences for children and young people when they're being active.

Disney Shake Ups

Change4Life and Disney teamed up to bring play-along games inspired by children's favourite Disney and Pixar characters.

These 10-minute bursts of fun are designed to get children moving and contribute towards their recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day.

Try a Disney Shake Up

JU:MP

Standing for Join us: Move. Play. JU:MP has been developed specifically for children and young people, and their families, as part of the Bradford local delivery pilot and includes plenty of ideas to help families keep moving.

Explore JU:MP

Resources for secondary schools

Our secondary teacher training programme has a set of resources on project design and inclusive practise.

The resources are aimed to support schools to:

raise awareness of the benefits of PE, school sport and activity
increase staff competence and confidence
change practice
provide better quality PE, school sport and physical activity delivery
use physical activity as a tool for whole-school improvement
raise PE, school sport and physical activity higher up the agenda in schools
enhance student wellbeing

See the resources

Promoting best practice for primary schools

Through the Department for Education, the government is investing in primary schools in the form of the Primary PE and Sport Premium fund.

Together with the government and other national partners, we’ve developed this vision for PE and School Sport:

All pupils leaving primary school physically literate and with the knowledge, skills and motivation necessary to equip them for a healthy lifestyle and lifelong participation in physical activity and sport.

To support this, we’ve produced a series of guidance documents to promote best practice for primary schools:

Effective Professional Learning goes further into the objectives of the fund and looks at the best ways to maximise the Primary PE and Sport Premium through effective professional learning.

Designed for primary school headteachers, Employment and Deployment of Coaches has more information and guidance on using sports coaches in primary schools.

Learn more about the fund

Reframing competition

The Youth Sport Trust has designed a resource to support the development of competition that's meaningful and engaging to more and different young people.

Find out more

Buddle

This is our one-stop-shop for clubs, groups and organisations involved in the delivery of physical activity and sport.

Buddle provides free, convenient, practical resources to help organisations develop, grow and become more sustainable and successful.

The site has information designed to help you get children, young people and families active.

Find out more

A rugby coach speak to a group of children who have formed a huddle around her.

Coaching children

UK Coaching have a host of resources available to support coaches working with children and young people - just enter "coaching children" in the search box on their homepage.

Find out more

Duty to Care toolkit

UK Coaching are behind the nation's coaches, providing support, tools and guidance that assists coaches to be meet their potential, inspire people and transform lives.

The Duty to Care Toolkit supports inclusive coaching where safeguarding, mental health, wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and the needs of the individual are all considered.

Explore the toolkit

Children and young people

Chapters in this topic

At a glance

Building positive attitudes

Getting young people active

Physical literacy

The role of families

Our work

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