INTRODUCTION

Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings we are committed to promoting the health and well being of are children and staff through physical activity. This policy outlines the organisation, teaching and management of physical activity at Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings. 

DEFINITION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Physical activity in young children is defined as …

‘…activity that involves trunk movements and more exertion than the minimal movement required to carry out simple everyday tasks such as washing, bathing, dressing, or activities such as playing board games or other passive play’

Making the case for UK Physical Activity Guidelines, Early Years Working Paper

 

Current UK physical activity recommendations state that children and young people should be active for a total of 180 minutes per day

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AIMS & OBJECTIVES

Aim: To ensure that all aspects of physical activity in the setting are promoted for the health and well being of children, staff and parents/carers. 

Our specific objectives are as follows:

1. To enable children, staff and parents/carers to understand the importance of physical activity through the provision of information and development of appropriate skills and attitudes

2. To provide and promote opportunities for staff and children to be physically active throughout and beyond the setting 

3. To increase physical activity levels of children in line with national targets

 

FACILITIES & RESOURCE PROVISION

Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings have a wide variety of resources and equipment to help promote Physical Activity throughout the whole setting.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY CO-ORDINATION

The settings physical activity co-ordinator is the Nursery Manager. They have responsibility for developing policy and practice and monitoring physical activity provision. 

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Staff have a responsibility to promote physical activity and to support physical development. We feel it is essential for our staff to feel confident in delivering and supporting physical activity so staff have attended the following activity courses; Early Years Movers Training and Balanceability. We have also been supported by a number of local contacts including Rachel Mather - Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) Programme Co-ordinator.

 

ETHOS & ENVIRONMENT

Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings strive to maximise opportunities for children and all associated with the setting to be physically active by promoting all avenues for activity.  This includes through the Early Years Foundation Stage, the environment and wider community. 

PRACTITIONER LED/STRUCTURED ACTIVITY

The setting provides all children with daily practitioner led structured activity. This is delivered in short sessions throughout the day. 

ACTIVE PLAY

In addition to the amount of structured physical activity children engage in unstructured active play daily. This is facilitated by our setting environment which is designed to encourage children to be physically active. 

PARENTS/CARERS AS PARTNERS

Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings understand parents/carers are crucial to encouraging their children to be active. We therefore aim to making parents/ carers aware of the minimum activity recommendations, provide parents/carers with ideas on how to keep their children active and to liaise with parents/carers about their child’s activity levels through the identified key person. We also provide ‘Physical Activity’ Take Home Bags for all the children at the nursery – these go home at the weekends with different children to help promote Physical Activity with their Parents at home – they have a range of different resources, equipment and activities within the bags.

ACTIVE TRAVEL 

We promote Active Travel to and from Nursery as and when possible for Parents/Carers.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

All physical activity opportunities offered at Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings  are designed to be inclusive, and cater for different ability levels. For more information please refer to the Equal Opportunities Policy.

STAFF ACTIVITY

Our staff aspire to be positive role models for our children. We aim to take part in physical activity whenever possible, e.g. as part of practitioner sessions, but we also encourage our staff to be active outside of Nursery. 

HEALTH & SAFETY

Please refer to the setting’s Health and Safety Policy and Risk Assessment file.  

Use of any external personnel including activity leaders and volunteers will be in line with the settings policy on CRB/staffing checks.  

MONITORING & EVALUATION

The physical activity co-ordinator will have lead responsibility for the monitoring of physical activity in the setting. A range of measures will be used to evaluate impact of the policy in line with the above mentioned objectives.  

 

This policy was adopted on

Signed on behalf of the nursery

Date for review

January 2019

 

July 2021