Introduction
We know that poor fundamental motor skills have a profound impact on children's life chances. Poor motor skills affect children's physical, emotional, social, psychological and educational development, and children are more likely to grow up to experience drug and alcohol abuse, trouble with the police and mental health difficulties. There is a relationship between poor motor skills and physical fitness, body weight and physical activity, suggesting that the rising epidemic of obesity in the UK could be reduced by improving children's motor ability.What can be done?
I have developed a programme of physiotherapy activities called Towards Healthy Education: Accelerated Learning of Playground Skills (The Alps). The activities have strong evidence for producing large improvements in children’s motor skills. The programme is designed for Key Stage 1 children with poor fundamental motor skills. However, it could be used for the whole class although it will take more staff to supervise each session, as each child needs to undertake the appropriate level of difficulty for each activity.
