Written evidence from the Youth Sport Trust (CMH0119)

Introduction

The Youth Sport Trust is an independent charity devoted to changing the lives of young people through sport. We work with schools around the country to enhance the delivery of physical education, physical activity and school sport. Through our experience on the ground with our 100 Headteacher Ambassadors and 4,000+ member schools we have a unique insight into how all three can lead to good physical and mental wellbeing and work as an effective preventative measure to more serious mental health issues

Summary

A strategic whole school approach to PE, physical activity and school sport has been shown to be a strong preventative measure for ensuring young people’s emotional well-being. The correlation between engagement in physical activity and sport and improved emotional well-being is marked, as is the connection between physical activity/ school sport and improved academic achievement. We would hope that the joint enquiry between the health and education select committees can consider solutions that support schools take a whole school approach to improving well-being and achievement. 

Policy context

In January 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May announced an increase in investment for mental health services, with a particular focus on the role of schools in the areas of prevention and identification. Her plans include new support for schools with every secondary school in the country to be offered mental health first aid training, and new trials to look at how to strengthen the links between schools and local NHS mental health staff.
 

1. The current economic and social cost of mental illness in the UK is around £105 billion, which is similar to the entire annual NHS budget. Mental health problems now account for more than twice the number of Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit claims than do musculoskeletal complaints.
    
2. In response to a debate in Westminster on 10th January 2017, Minister for School Standards, Nick Gibb stated that the allocation of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy would be put towards school based initiatives to increase physical activity. He also stated that the government has committed to the original predicted figure of £520million from the Levy, regardless of a lower yield from the tax itself.
    
3. In August 2016, the Government introduced Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action, which outlined strategies to reduce obesity rates among children. This plan outlined initiatives to increase physical activity rates of children and young people within schools, and included the funding from the Soft Drinks Levy. The plan also introduced the Healthy Schools Rating Scheme, which recognises schools’ attempts to prevent obesity by encouraging children to eat healthily and move more. These attempts will be taken into consideration by Ofsted in their assessments.
   
4. In 2015, The Department of Health produced Future in Mind, a report on the strategies that could be used to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Key to this report were the themes of building resilience, prevention, and early intervention.  More specifically it outlined an ambition to move towards a preventative model for addressing both the physical and emotional wellbeing of young people with a focus on the broader public health sector including schools.
   
5. The NHS Five Year Forward View highlighted mental health as one of the growing issues within the UK, identifying a greater need for integration of mental health services and reiterating the ambitions set out in Future in Mind for a preventative approach to young people’s mental health across all sectors.   

Evidence linking physical activity with positive mental wellbeing

6. Engagement in regular physical activity is recognised to contribute to a range of positive outcomes, specifically; physical and mental health, social wellbeing, cognitive and academic performance.[1] Children who are regularly active have higher well-being compared to children who are not. Children who are not regularly active were around twice as likely to have low self esteem as those who did so at least once a week.[2]
    
7. Mild anxiety and depression have been named as the most common forms of mental illnesses in the UK, with 7.8% of people meeting the criteria for diagnosis.[3] In children, these illnesses can often manifest into self harm, decreased confidence and eating disorders, if left untreated. The impact of exercise on mild depression is well documented, with the NHS promoting physical activity as both a preventative measure, and treatment for, depression.[4] Short term impacts of exercise include the change of concentration in several biologically active molecules[5], and the reduction in concentration of retroactive substances in the central nervous system[6], both of which are linked to a reduction in feelings of depression. If undertaken regularly, physical activity can help combat the onset on depression and anxiety, and help to prevent relapse for those that have suffered previously.[7]
    
8. One of the highest contributors to stress in children and young people is exams.[8] The Childline National Exam Stress Survey revealed that 96% of the 1300 children that completed their survey felt anxious about exams. In 2014, Childline also reported a 200% increase in the number of counselling sessions about exam stress. Physical activity has been shown to reduce stress and has been associated with lower levels of worry.[9] These benefits are improved when children and adolescents are involved in team sports, which have been found to protect against depressed moods associated with school performance levels.[10]
    
9. Physical activity is also an important contributor to social wellbeing, especially confidence. For both younger children and adolescents, physical activity is associated with positive social behaviour, such as being kind and attempting to resolve disputed with classmates. Participation in physical activity can also make children and adolescents feel that they are liked by their peers and that they have enough friends.[11] Through the mastery of skills, children are able to increase their confidence and self esteem.[12]
    
10. There have also been studies showing the positive links between increased physical activity and outcomes associated with academic performance, including; academic achievement, academic behaviours, concentration, memory, self esteem, and verbal skills.[13] Research also highlights the positive links between increased physical activity initiatives in schools and classroom conduct, promoting a better environment for learning.[14]

Evidence of the Youth Sport Trust’s impact on mental health and wellbeing

11. The Youth Sport Trust has a proven history in engaging children and young people in physical activity. For over 20 years we have not only worked alongside governments, but delivered a range of programmes that have delivered positive outcomes for physical and mental health. The impact of some of these programmes can be found below:
     
12. Girls Active

-          This programme, funded by Sport England and delivered in partnership with This Girl Can and Women in Sport, offers a simple flexible action planning framework to help teachers and girls work together to address their individual needs. The main objective of Girls Active is to help teachers and teenage girls understand what motivates them to take part in PE and sport; developing an action plan based on their feedback on how it should be delivered. In addition, we help some of the girls to become role models within their school, setting up leadership groups which focus on how they could make PE and physical activity more appealing to their peers.

-          Impacts include:

-       Girls happy with the way their body looked more than doubled from 25.4% to 55.5%

-       Girls unhappy with the way their body looked more than halved from 36.5% to 15.6%

-       Girls who felt confident when taking part in PE lessons rose from 35.2% to 64%

-       Girls who felt positive about school rose from 23.5% to 77.8%

-       Girls who ‘like the way they feel’ after physical activity rose from 41.1% to 73.3%
 

13. Change4Life Sport Clubs[15]

-          Through this programme we aim to deliver the principles and specific skills from a range of Olympic and Paralympic sports and place them in a fun, vibrant and exciting activity club giving young people the confidence and competence to take part in lifelong physical activity.

-          Impacts include:

-        99% of participants increased their confidence

-        91% of participants increased their sense of belonging

-        94% of participants increased their knowledge of healthy lifestyles

-        67% of participants improved behaviour

-        70% of participants supported cross-curricular learning

-        94% of participants achieved more than 60 actives minutes per day
 

14. My Personal Best

-          This programme takes a planned approach to teaching character traits through curriculum PE. The evaluation of the pilot delivered through multi-academy trusts, saw teachers reporting gains in their pupils around some of the core chracter traits needed for employers and good mental health

-          Impacts include:

-       82% increased their resilience

-       81% increased their responsibility

-       70% increased their self-motivation

15. Inclusive Futures[16]

-            This programme gave young people aged 14-19 years old, with and without disabilities, the opportunity to work alongside each other to support and deliver physical activities in schools and communities.  As part of this, the programme promoted inclusion, increased participation in physical activity, empowered young people and developed their life skills. The programme also included a national camp, during which participants met top athlete ambassadors, engaged in various workshops and continued our values of increasing participation, challenging perceptions and creating inclusive provision.

-            Impacts include:

-       98% of camp young leaders agreed or strongly agreed that the camp had improved their attitudes to themselves and their abilities

-       87% of young leaders reported an impact of the national camp on all intended outcomes of the programme

-       86% of young leaders indicated that their resilience had increased or greatly increased.

16. Get to the Start Line

-            This programme was developed as an innovative approach to addressing school related stress and anxiety associated with exams. Pupils that had been identified as suffering from stress and anxiety would participate in physical activity workshops coordinated by a school champion and delivered by an athlete mentor. These workshops equipped the pupils with the techniques and strategies to manage stress and anxiety and were able to perform at their best for GCSE exams.

-            Impacts include:

-          There was an overall reduction in the number of referrals for the vast majority of the pupils involved in the programme and, for a few pupils in each school; associations could be drawn with reported reductions in exam-related stress and anxiety as a consequence of their engagement with techniques/strategies learned during the programme.

-          The vast majority of the pupils involved in the programme performed at the same level or better than expected in their GCSE exams.  The programme reduced exam-related stress and anxiety for a few pupils in each school which enhanced their wellbeing and these individuals performed better than predicted in their GCSE exams.  

-          The programme increased understanding of exam-related stress and anxiety affecting young people as evidenced by pupils realising that they were not alone in experiencing exam-related stress and anxiety, and school champions viewing their involvement in the programme as an effective form of professional development.

17. Active Healthy Minds

-            In the last 2 years the Youth Sport Trust have been commissioned to deliver bespoke health and wellbeing strategies for schools to address the current stress, anxiety and wellbeing issues young people face.  Active Healthy Minds uses a universal, targeted and integrated approach to improve the physical and emotional wellbeing of pupils with schools choosing which interventions they require to address specific issues in their school. 

-       More specifically, in Northamptonshire, the PE2020 Active Healthy Minds strategy uses a whole school approach driven by a network of wellbeing champions that connect interventions across and beyond the school.  This successful approach has had the following impact to date:

-     Overall the patterns of findings are consistent with what has been seen in similar aged students at other secondary schools. There was a slight upward shift in days of physical activity but decreases in other indicators of motivation, wellbeing and life skills. Importantly, those students who reported being involved in PE2020 activities, identified improvements in psychological health, academic performance and life skills at the follow up assessment phase (beyond baseline assessment scores). Although preliminary, findings provide initial support to the efficacy of the PE2020 activities.

-     For those students (involved in PE2020), increases in wellbeing and enjoyment of PE were reported. These students also identified additional improvements in academic performance (attendance, behaviour, grades) and increases in perceived life skills (creativity, aspiration, resilience, empathy and confidence).

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