Liverpool teacher goes extra mile to help pupils stay active

Jay Clarke, a year 1 teacher at Rudston Primary School, Childwall, is helping children at home keep active by filming daily workouts on YouTube. 

Since day one of lockdown, Jay has filmed a workout using the school camera or iPad on a tripod. He then uploads it to his YouTube account and shares it via the school’s Twitter account and the dedicated Rudston Primary School – Sport, Health & Wellbeing account.  

Health and fitness conscious Jay came up with #ActiveRudstonAtHome campaign after taking part in a national programme called Active Kids Do Better, which is run by Discovery Education and Nike. 

The programme encourages pupils to be active throughout the school day, and Jay was one of the first teachers to win a national award, presented by Olympic athletes, for his work on it. 

Jay said: “As the health and wellbeing co-ordinator at the school, I’m very passionate about getting kids active and with the help of Active Kids Do Better I have been able to introduce a number of initiatives that have had really positive effects. For example, during lessons we have ‘brain breaker’ activities which encourages them to do an activity for a minute or so. This not only re-energizes them but also helps pupil improve their concentration levels.  

“A lot of the workouts I am filming the pupils will have already done them in school and so they will be familiar with how to execute each one properly. The feedback from families has been really positive. We’ve had over 3,500 views already and other schools are now sharing it within their community too, which is great!” 

The school has also been recording teachers reading a chapter of a bedtime story each night.  

You can view both the exercise and bedtime story videos here.