A Yorkshire-based sports charity has produced a book of reflective writings from school pupils, chronicling youngsters’ personal perspectives on the significance of movement, physical activity, and sport in their lives.
The Move Well book, which includes illustrations by pupils at Morley Victoria School, is the first of its kind in the country, and the organisers are hoping that its value will be replicated across other regions in Yorkshire and nationally.
The Leeds Well School Partnership, part of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving the physical and mental wellbeing of children and young people, launched a competition to create the Move Well Book. It’s a series of pupils’ own ‘letters to movement’ in which they describe their relationships with physical movement.
The project was designed to encourage more engagement in sporting activity, and promote literacy amongst youngsters who were set the challenges of recording their feelings about sport and movement.
Jill Wilkinson, Leeds Well School Partnership Director says: “The Move Well Book is the result of a competition held in collaboration with Leeds Beckett University, the Leeds Rhinos Foundation, Youth Sport Trust (YST) and Scamp Creative. Schools were invited to take part in a competition which offered them a creative, cross-curricular resource.”
She adds: “The initiative aimed to assist educators in gaining insights into pupils’ connections with movement and physical activity. It also encouraged pupils to reflect on the meanings of movement, physical activity, and sport.”
With the generous support of the YST, schools accessed resources that served as a foundation for teachers, featuring a variety of videos illustrating what a ‘relationship’ with movement can look and feel like. These materials were used to launch the competition, inspiring pupils to contemplate and craft their own ‘letters to movement’.”
Jill says: “We are very proud of this book as it’s the first of its kind in this country. The pupils’ writings offer valuable perspectives on their relationships with movement. By understanding the elements that shape a child’s physical literacy, the Leeds Well School Partnership can adapt and enhance our practices and programmes to better meet children’s individual needs.
“The feedback from the schools which took part has been fantastic, and the children have really enjoyed producing their ‘letters to movement’.”
Joe Morton, PE Lead at St Matthews Primary School, Leeds said: “It was a great experience, and helped encourage some of our more reluctant writers to express themselves.”
Andrew Rowney, Deputy Head Teacher at Horsforth Newlaithes said: “This was a brilliant activity enabling all children to talk about something they are passionate about. We will definitely repeat it in the future, as the writing it produced was extremely powerful, especially for some of our lower achievers. It was wonderful to see how proud these children were of their work. It has been a massive success – thank you for inspiring us!”
Emma Mackenzie, National Development Manager, of Youth Sport Trust says: “We were delighted to collaborate with this project. It is fantastic to see how Leeds Well schools have embraced the ‘Letter to movement’ idea, and run with our resources, to creatively engage youth voice in understanding young people’s relationship with movement. The launch of the Move Well book will hopefully challenge all those who impact young people’s movement experiences, to ensure that we start with understanding what is meaningful, valuable and enjoyable to young people. From there, we can better ensure positive movement experiences for all.
“We want more schools and partnerships to be empowered and equipped to take innovative approaches to increasing young people’s physical activity levels and ensuring positive movement experiences. Find out more at https://www.positiveexperiencescollective.org/ and equip yourself and your organisation with the tools to take similar action: Physical Literacy Toolkit – Youth Sport Trust”
Jill Wilkinson, Leeds Well School Partnership Director, says: “The launch of the Move Well book coincides with the recent announcement from The Department for Education (DfE) that the Primary PE and Sport Premium funding is continuing for schools for the 2025/26 academic year. This funding aims to improve the quality of PE and sports in primary schools, encouraging healthy and active lifestyles for all pupils. The funding is specifically for primary schools and is not to be confused with Pupil Premium, which is for disadvantaged pupils.”
Jill adds: “The DfE PE funding is very valuable, as it’s intended to help schools make sustainable improvements to their all-important PE and sports provision. Schools are expected to use the funding to build capacity and capability within the school, ensuring that improvements are long-lasting.”