Activity levels among young edge up, but support needed to do more

Activity levels among young edge up, but support needed to do more

Activity levels among children in Guernsey are showing signs of improvement, but there is still more to do, a new study has shown.

A panel assembled by the Health Improvement Commission has released the second Active Healthy Kids Report Card, based on a grading system used around the world and verified by the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance. 

The results were:

A B-grade means that the island is succeeding with well over half of children, C is with about half and D with less than half.

Alun Williams, the Be Active lead at the Health Improvement Commission and chairperson of the working group, said that it was pleasing to see the indicators advancing.

‘The increase in active travel is especially welcome as we hope that it reflects a shift in understanding the benefits of active travel, not just for young people but for the whole community,’ he said.

‘The improvement in the Government grade is especially promising as it demonstrates increasing recognition of the importance of physical activity in enabling improved health, social, economic and community outcomes. Government leadership is critical to building physical activity opportunities into a range of policy and strategy.

‘These results show that the collective efforts from the community in promoting and enabling children and young people’s physical activity so far are beginning to pay off. In some areas, however, the grades show that a significant number of our children and young people are not moving enough nor often enough to reap the mental, physical and social benefits of regular physical activity. Like elsewhere, our children become less active as they get older.’

Most available data reflects pre-pandemic surveillance so do not reflect the impact of lockdown.

The overall physical activity measure is based on the percentage of children who accumulate at least an hour of moderate to vigorous activity a day.

The report says that 71% of primary and 57% of secondary pupils report they meet this measure on four or more days a week.

For organised sport, 71% of primary and 48% of secondary boys, and 65% of primary and 59% of secondary girls reported taking part in a sports club or class in the four weeks before the survey.

When looking at active travel, half of primary-aged pupils and 35% of secondary-aged pupils reported walking or cycling to school. 

Local data consistently highlights an age-related decline in physical activity and that girls are less active than boys.