Clackmannanshire Council Online

Clackmannanshire Leads the Way

Local authorities across Scotland are following Clackmannanshire's example of how to teach under 5s the healthy habit of being active.

The Active Start programme is well established within Clackmannanshire's nurseries and family centres and over the years, staff have created a manual with lots of hints and tips on how best to deliver Active Start as well as lesson plans for the many different sports included.

Now word of Clackmannanshire's success with Active Start has spread and other local authorities are buying up copies of the manual so they can follow in the Wee County's footsteps.

As Clackmannanshire Council's Active Start Manager Jackie Stevenson's remit is to promote, develop and drive forward the aims of Active Start across the county. She is now promoting Active Start to an even wider audience, from Elgin to Ayrshire.

Jackie said: "We did a presentation at a Learning Teaching Scotland conference and there was so much interest from other local authorities that we held a training day last June. Representatives from 13 local authorities came along and it was so successful that another training day is being planned for this June."

Hundreds of the Clackmannanshire manuals have recently been sold to staff in North Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire Councils with many other local authorities showing interest.

The manual gives tips on tailoring your language to make it more appropriate for 3-5 year olds and fun warm up exercises appropriate for this age group. It also contains lesson plans for the range of activities delivered through Active Start including football, golf, racquets, traditional dance, basketball, athletics and orienteering.

Jackie added: "The manual is constantly evolving as we add new exercises and lessons. We seem to have filled a gap and I'm delighted that our manual is proving to be so popular."

There is much evidence to support the importance of being physically active for the development of children aged 0 - 5 years. National documents and local pilot schemes emphasise the value of physical activities to :

• Stimulate brain development
• Increase confidence
• Promote positive use of energy and increased fitness
• Establish a healthy habit of being active
• Increase coordination skills leading to the development of fine motor skills

The Aims of Active Start are:

• To ensure that children have fun whilst participating
• To use the activities/sports to help their physical development
• To use elements of these activities/sports to develop social skills.

Clackmannan Nursery was one of the local nurseries where Active Start was piloted around 7 years ago. Recently retired Clackmannan Nursery head teacher Miranda Miller said: "The benefits in the children's physical development and movement programmes are enormous - they are engaging in physical, energetic play, they're learning to be aware of their bodies in relation to space, they are learning about jumping, balancing, kicking a ball. All of these things are so important to the all round development of the child."