Hornets and health trust team up to tackle obesity

Children at St Mary's RC Primary School, Middleton with Niel Wood, from the Rochdale Hornets Sporting Foundation

Schoolchildren in Rochdale were the first in the country to benefit from a new scheme aimed at reducing childhood obesity.

The ‘physical literacy’ pilot, run by Rochdale Hornets Sporting Foundation, with support from Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, involved ten schools and 2,000 children.

Youngsters aged five to 11 are given a range of tests to measure their balance, co-ordination and agility such as standing on one leg or throwing a ball against a wall.

The tests generate a score and first team Hornets players and coaches then worked with the children over a three month period to help them improve this score.

The scheme, which was the first of its kind in the country, was aimed at encouraging children to be more active, in order to reduce childhood obesity.

Around 9 per cent of Rochdale schoolchildren are obese by the time they enter primary school and 20% by age 11.

The results of the pilot showed children’s fitness increase by more than 14% during the pilot.

Niel Wood, from the Rochdale Hornets Sporting Foundation, said: “We would like to thank Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust for their support in helping us to deliver the Rochdale Fit Schools project.

“The results showed that our approach works and that by measuring and monitoring fitness and providing expert programmes of physical activity, we can improve the fitness of our region.”

The trial was funded by Pennine Care, which also provides school nursing services across the Rochdale borough and the data was shared with school nurses to help them support the schools.

Pennine Care Chief Executive Michael McCourt said: “Health and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do at Pennine Care and we’re delighted to be supporting Rochdale Hornets with this unique scheme.

“By identifying children at risk of obesity earlier we can intervene to help them lead more active, healthier lives.”

Coaches used unique software provided by Amaven to track and measure children’s progress and develop a personal training programme for each child.

Following the success of the trial it is hoped the programme can be extended to other boroughs across Greater Manchester.