Nansen Primary School is a large, co-educational primary academy, located in Alum Rock, Birmingham. We have 902 pupils aged between 3 and 11. The school has developed a link with the LTA – the National governing body for tennis for Great Britain – and several of my staff, including Madison Chipman and Helen Dermody, were involved in testing the new LTA Youth Schools teacher training last year. They enjoyed it so much they are continuing to teach the lessons.

Madison, a Year 5 teacher, told me she likes the fact that the cross-curricular lessons are designed so that they adapt to small spaces. At Nansen, we use our smallest hall for the lessons – but because the activities don’t require a large space, her whole class of 30 is able to participate. 

“All the activities include different ideas that we could easily adapt for other lessons” Madison says. “It’s great that the children get to use lots of equipment – gloves, different-sized balls, hand mitts – it’s very adaptable for all ages and sizes. The children are physically active throughout the lessons and constantly progressing. There’s no stop and start… it just flows”.

As a head, I like the fact the inclusive nature of the lessons means all our pupils can take part, including those where English isn’t their first language, children with special needs (like autism) and children with physical disabilities (in Madison’s class there is a child with cerebral palsy). Helen says the course is so well designed that although she is an experienced PE teacher, through this she still picks up new ways to teach the children a range of different skills. She’s found the lesson plans and accompanying videos a useful point of reference and thinks teachers will find these beneficial, especially if they need a reminder of how a move or activity works. She sometimes shows the videos to the children as the visual elements make it very easy to understand.

Helen observes that during her own lessons “The children were a bit more engaged as it was something new. They’d never played tennis before. They really enjoyed all the different games; they’d do a warmup, followed by body and ball then into racket and balls – it all naturally develops. They were playing tennis in the warm-up but didn’t even realise they were doing it! In one of the sessions, they even used a balloon instead of a tennis ball, which was great fun!”.

She adds, “The children get to decide for themselves if they want to make it harder or easier. These are also transferable skills they could use in the classroom, such as asking Madison for easier or harder work”.

Madison agrees, saying “It’s definitely helping to build their character skills. I’ve noticed them becoming more independent and confident in the classroom, asking lots of questions and being engaged in the lessons. Because of this increase in confidence, they now want to be more involved in PE lessons, which wasn’t the case before”.

“We’ve even taught the lessons to other children in the younger year groups – they stop me in the corridor and say ‘Miss! I’m playing tennis every day now!’”.

We all agree that the impact of the LTA Youth programme has had a far reaching and positive impact on the school and its community. Helen told me: “Even the pupils you didn’t think would like it are getting involved – they have huge smiles on their faces and are eager to continue talking about it afterwards, a sign of how enjoyable they find it”.

“They’ll even mention it to their parents, so I’ll get parents coming up to me in the playground the next day mentioning it, because their kids are enjoying the LTA Youth lessons so much”.

I think this speaks for itself and from our experience, I would encourage all schools to sign up!

The LTA Youth Schools programme welcomes children of all abilities to build their personal and character skills through tennis. All participating schools will be provided with a free £250 voucher in completion of the free training, to use on additional tennis coaching or equipment. Additionally, for a time limited period, schools are eligible to win a fantastic schools experience day at the National Tennis Centre. Teachers can sign up to the free training here: https://www.lta.org.uk/

Given the low level of participation in physical activity in the UK, we clearly need more ways to engage and inspire children. I‘m not saying we should replace team sports and athletics, but it’s time to add another element. In addition, we are entering an era where today’s students are going to spend most of their adult working lives and social lives in front of a screen, so physical activity must match the current stimulation of the digital urban world.

It is even more important than ever to give them the tools to create balance in their lives. It sounds so simple, but dance-based exercise has the tools to create this balance. When you add music, inclusivity, culture, diversity and fun, you capture the child’s interest and maintain it. I believe that every school should implement dance fitness into PE, allowing all students to gain a concentrated package of wellbeing. I am convinced that teaching dance fitness in PE can be as natural as teaching netball, football or athletics. 

I know that the school day is short, classes are large and the amount teachers do in a five day week as educators is extraordinary, so teachers need a tool that will fit with their schedules and deliver lots of benefits to their students really quickly. Professor Wendy Suzuki, a neurologist, states in her TED talk that “Exercise is the most transformative workout for the brain. It instantly gives you longer protection of your memory, helps focus attention and puts you in a better mood…. Reactions are quicker, you get an energy boost, you are less tired…”

But dance fitness goes even further than just regular exercise. The complex mental stimulation that dance movements require increases coordination and balance skills, aids logical sequencing and provides an appreciation of rhythm and teaches musicality.

It is another form of expression, allowing a young person to express feelings they might not be able to do otherwise. It also increases their own self-confidence by breaking down inhibitions, as it is not a judgmental win or lose activity. It is inexpensive, non-competitive and completely inclusive giving every child the opportunity to experience the numerous benefits of dance, and not just those who can attend classes outside of the school day. 

At DDMIX, which is a social enterprise, we have spent the last four years working on creating the perfect toolkit to incorporate dance fitness directly into PE, making it simple to deliver, fun to teach, and effective. Our program can make confident dance fitness teachers out of everyone in any school by providing a program that they want to teach, without having to spend lots of time planning. We have Schemes of Work for KS1, 2 and 3 which include all the resources you need, and our insets can be held either at your school or online. With dance fitness embedded in your PE curriculum producing more physically active children, we will have a much larger pool of children in the UK interested in sport, in the arts, and having the confidence to explore their own creativity in other fields… and, most importantly, their wellbeing will be much improved. 

To find out how DDMIX can work for your school, please visitwww.ddmixforschools.com.

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Supporting key stage 1

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Supporting key stage 2

He can also help in KS2 by aiding children to:

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• solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts

E.a.R.L wants to help across the curriculum

With a full teacher’s guide available, E.a.R.L comes with everything you need to plan lessons and get real outcomes for children in an exciting and engaging way. With the addition of mats for several areas of the curriculum, he can be used to teach almost anything via a coding journey. The cross-curricular pack means you’ll never run out of lesson ideas.

So, don’t hesitate; give E.a.R.L a home in your classroom and some new friends to play with today!

Read more about E.a.R.L’s impact on the EdTech Impact platform: https://edtechimpact.com/products/earl-coding-robot