National Fitness Day 2021: Fitness Unites Us

National Fitness Day 2021 is taking place on Wednesday 22 September and is an opportunity to consider the important role that sport and physical activity plays in leading a healthy and happy life. The theme this year is ‘Fitness Unites Us’ and Kent Sport want to celebrate by showcasing the huge range of opportunities that are on offer in the county, and raising awareness on the importance of staying active, both in and out of the school day.

The past 18 months has highlighted the value of looking after our physical, mental, social and emotional health, and being physically active is a great way to do this. We have been incredibly impressed with the resourcefulness and creativity of teaching professionals in ensuring your pupils keep active in unprecedented circumstances. 

Research continually evidences physical activity’s positive impact on resilience, educational achievement, and overall better physical and mental health.  We offer free advice, information and resources to help schools deliver a high-quality PE and sport experience which contributes to whole school improvement.

We encourage primary schools to sign up to The Daily Mile – a fully-inclusive, free and simple initiative that gets pupils active during the school day. It only takes 15 minutes, requires no extra workload for teachers and has great wellbeing benefits for all involved.

There are also lots of alternative ways for you to incorporate physical activity into the school day. Our Primary PE and Sport Premium page is full of ideas, support and guidance, our Kent School Games events provide opportunities for competition and sport festivals, and we even have a great ideas funding enquiry form. Here we encourage schools to submit project ideas that will support children and young people who are least likely to be active, including those in under-represented groups such as lower socio-economic groups, children and young people with long term health conditions or a disability, and ethnically diverse communities. If you have a great project idea to help us achieve these aims, we would love to hear from you. 

Whilst it is important to ensure your pupils are being active in and outside of your school, and achieving the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day, we also want you to consider your own participation in sport and physical activity this National Fitness Day. 

Many of us have busy, stressful routines, but finding ways to move about more during our everyday lives can make a huge difference to our health and wellbeing. Our Everyday Active campaign aims to support you to start moving more with free tips, guides, advice and personal stories. Swap the car for walking or cycling on your commute or journey to the shops, move more in and around your own home, or find activity groups where you can try something new. You can also register for free with My Everyday to save useful or inspirational articles for later and use them to create your own personal plan for the week.

If you’d like to find out more then visit our website at www.kentsport.org, follow @kentsport1 on Twitter or like cspkentsport on Facebook. You can also stay in the loop with all our latest updates and opportunities by signing up to our termly Kent Sport’s Children and Young People E-News. 

Celebrate the fun of fitness on Wednesday 22 September 2021. How will you get active on National Fitness Day? Use the #Fitness2Me to showcase your activity online on the big day and join the millions who are breaking down barriers that stop people from being active!