Latest news with #BornInBradford
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Scheme helping Bradford children get more physically active
A programme launched in Bradford to help get children from deprived backgrounds more physically active has made a positive difference, research has shown.A study into children's activity levels was conducted by researchers at Born in Bradford, alongside Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of found that JU:MP, a Sport England-funded scheme introduced five years ago, improved children's total physical activity by more than 70 minutes a week. It also found that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity had improved by nearly six minutes on weekdays and inactivity had reduced by more than 21 minutes a day on weekends. The JU:MP programme has been working with Bradford schools to increase movement throughout the school at The Academy at St James, a primary school in Allerton, have taken part in the project for children aged between five and Wainman, PE and outdoor learning lead, said: "It's a great opportunity to get the children away from their classroom setting, come outside and have fun in an outdoor environment."Children go outside in small groups throughout the week as part of the scheme, with the whole class having an outdoor lesson once a week."We'll do fire pits, den building, creative art," Mr Wainman said."Some of the children struggle in class and then they come out here and they really excel."They might not be able to draw in a classroom or in an art lesson but they come out here and they create the best piece of art they have ever done." Lisa Dodd-Mayne, executive director of place at Sport England, said: "We know up and down the country, where you live has an impact on whether you have the opportunity to be active or not."It's just not fair."Dr. Sally Barber, director of physical activity at Born in Bradford and co-research director of JU:MP, said: "What JU:MP has achieved is testament to the individuals and communities who have come together to design ways to build physical activity into all parts of children's lives." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Bradford project produces ‘outstanding' rise in children's physical activity
A project in the UK which included young people designing their own play spaces has led to what researchers say is the highest increase in children's physical activity ever recorded by an intervention of its kind. The JU:MP programme (Join Us: Move Play) in Bradford, West Yorkshire, recruited children and young people to design play spaces on neglected land near their homes, choosing plants, balance beams, and nature play features, such as stone stacks and earth mounds which encourage imaginative games while keeping maintenance costs down. Alongside intervention in state schools, the project got madrasas (religious after-school programmes) to build exercise – including football, cricket and archery – into their classes for the first time, putting health messages in faith settings. The result was a transformation that benefited children from across Bradford's communities, the organisers said. In the Shipley area of the city, which is predominantly white, investment in activity clubs saved parents from paying for after-school and holiday activities. By increasing opportunities for play throughout the children's day, with families encouraged to walk more, the scheme improved the children's total physical activity by more than 70 minutes a week. The children wore accelerometers – devices that measured their motion – so researchers from Born in Bradford, a project that tracks health outcomes in the city, could collate the data. Physical activity classed as 'moderate to vigorous' increased by six minutes on weekdays, while 'weekend inactivity' fell by about 22 minutes a day. Previous studies involving long-term physical activity intervention have averaged only four-minute increases per day, according to Sport England and Born in Bradford. Sport England is investing £250m in 90 places in the top 10% areas of the country for inactivity, deprivation and health inequality. It described the results in Bradford – where 40.4% of children aged 10-11 were overweight in 2022-23 – as 'outstanding'. The Bradford project was funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research, with infrastructure funded by Sport England, and targeted 30,000 children in eight neighbourhoods of the city. Dr Sally Barber, the director of physical activity research at Born in Bradford, said the project had taken a singular, 'whole-system' approach in targeting children and families, community organisations, schools and the environment, ensuring 'it's the people within the locality that are making the decisions'. Barber said: 'The green space is a shining example – we've developed 12 green spaces over the course of the programme. We've had some projects where teenage girls have been involved from the very beginning, working with landscape architects to develop their ideas, often places where there's been problems with lighting, flytipping or antisocial behaviour. It's been really important to have that co-design and have those children saying: 'Actually, this is what would make me use it'.' Born in Bradford is a birth cohort study that began in 2007, following the lives of children since their mothers were pregnant, collecting data including accelerometer readings from children at various stages of their lives. The JU:MP programme involved 766 children in the intervention group, and results were compared with a control group of 687. The research ran between January 2022 and September 2024. Sam Bacon, the strategic director of physical activity for Active Bradford and the JU:MP programme, said the approach taken in Bradford 'needs to go into policymaking'. Bacon said: 'We know physical behaviour habits when you're young influence what happens when you're older, and that increasing sedentary behaviour and general physical ill-health is a real problem society faces. 'We're not talking about putting on lots of free football sessions, and when the money runs out, that stops – we're talking about sustainable behaviour change.' Lisa Dodd-Mayne, the Sport England executive director for place, said: 'This work is a pivotal moment in time, showing that by working differently we can genuinely influence activity levels.'
