Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle

At Hillcross we strive to inspire our pupils to actively take part and progress in a range of physical activities embedding a desire to be active and healthy for life. At Hillcross developing a child’s physical health and mental wellbeing is as important to us as improving their academic performance therefore it is an essential part of our school curriculum. ​

Our focus as children begin their journey in our EYFS is on developing their skills such as coordination, control, manipulation and gross and fine motor movement. Within our continuous provision we ensure the children are able to access the outside area at all times during the day, whether this is playing in the tyre park, riding scooters or bikes or developing their climbing, coordination and balance skills on the large climbing apparatus.

In addition to this, the children also take part in weekly PE sessions led by a class teacher and our sports co-ordinator.   As well as this the children also access ‘Wake Up Shake Up Sessions’ during both the morning and afternoon (see Physical development for more details). 

Physical activity has countless health benefits for children. Not only does exercise improve a child’s overall health and fitness, but it can also help to improve their mental health and cognitive development as well.

Here are some of the key benefits of physical activity for children:

• Builds confidence and improves social skills
• Gives children the opportunity to learn new skills and teaches them important life skills
• Strengthens muscles and bones
• Enhances concentration and learning, which increases productivity and success
• Makes children feel good and elevates their mood
• Inspires positivity and encourages tolerance
• Helps to relieve stress and maintain mental and emotional wellbeing
• Improves sleep and energy levels
• Improves coordination (gross motor skills then impacting on fine motor skills)
• Improves rhythm and timing
• Has a positive effect on behaviour

Improves overall health and fitness and helps children maintain a healthy weight to prevent childhood obesity.

Healthy Lifestyle
Our EYFS curriculum includes developing thew children's awareness of what a healthy lifestyle is. This includes teaching awareness of;

• Healthy food choices
• Oral Hygiene
• Importance of sleep 
• Awareness of emotions, change in emotions and strategies to promote self help skills.