Many primary school children in Northern Ireland (NI) are insufficiently active and spend long periods sitting. To address this, the Children – Sit Less, Move More (C-SLAMM) intervention was designed to reduce sitting time and increase physical activity (PA) in children (aged 7-9 years) within the school- and home-setting. The purpose of this process evaluation was to use a combination of methods to elicit child and teacher perceptions regarding the acceptability of the C-SLAMM intervention. Semi-structured interviews with teachers (n = 4; 3 female), write and draw tasks and semi-structured focus groups (n = 8) with 48 children (25 boys, 23 girls) from four primary schools were conducted to explore the acceptability of the intervention. Focus group and interview discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using a deductive and inductive approach. The combination of data sources (focus group transcripts, interview transcripts, child drawings and log diary data) were pooled and revealed five key themes, namely: engagement (fun, enjoyment); positive aspects of C-SLAMM intervention (increased range of opportunities, educational, increased competence/body image, increased choice and flexibility, lasting impact, selection of activities, challenges, and competition); barriers to intervention delivery (parental support, lack of space, allocation of sit-to-stand desks, lack of time); teachers’ self-efficacy (delivery of resources, ability to use the C-SLAMM intervention); and recommendations for improvement (wider engagement, strategies to overcome intervention barriers). These findings suggest that the C-SLAMM intervention was appropriate and acceptable to children and teachers. This evaluation provides greater understanding as to how, and to what extent, the C-SLAMM intervention was implemented within the school- and home-setting. Findings demonstrate that child engagement was influenced by teacher interest in the intervention. Identified barriers should be taken into consideration in the design of future, larger-scale PA interventions in the school- and home-setting.

As a school we wanted to focus on the retrieval of key knowledge for humanities subjects. The presentation will be a case study of the journey of early implementation and impact that move and learn/physically active learning has had on our staff and children as stakeholders. We started by working alongside the move and learn team, attending training and coming together as a collective to share practice. Our area of focus was retrieval and how we could use the strategies/activators within the curriculum to retrieve key knowledge. To trial strategies, we worked on one per week, attached to our history/geography lessons. The trial was rolled out to year 5 and 6, with one trained teacher in each year group. The importance was to make the activities fit to the current curriculum, with minimal ‘add on’ but maximum impact on the children’s knowledge. Each week we fed back to one another and discussed changes that needed to make for the children in our classes. Shared examples of how it was lead differently in different classes. The further roll out was for LKS2 and KS1. All to trial the same 6 activities over the following half term. Plan, do, review system. Impact and Learning: Built up confidence – children have been more likely to take part in class discussion post activity; Better engagement in topics; Reduction in sedentary time in the classroom; Better retrieval of key information from the topic – specifically vocabulary; Creative use of classroom environments, viewing the classroom space as an area for active learning to take part; Opportunities to develop oracy and the use of full sentences to explain; Pupil voice – expanding across the core subjects. Next steps: Develop staff confidence around the delivery of physically active learning and write into school policy – embed into the curriculum.

Traditional education has long been critiqued for its sedentary nature, leading to prolonged inactivity among students. Acknowledging the pivotal role of physical activity in learning and student well-being, the ALPHYL Project (financing code: PID2020-115075RA-I00) aimed to redefine this landscape by fostering physical literacy (PL) through physically active learning (PAL) experiences in Primary School. This study presents the complementary interventions' opinions and perspectives from educators and researchers involved in the ALPHYL Project. The initiative aimed to infuse PAL approaches across key curricular areas (e.g., Mathematics) and Physical Education (PE), harnessing the body as a tool for enriched learning within an inclusive educational framework. Teachers training and resources co-creation were conducted for six months’ prior the intervention. Over a trimester, a collaborative effort between educators and the ALPHYL team implemented PAL interventions. These included movement-based games, motor skill challenges, and embodied expression, strategically integrated into various subjects across school facilities through effective coordination. In addition, three didactic units were used during PE classes, focusing on the development of the different domains of PL (social, cognitive, physical and psychological). The evaluation involved joint reflection by both educators and researchers after the intervention. Structured meetings facilitated insights into the effectiveness and challenges encountered during the ALPHYL Project. The analysis revealed positive results from both the teachers and the ALPHYL team. These included a reduction in sedentary behavior, increased student engagement, and improvements in the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness, as well as increased student enjoyment. Areas identified for improvement were the material requirements, the complexity of the tasks or the commitment and space required. The positive results obtained support the importance of replicating this type of project in other schools, thus promoting a more active and healthy approach to education. Keywords Physical Literacy; physically active learning; physical activity promotion; primary education.

Introduction: Encouraging increased physical activity and reducing sedentary time in children and adolescents, especially in schools, is crucial. Approaches like physically active learning (PAL) show promise in enhancing educational outcomes and health markers. However, to ensure the sustainability of PAL interventions, there is a need to diagnose the perceptions of teachers and students. Thus, the main objective was to identify the perceptions of teachers and students participating in a 16-week PAL intervention. Methods: Two hundred ninety-two 7th and 8th grade students from six secondary schools across two Spanish provinces participated in the ACTIVE CLASS study, a 16-week randomized controlled trial. One school per province was randomly assigned to the PAL intervention group. This intervention lasted 16 weeks and was developed in one lesson of Mathematics per week. After the intervention, six semi-structured individual interviews with teachers and six focus groups involved six students were conducted, between both provinces. Results: Both teachers and students praise the greater socialization, their greater motivation for the lessons, and the ability to learn while having fun. Teachers highlight the usefulness especially for students who do not collaborate in traditional classes, finding practical applicability in the contents. They identify as the main obstacle that when a student fails to keep up or does not understand the content, it hinders group dynamics, leading to boredom in others during activities. Conclusion: Teachers and students perceive PAL intervention as educationally beneficial, emphasizing the need for students to follow the subject properly.

The imoves Active Blast Challenge, featured in the HundrED Global Collection 2024, represents an innovative approach to integrating physical activity into the classroom setting. Originating in the UK, this program was implemented in Helsinki primary schools from January to March 2023, emphasizing the incorporation of regular activity breaks to enhance the learning environment. Central to this initiative are the Active Blast sessions, consisting of engaging 3-10 minute video activities suitable for classroom participation. These sessions are designed to be conducted twice a day – once in the morning and again in the afternoon. The primary objective is to positively influence students' academic performance, mental well-being, resilience, focus, and mood through physical activity. A notable aspect of the program is the use of the "thumb-o-metre" tool, allowing teachers to assess and monitor changes in the classroom's mood and energy levels before and after each Active Blast session. This feature provides valuable feedback on the effectiveness of the activities in altering the classroom atmosphere. The program's simplicity and ease of implementation have been key factors in its adoption by teachers. It requires minimal disruption to the standard classroom routine while providing significant benefits in terms of student engagement and well-being. The use of English in the video content also presents an opportunity for non-native English speakers to engage in language learning in a fun and interactive way. Overall, the imoves Active Blast Challenge demonstrates the potential of simple, well-designed physical activities to transform the educational experience, making learning more dynamic and inclusive. Its recognition in the HundrED Global Collection 2024 highlights its scalability and impact on the global educational landscape.

School Active breaks (AB) are 5-15 minutes of physical activity (PA) used to interrupt sedentary behaviour at school. A growing body of literature shows that even few minutes of PA can have positive effects on PA levels, classroom behaviour and well-being. For this reason, the implementation of AB has been introduced in the Italian school system and is recommended in the guidelines for PA of the Italian Ministry of Health in order to promote well-being at school. In Emilia Romagna region, we adhere to these recommendations and have a history of systematic and expanding implementation of AB across primary and secondary school grades. We will describe what works, what can be improved, and what should be changed to foster successful AB implementation and ensure sustainability.

It is well known that physical activity (PA) plays vital role in supporting health and development of children, including those with disabilities. Moreover, there is growing evidence that PA can improve cognitive function and academic performance. Schools are an important setting for increasing children's PA since most of their time is spent at school. Consequently, many interventions have been conducted to improve children's PA during the school day. Physically Active Learning (PAL)—which combines PA with academic content—is one way to increase PA in schools. Teachers are mainly responsible for adopting and implementing PAL into curricular lessons. However, there is limited evidence on teachers' perceptions of PAL in Additional Support Needs (ASN) schools in the UK and globally. This research examines teachers' perceptions of PAL in ASN schools in Scotland. This study adapted a survey developed as part of the ACTivate project for use in ASN contexts. The adapted survey consists of 21 open-ended and Likert scale questions. It covers teachers' knowledge about PAL, their perception of its benefits, the facilitators and barriers, and their perspectives on its delivery. For survey distribution, three ways are followed. The survey was distributed via direct email to all ASN schools in Scotland and through professional networks and social media. Descriptive stastistics and frequency analysis will be used to describe teachers perceptions of PAL. The Likert scale responses will be categorised into three domains of teachers’ perceptions: (1) PAL benefits, (2) PAL engagement and delivery, and (3) facilitators and barriers to PAL implementation. The survey findings will provide valuable insights into key aspects for adapting and adopting PAL programmes for use in ASN schools.