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Promoting the benefits of sport at school

Paris 2024 strives to increase the reach of sport in France. In order to encourage as many people as possible to develop a lasting habit for physical activity, we need to instil this mindset in childhood, at school. To avoid children slipping into sedentary lifestyles, develop their motor skills and boost their physical capabilities, the French Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports launched an initiative with support from Paris 2024 in primary schools all throughout France to provide school children with 30 minutes of exercise every day and get them moving!

30 minutes of exercise at school every day

A child’s relationship to exercise is shaped between the ages of 6 to 11. Yet, 92% of girls and 82% of boys in this age group are not physically active enough. PE lessons at school offer the main source of physical activity for 80% of children So, to get young people moving, we need to tackle the problem at its root and pass on the joy of an active lifestyle by supplementing the three hours of PE per week already part of the national curriculum.

Implemented as part of the strategy to teach children about healthy lifestyles Ecole promotrice de santéand the Génération 2024 programme, this initiative can be rolled out in a number of different ways. The 30 minutes of physical activity can be split into several shorter sessions throughout the school day, for example introducing a wake-up work-out when the children arrive at school with various fun physical exercises that will offer countless learnings vital for well-being and academic success.

Find activity sheets on the Generation 2024 website

A project launched in 2020

The 30-minutes of exercise every day at school initiative was trialled and launched during the Olympic and Paralympic Week (OPW) in February 2020. A call for expressions of interest is still open to all those working in education who wish to get involved with the movement to improve well-being among school children.

In September 2021, over 1,000 schools had already signed up to the initiative. The success of the initial trials encouraged the ministry to roll out the idea across the entire country, and now the initiative is implemented by every school in France.

To support this effort, Paris 2024 and the French National Sport Agency are funding the provision of a sports kit that includes some basic sporting equipment to help the teaching staff put in place the 30-minutes of exercise every day.