There is a phrase in the wording of the PE and School Sports premium that clearly lays out one of the biggest challenges facing schools: '...support and involve the least active children by providing targeted activities, and running or extending school sports and holiday clubs' - this blog looks at some of the issues and offers a few practical and effective ways to overcome them.

It's not news that primary schools receive significant funding support to help them improve the attitudes of their pupils towards physical activity. Nor will it surprise you that schools, busy with a raft of other priorities can find this a very difficult thing to do, especially if they have a staffroom full of people who would class themselves as 'not a sporty person' - sound familiar?

The trap lots of schools are falling into is to use their pe premium just to put on more sports clubs and play in more competitions and fixtures and then pat themselves on the back when these clubs and teams are all full. Of course, that's certainly something we should be doing, but let's face it and accept that it's a fairly easy win - it's not hard to get sporty kids to do sporty things. The real challenge is engaging that group of children who we allow to sit these things out, who think it's not for them and who, if you'll pardon a pun, would 'run a mile' if asked to play competitive sports (we all know who they are in our own classrooms). It takes creative thinking to get those hard to reach kids onto your list of 'regularly active children' and in my experience there is a 3 step process which really helps.

1. Get their attention. What do they like? Who are their friends? What would they be interested in trying?

Put together a simple survey and ask everyone in the school what they would like to do. Take the kids who are already doing 2 hours of regular activity out of the results and put on new things for those who aren't. Chances you will have some who will say things like playing on the Xbox; reading, or watching TV - some will surprise you given the choice. Put non completive activities such as aerobics, Pilates and fitness circuits down and I think you'll be surprised how many children pick them. Often their reservations are around being bumped about in competitive sport, or that they have low self-esteem and worry about the scores they'd achieve and be embarrased becasue they are 'not very good'. Take that away and you've removed a barrier for some children.

2. Put them into 'activity by stealth' - take what they like and put an active slant on it.

This part is very straight forward. Give them what they want, but don't make it too easy for them. For example, look at the Xbox gamers. On the face of it, that is a very sedentary activity, but you want them to be more active, so give them an Xbox club with no chairs; they have to stand up to play. Just watch how animated they get when playing games like FIFA or the varrious driving games. They are fantastic for motor skills, and with wireless controllers the freedom to move is enormous. Put the game on your biggest screen in the hall and they will love it.

Another way of doing this is lunchtime Treasure hunting. Take the child you want to get moving and give them and his or her best friend a treasure hunt challenge. They have a digital camera and all they have to do is go around the school finding a word, one letter at a time. They take it in turns to stand next to a sign and point at the letter they have 'hunted' while their friend takes a picture. Then, ask them to work in the ICT suite and produce a collage - print out the pictures, cut them out and put together a piece of artwork as their evidence - run it as a competition throughout the year and give the children who win best art work a prize (give them something active like a bike riding experience or a voucher for climbing or skateboarding). This is great incentive for both the kids who love art and those who love ICT. As teachers, all you have to do is target the children, change the word they are looking for and pick a winner.

The third, and perhaps most simple of activities is the Target club - children are invited to take part in a club which is all about aiming things at targets. It couldn't be simpler. How many times out of 10 can you throw this bean bag into this hoop that is 3m away? How many skittles that are 3m away can you knock over with this ball in 10 throws? How many times can you get your foam javelins to land in this dustbin which is 3m away in 10 throws (the list of 'target opportunities is endless). Doing a circuit of these three activities, they are concentrating on their 30 throws and seeing if they can improve their scores each session - make absolutely sure that this is about improving your personal best and nt a competiton between children. From our point of view what they are actually doing is walking 180 metres in the session (walking the 6 meters that it takes to get there and back to the target to retrieve their ball, bean bag or javelin 30 times). If you want to increase their heart beat put a timer on it, so they cover the 180m quicker. Remember, to them it's about target practice.

3. The big reveal - show them 'how far they've come'

Find out if they enjoyed the activities and if they would like to do something similar in the future. If you've delivered it well the answer will be yes. It's what they asked for after all! It's important to use the power of their enjoyment to adjust their own thinking. If they have been in the Xbox club could they consider standing up when they play at home? If they've been treasure hunting tell them that as a result of their 3 sessions they've actually walked around 5 miles (based on 2mph) and they'll have burnt 230 calories - how easy was that? Suggest that instead of sitting with their friends at lunchtime that they go for a walk around school instead, or even that they carry on hunting for different things and running similar games themselves amongst their friends (e.g. bring me a stick, a leaf and a flower). Similarly with the children who have taken part in the target club you can let them know about the 180 metres they've covered and ask them if they could do it quicker? And build on your successes in the playground - could you set up some target areas so that more kids can move more at breaks and lunchtime?

The key thing for me is that these things are all alternatives to more football, more netball, more dodgeball. These are new activities that don't involve children having to have to get changed to do them (removing another significant barrier to engagement), don't require qualified sports coaches or tracksuit teachers to deliver and which are not a big time drain on schools or staff.

They will target a different demographic of children and help you engage them in a way that doesn't stigmatise them in the way that inviting someone to take part in a club called 'Change4Life' does - they don't think they need to change their lives, so the very branding of the governments well meant campaign is often seen as an attack on people (and parents really don't like that).Think about what is stopping them being active and remove those barriers wherever possible.

Engage these hard to reach kids by inviting them to have fun doing what they love and show them how adding a physical activity element can actually enhance their experience, even if it's only going for a walk with a friend whilst you do it. That's the way you can change their behaviour, their attitude and ultimately improve their health for the long term. Then, you really will be having a big impact.

Give these ideas a go in your schools and let me know how you get on. I'd love to hear if they have made a difference and if you have any other ideas to get these hard to reach kids active please do share them on the comments section - we're all in this together and sharing best practice should be what we are all about!

Good luck.

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