Primary school teachers in seven Leicestershire schools are being trained to incorporate physical activity into daily lessons.

The programme has been put together by Loughborough University and the Youth Sport Trust to encourage young people to be more physically active, and to fight the childhood obesity epidemic engulfing the UK.

Alongside institutions such as the University of Leicester, Nottingham University and Victoria University (Australia), the bodies are working to train Year 5 teachers in the schools on the CLASS PAL (physical active learning) systems they have developed.

The CLASS PAL system includes a training workshop delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, with supporting online information and resources to help teachers introduce active learning into their classrooms.

Alison Sturla, development manager at the Youth Sport Trust, said the project was designed to “help teachers understand that lessons can be a place where young people can be physically active”.

“We are taking the principles from PE and applying them to create an active learning environment in the rest of the school,” she added.

“By incorporating simple movements into daily lesson routines, pupils have an improved learning experience, will move more, sit less and have healthy minds and bodies for the future.”