Active Lincolnshire are pleased to announce we are working in partnership with Habit5 to undertake a research project looking at experiences of, and attitudes towards, physical activity for children and young people across Lincolnshire.

The research will provide valuable insight that will enable us and our partners to shape our work to ensure more children and young people can access the many benefits participating in sport and physical activity can bring. It will inform, and help us share and co-create the children and young people work across the county underpinning the Let’s Move Lincolnshire Strategy.

Habit5 will work with us to dig beneath the data of Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People survey and other existing data sources, to help us understand how best to reframe physical activity and sport in Lincolnshire so that it meets the needs of all young people, enabling the creation of positive experiences regardless of who they are, where they live or what’s happening in their lives.

Physical activity plays an essential part in a child’s development. As well as improving their physical health, regular exercise benefits all areas of children’s lives – including their mental wellbeing, academic performance, motivation, social skills, and overall resilience.

We know from existing data and research however that certain groups of children and young people are less likely to meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of taking part in at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity activity on average per day across a week. This research project will engage with young people from a range of backgrounds that could benefit from physical activity but are not currently accessing them, to find out how they could be better supported to make activity part of their daily lives and overcome the barriers to being active they face.

Consultation and engagement with young people will be at the core of the research project, allowing us to understand from their perspective how the physical activity landscape in Lincolnshire needs to change to engage less active young people. The research will also identify, sustainable, consistent methods for ensuring youth voice is included in the future developments of physical activity provision for children and young people across the county.

David Jones, Managing Director of Habit5 commented:

“We’re delighted to be working with Active Lincolnshire on this strategically important research project, that has the potential to deliver key insights on how to successfully increase the number of children and young people who have a positive attitude towards sport and physical activity and really positive experiences too.”

“We find uncovering new knowledge and evidence relating to behaviour change and new habit formation really exciting and this project offers a great opportunity to achieve that.”

Lorna Leach, Director of Transformation at Active Lincolnshire said:

"For Lincolnshire to be a place where everyone has the opportunity to be physically active every day we have to understand the opportunities to create positive changes for children and young people through their eyes and experiences. We’re looking forward to working with Habit5 to create the foundations on which systems, services, institutions and partners can hear from and work with our young residents to ensure they have access to positive experiences and opportunities to be active."

Update November 2022

As part of this research project, the Creating Positive Experiences Survey 2022 is now live until 30 November. This is the first county-wide survey that we have conducted with children and young people aged 5-16 years.

We are inviting schools across Lincolnshire to register for the survey and share it with as many pupils as possible. It is open to schoolchildren from Y1 through to Y11. We positively encourage participation from all pupils, whether they are very active or less active, sporty or not. We really want to understand their outlook, experiences and intentions. The survey should take around 20 minutes to complete and is intended to be completed by pupils whilst they are at school using desktop computers, laptops or tablets.

The survey focuses exclusively on the experiences, needs and perceptions of children and young people in Lincolnshire and the results are intended to very directly influence strategy in this area for Lincolnshire.. Each school that participates will be among the first to receive a summary of the findings from this survey, which will provide a benchmark on physical activity for schools throughout Lincolnshire and right across the year groups, at a single point in time.

Schools can register to fill out the survey here.

Visit our Knowledge Hub for our current Children and Young People insight.