Children become less physically active as they move through school

Children spend less time doing physical activity as they progress through primary school, research has found.

A team at the University of Bristol tracked the physical activity levels of 1,300 children in year one (five to six years old), over a week using an accelerometer to measure movement.

They then repeated this measurement three years later, finding children spend more time sedentary as they progress from year one to year four (eight to nine years old).

Researchers also found one third of boys and two thirds of girls between eight and nine years old were failing to meet the recommended one hour of daily physical activity.

Lead researcher Russ Jago said: ‘The results show a clear need to find ways to help children to be active throughout the primary school years. We need to get children active and then keep