Ecole Primaire du Mas

France

Let's Walk Around Slovenia

Focus Area

Physical activity - Evaluation of planned and implemented activities

Target Group

From 6 to 14 years old
(1st to 9th grades).

By Barbara Verbančič (teacher

Purpose of Let's Walk Around Slovenia

The purpose of this activity was to activate students for being physically active, in addition to exercise, also strengthened relationships between students of different ages.

Preparation Phase

With the emergence of certain problems at school, following the Covid-19 epidemic and distance education, we have assessed that mental health promotion among pupils is much needed. At the same time, we wanted to activate the pupils for being physically active when they are not in school (waiting for classes in the morning or afternoon, waiting for the bus and during long breaks) and during that time to socialise not only with their peers but also with other pupils in the school, younger and older. The school has a well-maintained, safe playground that offers various activity options for pupils, but these were not being utilized. Most pupils were sitting on benches or stairs and chatting. Therefore, the staff began to encourage them to be physically active during their free time (waiting for classes in the morning or afternoon waiting for the bus and during long breaks). They came up with the idea of walking around the school playground for a distance equivalent to the length of the Slovenian border (1370 km).

We had chosen a physical activity which, in addition to exercise, also strengthened relationships between pupils of different ages. The project was presented to the whole HPS team (with all external stakeholders) and to all the school’s teaching staff at school meeting, to the pupils and to the parents. The class teachers encouraged pupils to participate, and we also had the support of principal throughout.

About Primary School Bistrica ob Sotli

Bistrica ob Sotli Primary School is located in a small rural town in a hilly area in the east of Slovenia, a few kilometres from the border with neighbouring Croatia.

As it is a small town, the school has also close links with the local population. The rural school works well with its founding municipality. The municipality supports it from time to time in various ways in additional activities aimed at improving the local population. Although, there are no specific financial funds or legal provision for the municipality to support schools in activities to promote health and healthy lifestyles in the school setting and its immediate surroundings.

Primary School Bistrica ob Sotli have 130 students from 6 to 14 years old (from 1st to 9th grades) and 25 teachers.

Our school has been a member of the Network of Health Promoting Schools since 1993 when first 12 schools actively began participating in the project. The school implements various activities aimed at achieving the goals of whole-school approach. Representatives of students and teachers, counselling staff, school management, parents, the local community, and representatives of the Health Centre Šmarje pri Jelšah collaborate in planning the content.

School’s website: https://www.osbistricaobsotli.si/

The activity was presented to all pupils, and all staff were involved. Pupils were instructed to walk two laps around the playground track each day in their free time. After completing the task, they could engage in any activity of their choice.

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The layout of the classroom changes regularly so that the pupils can rediscover their classroom and make suggestions about what layout they prefer. The pupils change places every week; they have a tray with their school material. They are able to choose the place they wish to take during the week. After a while, they are able to see what suits them best, so that they can progress and work. The use of the corridor and the head teacher’s office, which are adjacent to the classroom, means that the pupils have access to different areas to do workshops alone or in small groups without disturbing the other pupils. This also allows the pupils to escape the presence of the class group and have quieter times.

A space where the child feels good and wants to take possession of it, helps to keep the pupil motivated and more available for learning.

Teaching Practice

On the other hand, the aim is to make teaching more flexible by introducing a different way of operating based on differentiation (different timescales, different requirements, etc.), with the introduction of tutorial and group activities, for example: the pupils have a work plan and they follow it. Once they have finished, they have access to the workshops: construction or card games, but also mental arithmetic activities.

As is the case in nursery schools, these workshops can be organized for children up to CM2 (when pupils are in their last year of primary school). It’s a way of getting them to work in a different way. It doesn’t mean that the children do what they want. Quite the opposite. The rules need to be well set and clear to the whole group for it to work.

The layout of the flexible classroom works, as long as you are precise in the rules you expect pupils to respect, but also in the teaching. It is a space that must be set up for the well-being of the pupils and the teacher, so that it can be used to best effect and to encourage everyone’s motivation.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s true that I’m much stricter than my colleagues. But that’s how I operate. You have to find your own, to explore different avenues about which direction to take, and to know what you’re going to be able to accept or not. More broadly, our school has also been involved in other activities as part of the implementation of the health-promoting schools framework, particularly on promoting physical activity and around food. These activities have enabled us to work with other schools that are also involved in this initiative, thereby promoting diversity and inclusion, preparing older children to start at secondary school, and strengthening links and communication with all members of the educational community, as well as with other partners, particularly associations.

Evaluation

No formal evaluation of the implementation of the health-promoting schools framework has been carried out within the school, but our teaching team have discussed which projects should or should not be renewed, depending on how well they were received by the pupils, how they went with the partners, and funding constraints.

An evaluation was carried out by the local district inspector. We do not know the results.

Finally, a researcher worked with us on the implementation of the flexible classroom. Pupils filled in questionnaires before and after the actual implementation. He looked at what this produced in terms of motivation, well-being and stress. The results have not yet been published, so I can’t share them.

Project results

We observed that the pupils were more responsible and autonomous in their tasks between the beginning and the end of the year. The class as a group communicates a lot and listens more. There are fewer conflicts; there is also more kindness, mutual aid and cooperation. And the children work in a calmer atmosphere. In short, this flexible class layout helps to give pupils a say in what they learn and in their lives at school.

Challenges

Over the course of the project, we had to face several challenges, which we overcame.

Challenge 1: We faced a lack of involvement from some teachers towards the health-promoting school approach: indeed, it was perceived as an additional burden.

The solution we found: We refocused our working group on a driving core of motivated teachers to boost others and bring them out of their comfort zone gently, by trying to value the skills implemented in the projects.

Challenge 2: We also encountered difficulties in mobilizing all the partners and to coordinate our actions.

The solution we found: We relied on the involvement of the district to liaise with the municipality and target actions according to the needs identified.

Challenge 3: Certain financial constraints may have limited the implementation of certain elements of the project.

The solution we found: We applied for grants from the municipality, Saint Etienne Métropole, and the parents’ association. We have also invited parents to contribute financially towards the costs of certain activities.

Facilitating Factors

The factors that helped our project were:

- - the motivation and involvement of the teaching team
- - the support from the municipality (premises, staff, subsidies)
- - the funding from the parent association.

Training

The training also provided us with knowledge to improve our understanding of the health-promoting school. It also enabled us to carry out an initial evaluation of our school, thanks to the Rapid Assessment Tool proposed during the training.

SHE School Guide

We have found this document to be accessible and rich in concepts and information. It is useful, but each member of the school community needs to play their part fully and get involved if it is to have an impact. We relied heavily on the Rapid Assessment Tool provided in this guide for our initial evaluation. It enabled us to realise that we were already doing things towards health promotion. Because sometimes you can get the impression that you’re not doing very much, but in fact when you make the list, you see that, in the end, you are already doing things. And that enabled us to target our actions initially, so we didn’t spread ourselves too thin: we started with one line first and then, once that was established, we were able to work on something else.

Recommendations

- - Share your experience with other teachers who are interested, by welcoming observers into your classroom, to inspire the implementation of similar layouts.
- - Don’t hesitate to rely on other members of the school team to find solutions together. Indeed, we don’t all have the same skills, and that precious and enriching.
- - It’s important to have access to training in line with the team’s own needs.
- - Every member of the school community must be involved and play their part in the health-promoting school approach.