Fitzy scheme

 

South Stoke School Sport Partnership

Berry Hill High School & Sports College

 

  Blurton High School, Edensor High School, Longton High School, Mitchell High School, Sandon High School, St Joseph’s College, St Thomas More Catholic College, Trentham High School

 

 

 

 

KS1 Fitzy Scheme 

 

The Fitzy scheme is designed to encourage KS1 children to adopt a healthy lifestyle by promoting both healthy eating and participation in physical activity. The Fitzy character is used to influence the behaviour of the children and it is important that the children associate the concept of a healthy lifestyle with Fitzy and that his brand image is strong.

 

The Fitzy programme is not a scheme of work – materials have been produced that can be used in PE lessons and for use in Out of School Hours Learning (OSHL) to develop fundamental motor skills, but equally can be used to support cross curricular work and to support home based activity.

 

The materials and resources have been developed over the last four years and the pilot school, Alexandra Infants’ School in Stoke-on-Trent, has been instrumental in the shaping and development of the scheme. Mrs Christine Winkle (PLT) has been the lead deliverer and the scheme is now fully embedded in the school.

 

At the outset the scheme was purely a South Stoke School Sport Partnership initiative but eighteen months ago the City Catering Department became involved. Fitzy now has five food friends (representing the five food groups) and they will appear on the new crockery that is being launched in Stoke Schools this month. Whenever a school has a Fitzy launch the children take part in physical activity and healthy eating workshops and by using the same character it provides a more consistent message to the children about healthy lifestyles.

 

More recently the Leisure Services Department adopted the Fitzy character as their mascot. They will use the Fitzy image to signpost relevant sessions that will suit families with KS1 children within their programming in local leisure facilities. They have also used the Fitzy mascot to promote the Energise Plus Scheme.

 

In addition a project is currently being developed with the Stoke-on-Trent PCT to produce activity bags that will contain some sports equipment, two physical activity cards, a recipe card and information about local amenities. Plus there will be a soft toy fox and a record book for the children to document what they did. The activity bags will be piloted in a number of schools, libraries and children centres. This multi-agency collaboration enables a more coordinated approach, more efficient use of resources and more effective targeting of schools and community areas; and to reiterate, the message about healthy lifestyles is consistent and is being continually reinforced.

 

An evaluation of the scheme at Alexandra Infants’ School in South Stoke, suggests that the brand recognition and brand image for Fitzy is very strong. More importantly the children clearly associate Fitzy with a healthy lifestyle and are very secure in their knowledge about what they have to do in order to be healthy. The school offers 2 hours of PE within the curriculum, attendance at after school clubs is extremely high, there are Y2 Fitzy Playground Leaders and the school participates fully in all KS1 events run by the Partnership. Since the launch the children have also consumed more fruit and vegetables at lunch time and have been putting pressure on parents to make sure that they get their five a day.

 

If you would like to know more about the Fitzy scheme please contact:

Helen Moors
School Sport Coordinator
South Stoke School Sport Partnership
E: helenmoors@aol.com