Almost 10,000 pupils in Offaly to receive free active diary

Offaly Sports Partnership, with the support of Healthy Offaly, recently launched its Active Pupil diary and started distributing it to every primary school in the county. Almost 10,000 pupils in the county will be issued with a free copy of the diary to help them track their physical activity levels in the new school year.

The Active Pupil Diary is just one initiative of the Sports Partnership to help children be more active. Currently only 17% of children are meeting the Department of Health’s daily recommended levels of physical activity. There is a pressing need to increase this figure in order to alleviate longer term health issues associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

The Sports Partnership and the Healthy Offaly Team have called on parents and teachers to encourage use of the diary on a daily and weekly basis in order that children get into the habit of making physical activity part of their daily routine. In much the same way as pupils have a homework journal to ensure that they are keeping their school work up to date, the activity diary encourages a prioritisation of daily physical activity also.

The diary, developed by Frank Fahey of Fizzical Ltd. and illustrated by Andrea Cooke, provides tips and hints for parents and teachers to encourage activity by the children.

Speaking at the launch Anna-Marie Delaney Chief Executive Offaly County Council said: “I am delighted to support the launch of Offaly Sports Partnership’s Active Pupil diary and commend the work of Offaly Sports Partnership in bringing this exciting new development to fruition. It will hopefully be of great benefit to schools.”

Cllr Robert Fitzpatrick said: “As Chairperson of Offaly Sports Partnership I am delighted to be launching this new Active Me initiative which will provide every child attending school in County Offaly with an activity diary to track their physical activity throughout the school year.”

Dermot Egan, Healthy Offaly Coordinator took the opportunity at the launch to “acknowledge the Department of Health, Sláintecare and Healthy Ireland for providing funding for the initiative and also mentioned the great support given by the Healthy Offaly Subcommittee in getting this project over the line”.