Thousands of children across England have been issued with pedometers as action to tackle childhood obesity took another step forward today with the official launch of the Schools on the Move pilot scheme.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint and Steve Grainger, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust met with teachers and pupils from Barking Abbey Sports College who have been using the pedometers to get active and as part of their everyday lessons for the last month.

Nearly 9000 pedometers have been issued to pupils aged nine to 14 years in around 50 schools across England involved in the Scheme which is funded by Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills and managed by the Youth Sport Trust. The scheme is one of the actions set out in the government's Choosing Health white paper to tackle childhood obesity and increase physical activity.

Launching the Scheme Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said:

"Childhood obesity is a serious issue which the government is determined to tackle on a number of fronts including increasing levels of physical activity. Pedometers are effective in motivating people to become more active. Schools on the Move takes this further by incorporating the information children gain from pedometers into lessons like maths, science, art and geography, making the distance they walk and the number of steps they take relevant across the school curriculum not just in PE and school sports.

"Every little bit of extra physical activity we incorporate into our lives can make a huge difference in terms of health improvement. By raising awareness of the importance of physical activity amongst teachers and pupils and by encouraging children to become more active, we hope to make big strides in reducing childhood obesity."

Steve Grainger Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust said:

"We are delighted to be working with the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills in this exciting area of work. Taking the physical activity message into the classroom and day to day school life is a major step forward in encouraging all young people to be more active on a daily basis."

Minister for Schools, Andrew Adonis, said:

"Keeping children active both in school and after school is extremely important. That is why we are investing over £1.5 billion from 2003-08 to encourage children to take part in sports and ensure that we hit our target of all pupils receiving two hours of PE and sport a day by 2010. This is on top of the facilities and staffing that is also being put in place to give young people the chance to take part in a further two to three hours of sport outside school hours."

Schools on the Move is supported by resource material developed in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity including an interactive website for pupils, teachers and the public and a teacher handbook, providing information, lesson plans, ideas, challenges and games on getting active and being healthy.

Schools on the Move will contribute towards the government's public service agreement target to halt by 2010, the year on year increase in obesity among children under 11.

UK Dept of Health