In this episode, Claire talks over the internet with Bryn Llewellyn, founder of Tagtiv8, a company which specialises in creating resources to enable pupils to learn through physical activity.
Bryn talks with Claire about his background in education: from growing up in South Shields close to the coast and developing an interest in environmental issues, to gaining a degree and working in an urban studies centre in Newcastle, to then becoming a teacher and deputy headteacher in Bradford.
Bryn discusses how his work in school led him, eventually, to develop his company Tagtiv8 after he found that what he was being asked to do as a teacher was conflicting with his core values. Bryn talks about how Tagtiv8 aims to promote the benefits of physical and active learning and how this way of teaching can be useful for developing and enhancing pupils' learning across the curriculum.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

Take learning beyond the classroom.Along with a number of studies, evidence from research shows that physical activity has proven benefits within teaching including increasing pupils’ engagement with their learning and enabling them to absorb and retain more of what is taught. Learning which takes place away from the classroom, and involves movement and exercise, is not only fun and exciting for children but also contributes to developing levels of fitness.
Bring active learning into other lessons in addition to Physical Education.With statistics reported to show that 4 out of 5 children in westernised countries are not getting enough physical activity, increasing periods of physical activity in schools can only be beneficial. Active learning, implemented in addition to the usual PE lessons, can be incredibly useful in enhancing learning in a wide range of subjects such as maths, history and science along with other areas.
Giving children some ownership of activities can boost their engagement.With any active learning games or physical activities teachers bring into their lessons, allowing children to develop and adapt them or design their own variants can bring out creative discussions and problem solving skills which in turn promote engagement and interest.
Physical learning alongside social distancing.Although current guidance seems to indicate that social distancing in primary schools is less of a concern than previously thought, some schools might wish to maintain some of these measures. Where this is the case, physically active lessons can be adapted to account for this. There are a number of non-contact activities teachers could use and Tagtiv8 have a pack of suggested activities such as orienteering-style games and tree-tag.Teachers can also combine the daily mile with other subjects by incorporating things such as times tables or key vocabulary. Dance and yoga are also good physical activities which can be done in a socially distanced way in schools.

BEST MOMENTS
“When I was a teacher and a deputy headteacher, I loved it, but I was aware of the fact that a lot of the things I was being asked to do were against my core values.”
“With the education system in the way it was at that particular time, I thought 'it's not going to change', so let's think of a way of changing it; not necessarily from within, but maybe chipping away from the outside.”
“I think, sometimes, when you take the learning out of the classroom, beyond the classroom walls, learning takes place in a different way completely.”
“My big concern is that many schools will look toward the daily mile. But if you force the children to do a daily distance... it's happened with the daily mile in terms of it becomes the once-in-a-while mile or the-occasional-mile. If I had to run every day, at certain time, come rain or shine, I'd get well hacked off with that.”
“I think that the young lady that's doing everything so well at the moment is Greta Thunberg. I think you've got more and more children looking towards her. In primary too, not just older children, but primary as well. And t