Newham, the London borough of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has the highest levels of inactivity in England, according to a recent report. There is one primary school that sits at the heart of the local community already ahead of the curve in addressing this issue.

The report revealed that Newham has the lowest levels of activity in the country, with 39 per cent of residents inactive. Contrary to these reports, Sandringham Primary School has been working with Premier Sport - the largest external provider of sport & PE in the UK to tackle the growing concerns of inactivity. The two have joined forces to provide high quality PE & sport to the children resulting Sainsbury’s Gold Kite Mark for the standard of PE.

Premier Sport and the school are now turning their attention to the wider community with a “Mums on Monday” sporting hour. Mums from the local community from a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, meet weekly to participate in sporting activities delivered by Premier Sport.

Head Teacher, Robert Cleary commented;

“Sandringham Primary School recognises the importance of participation in sports for all its children. We expect all members of staff to act as a role model for a healthy active life. We also believe that parents and the wider family have a more significant role to play. “Mums on Monday” came from the belief that the school needs to facilitate the community in making decisions for themselves.

The mums who attend ESOL classes wanted to take part in organised sports but struggle to identify who they could do this with. The school had the facilities and the contacts at Premier Sport to enable this to happen. The group meet weekly and participate in a range of sports, their favourite being football. The mums are also keen to compete and we are therefore actively seeking opponents.”

Shagufta Nasreen, a parent and PTA Treasurer at the school commented;

“Sandringham Mum's Football Club, is an excellent opportunity for women to learn a new skill and to do much needed physical exercise, in a safe environment.  We have set an example showing how local facilities such as schools could be used to promote community cohesion and to provide much needed activities by setting up PTA”.

Premier Sport have been given special praise for their impact at the school where they currently deliver before school sports clubs and lunch time clubs every day of the week. Michael Johnson, who is the area PE and Sport’s coordinator for Premier Sport commented;

“We currently run curricular sessions as well as various clubs for the pupils at Sandringham so it is great to see the parents adopting a healthy lifestyle too. Despite the report I cannot speak highly enough about the level of sporting enthusiasm and participation at this school”

Since the damming report was released, Newham’s Council representatives have responded by committing one of the country's highest inactivity investments of £2.1m or 15.6 per cent in 2014/15, a sizeable increase on the £216, 000 committed last year.