The Government’s Sporting Future strategy published in 2015 included some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in relation to participation in sports and physical activity for children and young people.
The Active Lives Children and Young People survey was designed to collect data to measure progress towards those indicators.
Since then, Sport England have published a new strategy called ‘Uniting the Movement’, which has positive experiences for children and young people as one of five big issues highlighted in the strategy.
The survey continues to measure most of the KPIs set out in the original strategy. The table below shows the KPIs which data have been collected to measure during the academic year 2024-25 (Year 8).
Key indicators reported
| Summary definition | Precise definition |
|---|---|
| Percentage of children undertaking an average of 60 minutes or more of physical activity a day across the week | Physically active with an average of 60 minutes or more per day across the week of moderate or vigorous intensity activity |
| Percentage of children physically less active | Physically less active with less than an average of 30 minutes per day across the week of moderate or vigorous intensity |
| Percentage of children achieving swimming proficiency (first part on 25m, second part on confidence and capability) | Percentage of children who can:
|
| Percentage of children with positive attitudes towards sport and being active (questions for the new physical literacy consensus statement introduced in academic year 2024-2025) | Percentage of children reporting results which feed into themes on:
|
| Percentage of children volunteering in sport at least once in the last year | Percentage volunteering in activities to support the participation of others in sport and activity (excluding raising funds). Note that this changed in year 7 – up to year 6 the measure was twice in the last year |
| Demographics of child volunteers in sport to become more representative of society as a whole | Profile of pupils volunteering in activities to support the participation of others in sport and activity (excluding raising funds) by demographics such as gender, ethnicity, disability |
| Percentage of children who have attended a live sporting event more than once in the past year | Attended a live sporting event at least twice in the past year to include watching professional and amateur sport |
| Percentage of children who have participated once a week in an activity | Done any minutes of moderate plus intensity activity in the week for broad activity groups, activity groups, or activities |
| Variety of activity (movement skills, muscular fitness, and bone strength) | Number of days in the last week on which the respondent has undertaken at least two different activities of any intensity |
Note that in academic year 2017-18 (Year 1) published results, the first KPI was slightly different and distinguished between undertaking 60 minutes every day of the week and taking part in an average of 60 minutes a day but not every day.
This reflects the change to the Chief Medical Officers' (CMO) guidelines for physical activity for children and young people. In the academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) published report, data presented for all previous years also use the new definition of the first KPI.
The survey is carried out to inform the strategies of other government departments as well as Sport England’s wider work and so there are some other key measures built into the design, which are shown in the table below.
Other key measures built into the questionnaire design
| Origin | Summary definition | Precise definition |
|---|---|---|
| DHSC Childhood Obesity Plan commitment | Number of children taking part in 30 minutes of physical activity inside school and 30 minutes of physical activity outside of school |
Physically active with 30 minutes or more per day of moderate or vigorous intensity at school and outside school. Note that ‘at school’ and ‘outside school’ were changed to refer to ‘during normal school hours’ and ‘outside school hours’ during the summer term of academic year 2019-20 (Year 3). In Year 8 the wording was ‘at school, during normal school hours’ and ‘outside school hours’. |
| DHSC/CMO | Number of children taking part in vigorous activity for 10 mins, three times a week |
Participate in vigorous activity at least three times per week. This KPI was measured in academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) of the survey but not published; this is no longer a core element of the CMO guidelines for physical activity for children and young people. |
| DEFRA | Where children take part in sport i.e. indoors vs outdoors |
Physically active with 30 minutes or more per day of moderate or vigorous intensity indoors/outdoors. Information on location of specific activities. This KPI was measured in academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) of the survey but was not published in the data tables. |
| School Sport and Activity Action Plan (DfE, DCMS, DHSC) | Number of children taking part in 60 minutes or more of physical activity every day of the week |
Physically active every day of the week for 60 minutes or more. This KPI was measured in academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) of the survey but not published, as by the time of publication this was no longer a core element of the CMO guidelines for physical activity for children and young people. |
DHSC: Department for Health and Social Care
CMO: Chief Medical Officers
DEFRA: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
DfE: Department for Education
DCMS: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
In addition, Sport England has a responsibility to collect data on participation in specific sports and disciplines, not just overall participation in activity. To produce data for these measures, the questionnaire needed to ask questions to capture information on:
- which activities pupils take part in,
- when they take part,
- where they take part (‘at school, during normal school hours’ or ‘outside school hours’, indoors or outdoors),
- how long they take part for, and
- the intensity of the activity.
Key demographic information was needed, such as school year group, age, sex, ethnicity, disability and socio-economic status.
The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey is designed to measure key outcomes:
- Physical wellbeing:
- Percentage of children meeting CMO physical activity guidelines (the guidelines have changed since the survey started and now relate to average levels of activity across the week (60 minutes per day on average) rather than suggesting 60 minutes every day. The target of 10 minutes of vigorous activity on three days a week is no longer part of the guidelines).
- Percentage of children doing less than an average of 30 minutes per day across the week.
- Mental wellbeing: Percentage of children reporting positive subjective wellbeing (happiness, life satisfaction, how worthwhile).
- Individual development: Percentage of children reporting positive perceived self-efficacy (willingness to try difficult things).
- Social/community development: Percentage of children reporting positive levels of social trust (trusting peers).