Active Lives Survey 2024-25 Year 8 – technical note

Introduction

The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Sport England, who commissioned the survey to inform both their own strategy and the strategies of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The published data which this note accompanies are presented for academic year 2017-18 (Year 1 – baseline), academic year 2023-24 (Year 7 – previous year) and academic year 2024-25 (Year 8).

This document provides details about academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) of the survey, with differences from academic year 2017-18 (Year 1) and academic year 2023-24 (Year 7) pointed out.

For trends tables, all survey years are shown. For a small number of tables, the baseline line is academic year 2019-20 (Year 3) or academic year 2020-21 (Year 4) if the relevant question was first introduced that year.

Full details about previous survey years (17-18, 18-19, 19-20, 20-21, 21-22, 22-23, 23-24) are provided in the respective technical notes for those years.

This work was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the international quality standard for Market Research, ISO 20252 © Ipsos 2024

Fieldwork and survey design

The new data presented here were collected during Year 8 of the survey, between September 2024 and July 2025 (2024-25 academic year) in England.

The data were collected using online questionnaires. The survey was completed either in schools or at home. Where pupils completed depended on whether schools chose to administer the survey as homework rather than a school-based activity (this was only an option for secondary schools).

There were three types of questionnaires:

short simple questionnaire for pupils in school Year 1-2 (age 5-7)
questionnaires for pupils in school Year 3-11 (age 7-16 and parents of pupils in school Year 1-2)
questionnaire for one teacher in each school (most often the PE lead but also heads, deputies and other teachers).

The table in the questionnaire content section shows which year groups and respondent types were asked each type of question. The questionnaire content varied by age so as not to over-burden younger pupils.

Valid responses from sampled schools which could be used for analysis are shown below:

Number of valid responses from sampled schools used in analysis by survey year

Survey year	School Year 1-2 pupils	School Year 3-11 pupils and parents of pupils in school Year 1-2	Teachers
Year 1 (2017-18)	25,927	109,503	1,625
Year 2 (2018-19)	23,587	113,728	1,524
Year 3 (2019-20)	14,576	89,303	1,186
Year 4 (2020-21)	13,886	86,828	1,166
Year 5 (2021-22)	17,304	104,404	1,289
Year 6 (2022-23)	17,361	122,347	1,380
Year 7 (2023-24)	18,361	122,480	1,326
Year 8 (2024-25)	19,962	130,448	1,438

Pupils took part using computers, smartphones or tablets, either during school time or at home (secondary school pupils could take part in the survey as homework). Teachers and parents took part at school or on their own computers, smartphones or tablets at home.

Information about the survey was provided to schools, class teachers, pupils and parents in advance of taking part in the survey.

In the academic year 2024-2025 (Year 8), schools operated without any disruptions in all three terms. In academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22 of the study, the survey had been modified to account for COVID-19 disruptions starting from 2020, as various activities and provisions, such as access to facilities and the mixing of year groups for clubs, were affected.

However, as in years 6 and 7, the year 8 survey did not require any adaptations. The option was retained in the survey script for adaptations to be switched on, in the event of any disruption to schools or pupils but this was not required.

For details of the adaptations made for the survey in academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22, refer to the technical reports from those years. The survey continued during the years because it was important for Sport England to understand children and young people’s participation in sport and physical activity and their attitudes and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In academic year 2024-25, the survey continued to be designed to be suitable for smartphone completion. This enabled secondary schools to set the survey as homework as an alternative to completing the survey in school time.

Sample design

Sampling schools

The survey design is schools-based. The sample design was generally the same as the first seven years of the survey to ensure comparability; any differences have been noted below¹.
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The sample frame was derived from a current extract from the Get Information about Schools (Edubase) website, supplemented by schools counts from the January 2023 school census.

The database contained 24,442 schools, from which certain types of establishment were removed² before selection of the sample, resulting in a sample frame of 20,939 open schools. Of these, 5,652 were selected as main sample and 1,952 as a reserve sample across the whole year.

The main sample was designed to include up to 10 primary and 10 secondary schools in each local authority and 370 independent schools across the country.

The reserve sample comprised up to five primary and five secondary schools in each local authority but not every local authority had sufficient schools. In addition, 45 reserve independent schools were selected.

State schools with a probability of selection of one or greater were automatically included in the sample. The remaining state schools were selected with a probability proportional to size.

The sample of independent schools was stratified by local authority and pupil count. Reserve schools were only issued in local authorities where insufficient responses had been obtained from the main sample.

The main sample schools were allocated to a term using systematic random sampling. In academic year 2024-25 (Year 8), schools were allocated to terms equally (33.3%/33.3%/33.3%) in order to achieve equal numbers in each term.

This is the same as in academic year 2022-23 and 2023-24, however different from academic years 18-19, 19-20 and 20-21, when the sample was designed to include 35% of the schools in the autumn term, 35% in the spring term and 30% in the summer term, and different from academic year 2017-18 (Year 1) when the distribution was 30%/ 40%/ 30%.

The main issued sample of schools in academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) was 1,884 in the autumn term, 1,884 in the spring term and 1,884 in the summer term.

The sample was designed to ensure that, where possible, year groups affected by summer exams were oversampled in earlier terms. In the spring term, 418 reserve schools were issued, of which six then deferred or extended into the summer term.

In addition, six reserve schools had already asked to take part during the autumn term, of which one extended into the spring term, and 11 reserve schools chose to opt in during the spring term, of which four extended into the summer term.

In the summer term, 263 reserve schools were issued. In addition, 30 reserve schools chose to opt in during the summer term.

To allow some flexibility and encourage participation, if schools requested to take part in a different term to the one they were sampled for, or if reserve schools requested to take part earlier in the academic year, this was permitted, providing it did not imbalance the sample in the local authority or Active Partnership area.
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General sample procedures

For each school, up to three year groups were selected (only two in schools which only had two eligible year groups, for example infant schools).
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Schools could opt in to take part in the survey if they had not been sampled. The data for these opt-in schools are not included as part of the national dataset and so are not included in this report.

The information about the selected schools and the selected year groups in each school was communicated to Active Partnerships, who were responsible for asking schools to participate. They did this directly with schools or through third parties such as School Games Organisers.

Once a school had agreed to take part, they selected one mixed-ability class within each of their selected year groups. This was done by selecting the class in a selected year group which had a class name or teacher name last in the alphabet.

Each year, the guidance alternates whether the first or last class in the alphabet is chosen to avoid burden on the same teacher each year. This was a change from previous years of the survey (up to 2020-21), when Kish grids were used for class selection. The change was made in response to feedback from schools.

URLs for the online surveys were then provided to each school. There were unique URLs for each school but not each pupil or parent.
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Achieved sample numbers

The table below shows the number of schools, with any pupil or parent responses included in the analysis dataset in each term by type of school.
Read more about Achieved sample numbers
This includes schools with partial pupil responses in cases where the questionnaire was completed sufficiently to be included in the analysis.

Cases were included in the analysis if pupils in school Year 3-11 and parents completed all the activity questions in the survey and if school Year 1-2 pupils responded to the question which asked whether they like playing sport.

This table excludes schools which were not in main or reserve samples and opted into the survey and are therefore not used for national level analysis (of which there were 35, of which 26 had a teacher response as well as pupil responses and two had a teacher response but no pupil or parent responses).

This also excludes sampled schools where a teacher responded but there were no pupil or parent responses (of which there were 67³).

Among the 1,750 responding schools, 379 had no teacher response. There were four sampled schools for which responses from Year 3-11 pupils or parents were received in more than one term (because of requests to extend fieldwork to the next term).

In the tables below, the schools appear in the final term that they were included in to avoid double counting.
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Tables

Data for sampled schools:
Read more about Tables
Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2024-25 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 255 371 347 973

State Secondary 220 261 261 742

Independent 13 15 7 35

Total 488 647 615 1,750

Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2023-24 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 292 287 296 875

State Secondary 199 225 277 701

Independent 11 8 11 30

Total 502 520 584 1,606

Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2022-23 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 260 314 302 876

State Secondary 214 253 292 759

Independent 13 11 7 31

Total 487 578 601 1,666

Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2021-22 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 259 316 287 862

State Secondary 177 258 233 668

Independent 9 11 5 25

Total 445 585 525 1,555

Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2020-21 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 241 237 262 740

State Secondary 193 206 200 599

Independent 10 10 9 29

Total 444 453 471 1,368

Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2019-20 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 384 290 108 782

State Secondary 279 190 124 593

Independent 7 8 5 20

Total 670 488 237 1,395

Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2018-19 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 362 405 335 1,102

State Secondary 252 278 249 779

Independent 10 6 10 26

Total 624 689 594 1,907

Number of sampled schools with partial or complete pupil responses in the 2017-18 academic year

School type Autumn term Spring term Summer term Total

State Primary 326 503 365 1,194

State Secondary 249 281 251 781

Independent 16 13 7 36

Total 591 797 623 2,011

Read less about Tables

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	255	371	347	973
State Secondary	220	261	261	742
Independent	13	15	7	35
Total	488	647	615	1,750

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	292	287	296	875
State Secondary	199	225	277	701
Independent	11	8	11	30
Total	502	520	584	1,606

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	260	314	302	876
State Secondary	214	253	292	759
Independent	13	11	7	31
Total	487	578	601	1,666

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	259	316	287	862
State Secondary	177	258	233	668
Independent	9	11	5	25
Total	445	585	525	1,555

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	241	237	262	740
State Secondary	193	206	200	599
Independent	10	10	9	29
Total	444	453	471	1,368

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	384	290	108	782
State Secondary	279	190	124	593
Independent	7	8	5	20
Total	670	488	237	1,395

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	362	405	335	1,102
State Secondary	252	278	249	779
Independent	10	6	10	26
Total	624	689	594	1,907

School type	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Total
State Primary	326	503	365	1,194
State Secondary	249	281	251	781
Independent	16	13	7	36
Total	591	797	623	2,011

¹During summer term Year 3, amendments were made to the sample in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In subsequent academic years the sample reverted to the usual design.

²Nurseries, Pupil Referral Units, Special schools, Technology and Technical colleges, Studio schools, Sixth form colleges.

³Of the 67 schools where a teacher responded but no pupils, 46 were primary, 18 were secondary and three were independent.

Weighting

Weighting is required to reduce the risk of bias in survey estimates. Weights are produced to make the weighted achieved sample match the population as closely as possible. For the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey the weights correct for non-response by schools.

Weighting of pupil and parent data

The weighting for pupils in academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) followed the same approach as academic year 2023-24 (Year 7), which differed slightly from previous academic years.
Read more about Weighting of pupil and parent data
Independent schools and state schools were weighted together in academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) in the same way as in 2023-24 (Year 7), instead of separately as in previous years.

For all schools, the weighting involved calibration to counts of school year by gender, counts of pupils in schools with more than 20% of pupils getting free school meals and counts of pupils in schools in a rural area. This was done separately for each region.

It was not possible to adjust for local authority counts as there were some local authorities in which no schools participated. However, instead, counts of pupils in NUTS2 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) geographical areas were used as there was at least one responding school in each area.

Reserve sample schools which asked to opt in to the survey were treated as sampled for the selected year groups in the school and are included in the national data for academic year 2024-25 (Year 8).

Pupils in reserve schools which opted in who were not in the selected year groups were not included in the national data or weighted.

Furthermore, some schools accidentally had their pupils completing on non-sampled opt-in URLs rather than the correct sampled URLs. In these cases, pupils in the selected year groups were weighted, with trimming⁴ if necessary, and included in the national data.

The weighting scheme does not take account of term because there are combinations of NUTS2, school type, gender, phase, rurality and free school meals where there are no cases in a term. The only way to weight by term would be to stop weighting by another factor.

Since the other factors are important for the weighting and consistency should be maintained where possible, it was not possible to include term in the weighting. The weighted sample within each term is not representative, whereas the weighted sample across the year is.

A boost was carried out in a local authority in London, by which all primary schools (44) were sampled instead of the usual 10. The weights in this area were adjusted by 10/44 to ensure that they were not over-represented in the national sample.

The population estimates for weighting are produced from DfE pupil population estimates from Get Information About Schools (GIAS)⁵.

The sample for academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) was drawn from 2023-24 school data because the sample was selected during the previous academic year so that Active Partnerships could contact schools in advance of the fieldwork term. For consistency, the weighting was carried out using the same data which had been used for sampling.

The population counts include pupil counts from schools which have permanently closed. This is because schools that have just closed will have pupils for the previous academic year that will not have been assigned to the new school yet.

As for previous years, we noted that a number of schools had substantially more responding pupils than the selected 30 per year group expected from selecting one class per year group.

In some cases, this appeared to be because schools which had opted in additional pupils (which is an option offered to schools) had asked these opted-in pupils to complete using the URLs for sampled pupils only.

Therefore, as in previous years apart from academic year 2017-18, the weighting was designed to trim the number of weighted pupils to 40 per class in the school, to avoid these additional pupils affecting the national results.

Some of the data reported in the wellbeing tables involves analysis of matched school Year 1-2 pupil data with parent data for those year groups. This is only done when an individual match can be made based on gender, date of birth, year group and school. For this analysis the parent weight was used.
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Weighting of teacher data

Weights have been calculated for teachers for the academic year 2024-25. The data for previous academic years have also now been weighted (retrospectively) so that where time series for teacher results are presented in the academic year 2024-25 report, all the estimates for every academic year have been weighted.
Read more about Weighting of teacher data
Only participating teachers from sampled schools (maximum one per school) have been allocated a weight. The weighting has been done against the issued sample of eligible schools at the time of sampling for the relevant year of the survey.

The weights were generated using rim weighting separately for state primary and state secondary schools to school-level population counts for:
- urban/rural
- free school meals (FSM): an indicator of whether 20% or more pupils in the school are eligible for FSMs or not. This is the same measure as for pupil weighting
- region.
Because there was an insufficient number of teachers participating from independent schools, it was not possible to use calibration weighting for that group. Instead, a constant adjustment weight was produced so that independent schools were in their correct proportion with the state schools.
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⁴ See penultimate paragraph of this section for an explanation of trimming weights.

⁵ GIAS was previously referred to as ‘Edubase’.

Data and statistics

Minimum base sizes

Data suppression

The data has been suppressed for certain cells in the data tables:
Read more about Minimum base sizes
- Where the unweighted number of respondents responding to the question overall or to an individual category is less than 30, results are not presented. The symbol LOW is used to indicate this.
- Where the number of schools contributing to the results for an Active Partnership or local authority is two or fewer. The symbol ^ is used to indicate this.
- Where the unweighted base for an Active Partnership or local authority is less than 150. The symbol ^ is used to indicate this.
- Where there is no data available at all for that measure or demographic or geographic group DNA is used to signify this.
Flagged data

In the data tables, the absolute change in the significance table for Active Partnerships or local authorities may be highlighted in orange.

This indicates that the result is not based on all school year phases (a phase is defined as Years 1-2, Years 3-6 or Years 7-11).

The highlight indicates at least one of these school phases is missing from the Active Partnership or local authority’s result.

Alternatively, the result may also be highlighted when there is missing data from a particular term for the Active Partnership or local authority (e.g. if there are no responses during the Autumn term).

The absolute change is highlighted in orange to indicate that this change needs to be interpreted with caution.

Please refer to the lookup table which provides more detail on why that figure has been flagged.
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Confidence intervals

Confidence intervals for the measures presented in the report can be found in the linked report tables. Confidence intervals indicate that if repeated samples were taken and confidence intervals computed for each sample, 95% of the intervals would contain the true value. Confidence intervals vary for each measure and each demographic breakdown.
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Confidence intervals have been calculated using the complex survey package in SPSS, which takes account of design effects. They are presented for rates (%) in the report tables.

Confidence intervals would also apply to the population estimates presented in the report and report tables.

Sometimes confidence intervals cannot be provided, for example when the rate is 100%. In this case the symbol ^ is used.

See the next section for more detail on the other circumstance in which confidence intervals cannot be calculated.
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Design effects

For analysis by demography and large geography (region and Active Partnership), the calculation of confidence intervals takes account of strata (local authority) and clustering (school).
Read more about Design effects
Where there is only one school in a strata overall or for the demographic sub-groups being presented, confidence intervals cannot be calculated.

The symbol ^ is used where confidence intervals cannot be calculated because only one school took part in each Active Partnership or local authority covered by the particular demographic or geographic category being shown.

For analysis by local authority, clustering effects (respondents concentrated in a handful of schools) are not accounted for in the confidence intervals due to the small number of schools in each local authority.

However, where the number of schools contributing to the results for a local authority is two or fewer, the data is suppressed, which mitigates for this.
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Significance testing

The report and accompanying tables show data for the first survey year, the previous survey year and the current survey year (academic year 2017-18, academic year 2023-24 and academic year 2024-25). This has allowed for analysis of the change in participation and activity levels over time.
Read more about Significance testing
Note that disability variables in all academic years from 2019-20 onwards are different from academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19 because of an improvement to the questions after cognitive testing with young people; therefore, figures are not shown in the data tables for academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The disability variables in academic years since 2019-20 are all for long-term limiting disability and impairments. In academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19 reports, data were shown for all disability whether or not long-term limiting.

To compare data across the three survey years, significance testing has been applied to the report tables. This indicates whether changes observed across survey years are likely to be ‘true’ changes in the population, rather than just observed by chance.

Academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) is compared to academic year 2017-18 (Year 1) and academic year 2023-24 (Year 7). For certain tables the baseline comparison is with 2019-20 (Year 3) (travel to school) or 2020-21 (Year 4) (opportunity to be physically active) for measures first introduced in that year.

Standard errors were generated using the complex samples module in SPSS; these were then applied to t-tests to assess statistical significance.

Only differences which are statistically significant are reported on as differences in the commentary. Where results are reported as being the same for two groups, this means there is no statistically significant difference.

The accompanying tables also include data for the full time series. These tables are intended as summary statistics only, and so significance testing has not been applied to them.
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Population estimates

These are estimates of the number of pupils in a particular group (for example, the number of pupils in the less active group, or the number of boys who have attended a live sports event at least twice in the last year).
Read more about Population estimates
These estimates have been calculated using the rate (%) and the 2024-25 DfE pupil population estimates, and therefore the true value would lie within a range around the estimates.

The 2024-25 DfE pupil data was used so that the estimates would be based on the data for the academic year the survey took place.

For sub-groups the population estimate is calculated from the share of the weighted responses for that category.

The confidence intervals for the population estimates can be calculated by dividing the population estimate by the rate (%) and multiplying by the lower and upper confidence interval rates in the report tables.

In some cases, a population estimate has not been provided. PNA is used where a decision has been made not to publish population estimates. For example, for number of impairments (LT, Limiting) because the categorisation in the data does not match those provided in population data.

On the tables where results are presented by term and school stage together, the population estimates have been calculated using the rate multiplied by the population in the relevant school stage (Year 1-2, 3-6, 7-11) rather than using rates for 1-11 or 3-11 and shares for the sub-groups.

This is because the distribution of responding pupils by school stage and term is not consistent across the years. It was not possible to weight to correct for this, as explained in the weighting section, and so the share approach to calculating population estimates was not suitable.

For annual analysis, the weighting does take account of the varying distribution of stage by year and so the standard share measure was used to calculate population estimates.

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Questionnaire content

Overview of questionnaire

Owing to the wide age range covered by the survey, different questions were asked to different year groups. This reflected:

whether questions are relevant (e.g. volunteering is not relevant for most school Year 1-4 pupils)
whether children could be expected to understand and answer questions on that topic (e.g. younger pupils were not expected to answer questions about life satisfaction)
the time it took younger pupils to answer the questionnaire (questions were omitted for Year 3-4 pupils to reduce questionnaire length and burden)
whether questions can be answered by parents on behalf of their child (e.g. parents were not asked about their child’s wellbeing).

For comparability, the academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) questionnaire was kept broadly the same as the academic year 2023-24 (Year 7) version, although there were some changes – these are detailed at the end of this note.

The table below shows which year groups were asked each question for the questions included in the annual report and tables. This is also clearly indicated on each table.

For details about the initial development of the survey, please refer to the Academic Year 2017-18 (Year 1) Technical Report. Further developments are described in the technical reports for each year.

In academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) some data from the questionnaire asked to one teacher per school have been included in the report and published tables.

Table

Details of the questions asked of respondents and presented in the 2024-25 report

Questions content by year group	Year 1-2 pupils	Year 1-2 parents	Year 3-4 pupils	Year 5-6 pupils	Year 7-11 pupils
Activities
Participation in sport and physical activity in last week (activities in and out of school and time spent out of school) (time spent in school assumed)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Intensity of activity (whether made them breathe faster, whether made them hot or tired)	No	No – moderate intensity assumed	Yes but for some activities intensity assumed	Yes but for some activities intensity assumed	Yes but for some activities intensity assumed
Attitudes: To inform physical literacy domains about positive and meaningful relationships, learning and development and positive experiences	Yes but amended – only whether like playing, being active, find it easy	No	Yes for some but not all statements	Yes for some but not all statements	Yes
Opportunity to be physically active	No	No	No	No	Yes
Swimming
Whether can swim at all, 25m, tread water	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Whether can swim 200m	No	No	No	No	Yes
Whether can self-rescue, would like to swim more often	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Do you like swimming?	Yes	No	No	No	No
Volunteering frequency and type (types vary between school Year 5-6 and 7-11 pupils so are presented separately)	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Wellbeing and development
Happiness	Smiley face	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Life satisfaction and how worthwhile life is	No	No	No	No	Yes
Individual development (resilience) and Community development (trusting peers)	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Live sporting events	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Mode of travel to school	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demographic and social questions
Gender, year group	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ethnicity	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Disability	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Family Affluence Scale	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

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Definitions used in the report

Activity data in the report

Activity questions

The data were collected by asking:

which activities from a list pupils had done in the last seven days
on which days they had done each activity in the last seven days (separately for in and out of school)
how long they spent doing the activity the last time they did it (outside school), and
whether it made them breathe faster or made them hot or tired.

Respondents could also mention other activities which were not listed on the questionnaire, and these were coded to the relevant activity.

Moderate activity: This is defined as activity where you raise your heart rate and feel a little out of breath. Pupils were asked whether it made them breathe faster than sitting down reading from academic year 2019-20 (year 3) onwards.

In academic year 2017-18 (Year 1) pupils were asked whether it made them breathe faster. Academic year 2018-19 (Year 2) was a year of transition during which the new question wording was initially tested on a split sample and then rolled out to all pupils.

Vigorous activity: This is defined as when you are out of breath or are sweating – you may not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for breath (pupils were asked whether it made them hot or tired).

For school Year 1-2 pupils all activity has been assumed to be moderate intensity since parents were not asked about intensity for their children.

Deriving and cleaning activity data

Information on activities, time spent, intensity and location were combined and fed into the measures presented in the analysis (levels of activity and specific activities participated in).

The following rules and edits were used in preparing the derived activity variables:

The questionnaire was set up such that people selected the activities they did. Any activity which was not selected was assumed not to have been done.
Where respondents provided duration information for an activity outside school, this was done as response groups (e.g. about 30 minutes, about 45 minutes) and we allocated a set time for each for creating the derived activity variables (based on evidence from a device-based measurement study⁶, a standard duration falling within the band was applied). The data have been cleaned such that missing durations for outside school have been imputed using standard durations for that activity. Pupils were not asked about time spent on activities in school and so for all activities in school, durations have been imputed using a standard set of times related to the year group and type of activity based on data for outside school, information from teachers on PE and break time durations and the results of the device-based measurement study.
Where information on duration, location or intensity was missing, standard rules were used to impute the data so that activity variables could be calculated for every case in the dataset.
Where pupils mentioned an excessive number of activities over the previous week, the case was dropped from the data. Data were dropped for cases with more than 25 activities per day on average, resulting in 341 cases being dropped from the data from sampled schools.

Since academic year 2018-19, for a small number of activities the level of intensity has been assumed rather than asked.

This does not affect the comparison with academic year 2017-18 (Year 1) because although intensity was asked for these activities that year, intensity was assumed in the creation of derived variables.

Levels of activity

Data are presented for three categories for overall activity in the last week. Only activity of at least moderate intensity is included.

The first category includes pupils who meet the Chief Medical Officers' (CMO) guidelines for young people of doing at least 60 minutes of activity on average per day across a week.

The second category includes children who do an average of 30-59 minutes a day and the third category the children do less than 30 minutes a day. The categories are named:

Active (an average of 60 minutes or more a day)
Fairly active (an average of 30-59 minutes a day)
Less active (less than an average of 30 minutes a day).

Activity of at least moderate intensity during and outside school hours is also presented (an average of 30+ minutes a day).

A new measure of variety of activity (number of days in the last week on which they have undertaken at least two different activities of any intensity) was presented for the first time in the academic year 2023-24 (Year 7) report and is also presented in the academic year 2024-25 (Year 8) report. The figures for previous years are also included for comparison.

This variable relates to the CMO guideline to engage in a variety of types and intensities of physical activity across the week to develop movement skills, muscular fitness and bone strength.

Activities

Information is presented on whether or not the pupil has done each activity for any duration with at least moderate intensity in the last week for groups of activities and specific activities.

The table below shows the specific activities that are included under each of the composite activity groupings used in the report. Where relevant, the wording or description given in the questionnaire is also included for reference.

The wording for some of these activities was changed in the summer term of academic year 2019-20 (Year 3) and this continued in academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22 to reflect which activities were possible during COVID-19 restrictions.

The wording and order were updated in academic year 2022-23 to match that used before the COVID-19 pandemic and have been used in all following survey years. These are shown in the table below.

Also, the category of gym and fitness has been extended to all year groups since summer term of academic year 2019-20 (Year 3), not just school year 7-11 as it was in academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19 and the autumn and spring terms of academic year 2019-20 (Year 3).

The order of activities in the initial question about whether they had been done in the last week was changed during the summer term of academic year 2019-20 and during academic year 2020-21 so that activities which pupils were more likely to be able to do during COVID-19 restrictions were nearer the top of the list. Since the academic year 2020-21 the order reverted to the pre-pandemic order.

In academic year 2022-23, adjustments to question wording according to whether or not the pupil reported that they were attending school at the school site were removed.

In academic year 2022-23, for the first time pupils in Year 7-11 who took part in rugby were asked about the type of rugby (touch or tag, contact union, contact league) and this continued in academic year 2023-24 and 2024-25.

In addition, information on swimming has been included. This covers swimming confidence and capability as reported by pupils in school Year 3-11 and school Year 1-2 parents, and attitudes to swimming reported by school Year 1-2 pupils (see previous table for age ranges covered by each question).

Activities which are included under each of the composite activity groupings used in the report

* These activities were not included in the questionnaire but were back coded from other answers.

Broad activity group	Activity group	Activities
Sporting activities	Team sports	Football, Netball, Hockey, Cricket, Rugby, Baseball, Softball, Rounders, Basketball, Dodgeball, Benchball, Volleyball, Lacrosse, Handball, King ball, Korfball, Roller hockey, Other team sport*
Sporting activities	Running, athletics or multi-sports	Running, jogging, cross-country, the Daily Mile, Track and Field athletics, Sports day events, Multi-sports*
Sporting activities	Gymnastics, trampolining or cheerleading	Gymnastics, Trampolining (including in a garden, at a trampoline centre, or as part of a club), Cheerleading, Acrobatics including aerial, aerial hoop
Sporting activities	Swimming, diving and water polo	Swimming (and diving), Water polo*
Sporting activities	Racket sports	Table tennis or ping pong, Badminton, Tennis, Squash or racketball, Other racket sports
Sporting activities	Combat sports, martial arts or target sports	Boxing, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo and other martial arts, Archery, Fencing, Tai Chi, Other combat sport or martial art
Sporting activities	Adventure or outdoor sports	Climbing (including indoors), Snow sports, Angling, Sledging, Orienteering, Other adventure or outdoor sports*
Sporting activities	Ice skating	Ice skating
Sporting activities	Water sports	Water sports (canoeing, kayaking, sailing, rowing, surfing)
Sporting activities	Horse riding	Horse riding
Sporting activities	Golf	Golf*
Sporting activities	Karting and motorsports	Motorsports, Karting
Sporting activities	Other sport or fitness activity	Leisure games: Snooker, pool, billiards, ten pin bowling, skittles, darts, Other sport or fitness activity
Active play and informal activities	Active play and informal activities	Kicking a ball about, Skateboarding, roller skating or blading, Frisbee, throwing and catching or skipping, Playing it, tag, chase, sardines or other running games, Climbing or swinging in the playground, garden or park, Other active play, Hula hooping
Walking	Walking for travel	Walking to get to school or other places such as friends’ houses or a park
Walking	Walking for leisure	Going on a walk (includes walking a dog)
Walking		Walking – type not specified (could be for travel or going on a walk)*
Dance	Dance	Dancing (include online or TV-led e.g. TikTok dances)
Cycling	Cycling for travel	Cycling to get to school or other places such as friends’ houses or the park
Cycling	Cycling for fun or fitness	Cycling or riding a bike for fun or fitness
Cycling		Cycling – type not specified (could be for travel or fun)*
Scooter	Riding a scooter	Riding a scooter for fun or to get to places like school, friends’ houses or the park
Fitness activities	Gym or fitness	Gym or fitness (fitness or online class e.g. yoga or Joe Wicks, or using exercise machines e.g. rowing machine, exercise bike, running machine), Other fitness or gym*
Active travel	Walking for travel	Walking to get to school or other places
Active travel	Cycling for travel	Cycling to get to school or other places
Active travel	Riding a scooter	Riding a scooter

Volunteering

This is defined as volunteering in the last 12 months to support sport and physical activity.

Examples of volunteering activities include raise money for sport, being a sports leader or ambassador, coaching, refereeing, umpiring and stewarding, helping with set-up and clearing away, helping with refreshments and any other activities which support sport and physical activity.

Activities which only help family members are not included. Activities which involve sport and activity to raise money for sport were included in the measure for the first time in academic year 2023-24 and are also included in 2024-25. Previously, although pupils were asked about raising money for sport and activity, it was not included in the measures.

Another change in 2023-24 was to count volunteering however many times they took part in it (previously up to 2022-23 the measure was based on volunteering at least twice in the last 12 months).

In the academic year 2023-24 report, data for previous years were updated to match the new measures. These measures are also in the 2024-25 report.

These questions were asked to pupils in school Year 5-11. Pupils in school Year 5-6 and school Year 7-11 were asked about a different range of activities (appropriate to their age) and so information on roles is presented in separate tables for these two groups.

Pupils were asked whether they had ‘volunteered or given your time to do any of the following activities’. The question for pupils in school Years 5-6 included the clarification: ‘Think only about when you do them to help with sports, exercise or dance’.

Pupils could report on other activities not on the list. These were subsequently back coded and ineligible activities such as helping at Brownies or running cake sales for charity were excluded.

All pupils who had reported that they helped with at least one type of activity were asked whether they had given their time for these activities more than once in the last year. Only those who had done so more than once were included in the measure.

Note that while ‘coached or instructed’ is a separate category for school Year 7-11, for school Year 5-6 any back coded answers for coaching are included in ‘other’ and ‘setting up or clearing away’ is a separate category for school Year 5-6, but for school Year 7-11 any back coded answers of this type are included in ‘other’.

The results for volunteering roles for school Year 5-6 and 7-11 are presented separately because of the differences in codes.

Wellbeing and individual and community development

Three dimensions of mental wellbeing are presented: happiness, life satisfaction and the extent to which they feel the things they do in their life are worthwhile.

For school Year 1-2 a smiley face question was used, which is expressed as three categories in the tables: happy, neither happy nor sad, sad.

For school Year 3-6 the standard ONS happiness yesterday question was used. For school Year 7-11 the standard ONS happiness yesterday, life satisfaction and worthwhile questions were used.

Happiness: "How happy did you feel yesterday?" (school Year 3-11).

Life satisfaction: "How satisfied are you with life nowadays?" (school Year 7-11).

Feeling your life is worthwhile: "To what extent are the things you do in your life worthwhile?" (school Year 7-11).

These three questions are answered on an 11-point scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely. The results are presented as mean scores.

The standard ONS wellbeing question about anxiety was not included as it is not recommended for use with children under 14 years old.

Individual and community development were captured from school Year 3-11 pupils through a question about trying difficult things and a question about trusting peers. The questions asked were:

Individual development: Using the resilience question "If I find something difficult, I keep trying until I can do it" (school Year 3-11). Responses are on a four-point scale from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (4).

Community development: Using the trust question "How much do you feel you can trust people who are a similar age to you?" (school Year 3-11). Responses are on a four-point scale from ‘I can trust them a lot’ (1) to ‘I can’t trust them at all’ (5).

The results for ‘strongly agree’ are shown for resilience and results for ‘trust a lot’ are shown for the trust question. The tables show wellbeing and individual and community development by demographic characteristics as well as split by level of activity and volunteering behaviour.

See previous sections for activity and volunteering definitions. The main findings for activity and volunteering can be found in the levels of activity and volunteering tables.

In the outcomes and attitudes tables they are just used to look at levels of wellbeing and development split by level of activity and volunteering.

Note that in academic year 2023-24, the new volunteering measure (any volunteering in the last 12 months) was used for the first time and is also used in 2024-25 and data from previous years has been updated to reflect this change.

The means for wellbeing tables are the mean calculated across the groups to which the answer relates from the scores of 0-10, which were used as answers to the questions.

Loneliness: In academic year 2019-20 (Year 3) the harmonised ONS loneliness question was included for the first time and has continued to be asked in subsequent academic years.

This asked, “How often do you feel lonely?” with answers of often or always, some of the time, occasionally, hardly ever, never. This question was only asked to pupils in school year 7-11. In academic year 2024-25 there is no published table on loneliness.

Attitudes questions

A new Physical Literacy Consensus Statement was adopted by the sector in 2023. As a result, after development work and testing during academic year 2023-24, in academic year 2024-25 the questions asked about physical literacy on the survey were extended to include new questions in addition to existing ones.

The new questions are shown in the section about questionnaire changes. Pupils were asked to respond on a scale with the following categories: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, can’t say.

The data tables report on the aspects of physical literacy within the consensus statement.

There are three broad themes of physical literacy and each theme has a number of domains.

The Active Lives survey collects data across a series of statements that relate to each domain, typically one for junior-age children and two for secondary-age young people.

Where two statements are included, we present data for that domain as the most positive response across the two.

Data for physical literacy are presented by theme:

the proportion that agree or strongly agree to at least one statement for every domain within that theme
the number of domains within that theme they strongly agree to at least one statement for
by domain.

Individual statements are not included but will be available via the Online Tool once the data are uploaded.

Associations with physical activity, wellbeing and community and individual development are also presented by number of domains with strong agreement within each of the themes.

The domains within each theme and the statements used to ask pupils about them are described below. Where no year groups are mentioned the statement is asked to all pupils from Years 3-11.

Positive and meaningful relationships

Three domains (associations with physical activity, wellbeing and development presented for 0,1,2,3 domains with strong agreement).

Meaning

"Taking part in exercise and sports matters to me"

Value

"Exercising and doing sports makes me feel better about myself"
"I exercise and play sports to help me relax and worry less about things" (Years 7-11 only)

Enjoyment

"I enjoy taking part in exercise and sports"

Learning and development

Four domains (associations with physical activity, wellbeing and development presented for 0,1,2,3, 4 domains with strong agreement).

Move

"I find exercise and sports easy"
"I am good at exercise and sports" (Years 7-11 only)

Connect

"I work well with other children when doing exercise and sports"
"I am kind when playing and being active with other children when doing exercise and sports" (Years 7-11 only)

Think

"I understand why exercise and sports are good for me"
"I know where and how to get involved in exercise and sports" (Years 7-11 only)

Feel

"I feel confident when I exercise and play sports"
"I keep taking part in exercise and sports when it is challenging" (Years 7-11 only)

Positive experiences

Two domains for Years 7-11. For Years 3-6 only the inclusion domain is presented as no question was asked for opportunity for this age group.

In associations with physical activity, wellbeing and development for Years 7-11, agreement with all domains means two domains and for Years 3-6, agreement with all domains means strong agreement with the inclusion domain, as no question was asked for opportunity.

Inclusion

"The adults who run my exercise and sports activities listen to me when I have an idea."
"I feel my opinions are valued by the adults who organise my exercise and sport activities"
"Outside of school there are places I can exercise that are inclusive and welcoming" (Years 7-11 only)
"I see people who are similar to me if I exercise outside of school" (Years 7-11 only)

Opportunity (Years 7-11 only)

"I feel that I have the opportunity to be physically active" (Years 7-11 only)

As the new questions were introduced in academic year 2024-25, the results for the new physical literacy questions are only presented for academic year 2024-25 (Year 8).

School Year 1-2 pupils were asked about their attitudes in a short questionnaire. They were asked:

Do you like playing sport? (I love, I like, I don’t like, I hate… data tables report on the percentage saying I love) (enjoyment)
Do you find sport easy? (yes, no, don’t know… data tables report on the percentage saying yes) (competence)
Do you like being active? This includes things like running games, riding a bike or scooter, walking, and dancing. (I love, I like, I don’t like, I hate… data tables report on the percentage saying I love) (enjoyment)
Do you like swimming? (I love, I like, I don’t like, I hate, I don’t know… data tables report on the percentage saying I love) (enjoyment) but included under swimming in reporting.

Following cognitive testing, new motivation questions were introduced to the school Year 3-11 questionnaire in academic year 2020-21 (Year 4) to provide further details on motivations.

Two of these statements were retained for academic year 2024-25 and form part of the physical literacy domains described above (positive and meaningful relationship (value) and positive experiences (opportunity).

One further motivations statement was retained in the questionnaire but is not reported on (I exercise and play sports to stay fit and healthy).

In academic year 2022-23, for the first time the question about opportunities to be physically active was included in the report. In academic year 2024-25 this is now presented within the positive experiences theme.

Sports spectating

This is measured as having watched two or more live sports events, whether professional or amateur, over the previous 12 months.

Pupils were asked:

Have you done this activity (attended a live sports event) in the past 12 months?
How many live sporting events have you been to see since last year?

Additional information provided was: Include all matches and competitions, including professional sport as well as watching family and friends compete. Please do not include any events that you took part in yourself, or events you watched on TV.

Answers of ‘twice’ or ‘three or more’ were included in this measure.

Key demographic variables

Year group and gender

The report contains breakdowns by year group and gender. In academic year 2023-24, the gender question for pupils in school Years 7-11 was changed. The new question replaced a single ‘other’ category with two new categories: ‘non-binary’ and ‘prefer to self-describe’.

In academic year 2024-25, the categories for ‘non-binary’ were removed, while ‘prefer to self-describe’ was replaced with ‘prefer to type in’.

For school Years 3-6 pupils, the category ‘other’ was retained in academic year 2023-24, and no changes were made in academic year 2024-25. School Year 7-11 pupils were asked to give more details if they selected ‘prefer to type in’.

Where the written answers given appeared to indicate male or female, they were back coded into these categories. In academic year 2024-25, back codes were added for answers indicating non-binary or prefer to self-describe, while answers indicating none of the above were coded as prefer not to say or gender uncodeable.

Year group is the answer reported by the pupil or their parent. In some cases, this was inconsistent with the age given but we took the year group as given and did not recode, as only school year is used in published analysis.

A derived variable of gender and school year combined has been included. The year group breakdown for the gender category ‘other’ has not been shown because of small base sizes.

Ethnicity

Parents of school Year 1-2 pupils were asked about their child’s ethnicity using the full ONS standard question, with a breakdown of ethnic groups (an additional code of ‘prefer not to say’ was added for the 2018-19 survey).

These have been grouped into broader categories for analysis. Ethnicity for school Year 3-11 pupils was self-reported and used a simplified question which offered these categories: White (British or English), White (not British or English), Mixed e.g. White and Black, White and Asian, Asian or British Asian, Black or Black British, Another group (please type in), Prefer not to say.

In previous years, the mixed category had been worded as ‘mixed race’ and the Another group category as ‘other’. The wording was changed in year 8 in response to feedback and testing with children and young people.

In year 2017-18 of the survey, ‘none of these’ was presented rather than other and prefer not to say). For school Year 1-2 data reported by the parents, Chinese has been coded into 'other'.

In academic year 2024-25, responses to the open text box were back coded into the following categories: White (British or English), White (not British or English), Mixed e.g. White and Black, White and Asian, Asian or British Asian and Black or Black British.

Where the written answers given did not appear to indicate any of the above ethnicities, they were coded as another group or ethnicity uncodeable.

A derived variable of gender and ethnicity combined has been included. The ethnic breakdown for the gender category ‘other’ has not been shown because of small base sizes.

Family Affluence Scale (FAS)

This is a standard scale developed for the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children Survey (an international study of 11-15 year-olds).

The updated version of the scale was used, which asks the following questions. Minor modifications were made to the questions to make them suitable for parents and for younger children for whom the scale was not originally designed.

We would now like to ask you some questions about your home and your family. Does your family own a car, van or truck?
Do you have your own bedroom for yourself?
How many computers does your family own (including laptops and tablets or iPads, but NOT including game consoles and smartphones)?
How many times did you and your family travel out of England for a holiday last year?
How many bathrooms (room with a shower or bath or both) are in your home?
Does your family have a dishwasher at home?

Answers to these questions were scored according to the answers given, resulting in an overall score between 0 and 13. Scores of 0-6=low, 7-10=medium, 11-13=high.

Note that in the autumn term 2017 (Year 1), the car question only had 'yes' and 'no' categories when it should have had none, one, two or more. This means that scores in the autumn term have a maximum of 12.

Adjustments have been made to the groupings to allow for this in the data. In all other years, the correct question was asked throughout the survey year.

In academic year 2024-25, reporting the standard FAS variable created from answers to all of the above questions has been used.

In academic years 2020-21 (Year 4) and 2021-22 (Year 5), an adjusted FAS-derived variable was created and included in the data tables.

Owing to COVID-19 restrictions, it was not possible or was difficult, regardless of social background, to travel out of England at some points over the ‘previous 12 months’ for most of academic year 2020-21 and academic year 2021-22.

Therefore, a second FAS variable was created and was used for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 reports, excluding answers to this question.

This means that an overall score would be between 0 and 10, so the groupings for the bands were adjusted – scores of 0-5=low, 6-8=medium, 9-10=high.

It is important to note that the bands for the adjusted FAS variable are not comparable with the bands on the standard FAS variable.

The adjusted FAS variable was created retrospectively for previous survey years for comparability and only this adjusted FAS variable was included in the academic year 2020-21 (Year 4) and 2021-22 (Year 5) reporting.

It was not possible to create standard FAS for 2020-21 and 2021-22 because of the restrictions on travel and so figures for FAS for those years have been suppressed in the trend tables in the 2024-25 report.

Disabilities or long-term health conditions and number of impairments

The questions asked about disability or long-term health conditions were updated in academic year 2019-20 (Year 3) and have remained the same since.

In academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19, the questions about disability or health conditions varied by age but from academic year 2019-20 (Year 3), all school Year 3-11 pupils and parents of school Year 1-2 pupils have been asked the same questions.

Respondents were asked: “Do you⁷ have a disability, special need or illness (e.g. autism, dyslexia, or asthma) which makes it difficult for you to do any of these things?” and shown a list of tasks which included things like ‘moving around including walking and running’ and ‘concentrating and paying attention’.

If the answer was ‘yes’, they were asked which of those things they have difficulty with. If they selected any of the things in the list, they were then asked: “Do any of these disabilities, special needs or illnesses have a big effect on your life?” (to identify whether the disability or health condition is limiting) and: “Do you think any of these disabilities, special needs or illnesses will last for a year or more?” (to identify whether the disability or health condition is long-term).

Those who said 'yes' to the initial question, and both the question about the disability or health condition having a big effect on their life and whether they think it will last for a year or more, were defined as having a long-term limiting disability or health condition (reported in the data tables).

The number and type of impairment was derived from the information given about specific things they found difficult to do and whether that impairment is long-term limiting. It should be noted that this is the number of impairments from a set list.

Those in the no long-term limiting disability or health condition category are those who reported 'no' to the initial disability or health condition question or 'no' to the disability or health condition having a big effect on their life or whether they think it will last for a year or more.

Special schools don’t form part of the sample. While more than 90% of those with a disability or long-term health condition attend mainstream schools, some children and young people with the most complex needs aren’t covered by the survey design.

In recent years we have explored ways of capturing activity levels among children and young people attending special schools.

Income Deprivation in Children Index (IDACI)

Results are presented by income deprivation⁸. This has been matched onto the data using the postcode of the school attended by the pupil.

This is based on three groupings of deciles representing low, medium and high levels of area income deprivation in the postcode area of the school the child or young person attends.

It is important to note this describes the characteristics of the location of their school, rather than their home.

This has been created for all academic years presented in this report but this is the first time this break has been provided in the report tables.

Characteristics of inequality

This provides an indication of the number of inequality-related characteristics reported by the pupil based on gender, ethnicity, family affluence and access to outdoor space.

This is calculated from individual pupil characteristics based on their survey responses.

This was a new measure in the tables for 2023-24 and is available for 2023-24 and 2024-25 but not for 2017-18.

Term

Results are presented by term in which the pupil completed the questionnaire and also a combined variable of term by school stage.

Since the questions about activity cover activity in the previous week, this also shows the results for activity levels in different terms of each academic year.

Teacher data

The report and published tables include data from the teacher questionnaire. One teacher per school was invited to answer questions about the school’s provision and characteristics.

Results are presented for all schools and separately for state primary and state secondary schools. The following data have been reported on:

whether swimming lessons are offered and how many are offered to each pupil over the academic year
whether the school promotes active travel to school and monitors how pupils travel to school
whether the school makes sports facilities available to the community for sport-related use.

Read less

Summary of questionnaire changes from Year 7 (2023-24) to Year 8 (2024-25)

School Year 1-2 questionnaire

No changes in academic year 2024-2025 (Year 8).
Read more about Summary of questionnaire changes from Year 7 (2023-24) to Year 8 (2024-25)
School Year 3-11 pupils and parents of school Year 1-2 questionnaire

A variety of changes were made to questionnaire for academic year 2024-25. A few changes were also made in the first half of the autumn term 2024.

Time questions

The wording of the time questions was changed for all pupils and parents based on feedback and testing with children and young people.

Clock icons were added next to each response code at Time_bcd, Walk_bcd and CycleSch_bcd for pupils in Years 3-6:
1. Less than 10 minutes (unchanged)
2. About 15 minutes (previously About quarter of an hour)
3. About 30 minutes (previously About half an hour)
4. About 45 minutes (previously About three-quarters of an hour)
5. One hour (unchanged)
6. More than an hour (unchanged)
7. [if b] ‘Don’t know’ [if c or d] ‘Cannot give estimate’ (unchanged)
In the second version of the script introduced a few weeks into the autumn term, for pupils in Years 3-6 the first icon presented was slightly modified to look more like 10 minutes.

Agree/disagree scale

Thumbs up/down icons were added to the response codes for questions using the strongly agree to strongly disagree scale for pupils in Years 3-6.

However, these were removed a few weeks into the autumn term in version two of the script as the icons were having an unforeseen impact on the number of pupils selecting ‘strongly agree’.
1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Disagree
4. Strongly disagree
5. Can’t say
Physical literacy

In year 8, the new Physical Literacy Consensus Statement was adopted by Sport England, which resulted in changes to some attitudes and motivation questions.

The knowledge statement for Years 7-11 only “I know how to get involved and improve my skills in lots of different types of exercise and sport” was removed and replaced with PLInvolve “I know where and how to get involved in exercise and sports”.

Some additional statements were asked in relation to physical literacy (using the standard agree/disagree scale):
- PLWell_bc I work well with other children when doing exercise and sports (Years 3-11).
- PLMatter_bc Taking part in exercise and sports matters to me (Years 3-11).
- PLBetter_bc Exercising and doing sports makes me feel better about myself (Years 3-11).
- PLIdea_b The adults who run my exercise and sports activities listen to me when I have an idea (Years 3-6).
- PLGood1_c I am good at exercise and sports (Years 7-11).
- PLKind_c I am kind when playing and being active with other children when doing exercise and sports (Years 7-11).
- PLChall_c I keep taking part in exercise and sports when it is challenging (Years 7-11).
- PLVal_c I feel my opinions are valued by the adults who organise my exercise and sport activities (Years 7-11).
- PLWelc_c Outside of school there are places I can exercise that are inclusive and welcoming (Years 7-11).
- PLSim_c I see people who are similar to me if I exercise outside of school (Years 7-11).
The question wording at MO_Opp_c was updated from “I feel that I have the opportunity to be physically active” to “I feel that I have the opportunity to exercise and play sports”.

The question wording at MO_Fit_c was updated from “I exercise to stay fit and healthy” to “I exercise and play sports to be fit and healthy”.

The question wording at MO_Relax_c was updated from “I exercise to help me relax and worry less about things” to “I exercise and play sports to help me relax and worry less about things”.

Swimming

The question wording at SwmLake_bc was updated to remove the reference to how far five metres is (previous question mentioned “this is about the length of a car”) and added an image:

Imagine that you fall into a large lake. The lake is deep and you can’t touch the bottom. You have all your clothes on, and you are about five metres away from the land. Could you get back to the land without someone helping you?
1. Yes
2. No
Community development

The question wording at Trust_bc was updated from “How much do you feel you can trust people who are a similar age to you?” to “How much do you trust children who are your age?”. However, the question wording reverted to the academic year 2023-24 version early in the autumn term after the change had unanticipated impacts on data.

Demographic questions

As mentioned above, the answer codes about gender at Gend_c were amended in academic year 2024-25, removing the options for ‘Non-binary’ and ‘Prefer to self-describe’ and adding ‘prefer to type in’.

The question wording for ethnicity at Eth_bc was updated from “Which one of these best describes your background or race?” to “Which one of these best describes you?” and two categories were reworded.

‘Mixed race’ became 'Mixed e.g. White and Black, White and Asian’ and ‘Other’ became ‘Another group (please type in)’ as a result of feedback and testing with children and young people.

Teacher questionnaire

One change was made to the teacher survey for academic year 2024-25. For the start of the summer term, three new questions were added.

CONTACT1 asks teachers if they would be willing to be contacted by Ipsos within the next two years about potentially participating in consultation or advisory groups to help Sport England develop the Active Lives Survey.

CONTACT2 asks those who agree for their name, while CONTACT3 asks for their email address.
Read less about Summary of questionnaire changes from Year 7 (2023-24) to Year 8 (2024-25)

⁶ In the device-based measurement study, pupils used a wrist-worn accelerometer and completed the questionnaire so that their device-based data could be compared with the data collected in the questionnaire.

⁷ Or your son or your daughter in parent questionnaire.

⁸More information about IDACI is available on the government website about indices of deprivation.

Note on terminology

In the report tables, the term 'respondents' is used as the heading for the unweighted base for each column.

The term 'respondents' has been used because the term 'participant', which is usually used to refer to people who take part in a survey, is confusing in the context of a survey about sports participation where participation has a different meaning.

The term rate (%) means the weighted percentage of respondents who gave that answer.

The term share (%) means the weighted percentage of respondents who gave a given answer who are in that demographic category.

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This is the international general company standard with a focus on continual improvement through quality management systems.

In 1994, we became one of the early adopters of the ISO 9001 business standard.

ISO 27001

This is the international standard for information security, designed to ensure the selection of adequate and proportionate security controls.

Ipsos was the first research company in the UK to be awarded this in August 2008.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA)

United Kingdom coat of arms featuring a shield and the text 'Dieu et Mon Droit'.

Ipsos UK is required to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act (DPA).

These cover the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy.

HMG Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials defines a set of controls which, when properly implemented, provide organisations with basic protection from the most prevalent forms of threat coming from the internet.

This is a government-backed, key deliverable of the UK’s National Cyber Security Programme. Ipsos UK was assessed and validated for certification in 2016.

Fair Data

Ipsos UK is signed up as a 'Fair Data' company by agreeing to adhere to 12 core principles.

The principles support and complement other standards such as ISOs, and the requirements of data protection legislation.

For more information

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London
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t: +44 (0)20 3059 5000

www.ipsos.com/en-uk
https://x.com/IpsosUK

About Ipsos Public Affairs

Ipsos Public Affairs works closely with national governments, local public services and the not-for-profit sector.

Its c.200 research staff focus on public service and policy issues. Each has expertise in a particular part of the public sector, ensuring we have a detailed understanding of specific sectors and policy challenges.

Combined with our methods and communications expertise, this helps ensure that our research makes a difference for decision makers and communities.

Active Lives Survey 2024-25 Year 8 – technical note

Introduction

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