Latest Active Lives Children and Young People Survey report released
The number of children and young people taking part in sport and physical activity in England is at the highest level in seven years since the Active Lives Survey began in 2017.
More than half a million more pupils are taking part in physical activity in comparison to seven years ago. However, despite this progress, the report released this week by Sport England highlights the growing inequalities that we must still tackle to ensure all children and young people can enjoy the benefits of an active lifestyle.
3.6 million pupils are considered active in the 2025 report
The latest report shows that the number of ‘active’ pupils (taking part in 60 minutes or more of physical activity and sport a day) across the country has continued to increase at a steady rate, and now sits at 3.6 million or 49.1%. This is up an astounding 5.8% since the survey began in 2017.
This indicates that thanks to the hard work of parents, carers, schools, sports clubs and various other organisations across the sector, these figures have recovered from the disruption caused by COVID-19, and will hopefully continue to see steady growth with consistent behaviour.
However, despite this progress, there are still growing inequalities to address.
Significant inequalities remain within certain groups.
There are still several inequalities which impact the likelihood of pupils maintaining an active lifestyle. The report showed that those from Black (41%), Asian (43%) and other (42%) families are less likely to be active than those from White British (51%) and White Other (53%) families.
Similarly, those from the least affluent families (45%) reported as being 13% less likely to take part in sports and physical activity than those in the most affluent families (58%).
As with previous years, girls (46%) are still less likely to be active than boys (52%); a gap which widens more significantly with age.
The Active Partnerships network have responded to this latest survey, with CEO Andy Taylor saying: “Seeing the progress that has been made with increasing activity levels, but knowing there is more to be done, simply renews our commitment as a network to support all children and young people to be active, and we urge the government to support the sector’s efforts in this area, with cross-departmental collaboration key to achieving this.”
How do we use the results in Norfolk?
We work with selected schools across Norfolk to survey children and young people, their parents and their teachers about local attitudes to sport and physical activity.
Each term, we work with a new selection of schools, and support these schools to fill in the Active Lives Surveys. Schools receive benefits for taking part in the surveys and hitting the minimum target, including a bespoke report on their pupils and their activity levels, which proves useful for determining that schools long-term priorities for physical education going forward.
We will release the Norfolk results once we receive and have a chance to analyse these to identify local priority areas.
“We’re really pleased with the growth in Children and Young People Active Lives Survey responses, with 48% of selected schools contributing in the last academic year. This notable level of participation highlights the importance of our partnerships with local schools and the value of the data in shaping support for young people. We’re excited to share the local insights, which are due in the new year.”
Rebecca Elliott, Partnerships Officer
In the meantime, our Programmes & Partnerships team will continue to work with schools across the county to increase participation in the Children and Young People’s Active Lives Survey, This is so that we may get a truly representative sample for the Active Lives Survey and highlight where our offer needs more focus to enable more children to enjoy the benefits of an active lifestyle.
Read the full report
To find out more about the Children and Young People’s Active Lives Survey, you can read the full report below. If you have further questions, or want to know more about how your school can get involved, feel free to contact us.