The Sports Trust - Positive Action

"If the health benefits of being active are so well-known, one sports charity is asking why England is seeing a consistent rise in inactivity levels, alarming rates of childhood obesity and a mental health crisis amongst children and young people.

The Sports Trust is a not-for-profit based in Folkestone (Kent), a place where the population experiences poorer than average health, compared with the rest of the South East and with England as a whole. 

The charity aims to create inclusive and inspiring environments for people to love sport and exercise by addressing the barriers that people face to living a healthier and more active lifestyle. They recognise the impact which sport can have as being a tool for social change and for making a positive difference to the communities it serves, particularly for being an outlet for connecting with children with disadvantaged lives. 

 One area of work for the charity which has gone beyond sport is their holiday camp programme for families who qualify for free school meals in England. 

 Research has shown that the school holidays can be pressure points for families with 49% of parents with children on free school meals feeling worried about how they will feed their children during the school holidays. For some children, this can lead to a holiday experience gap, with children from low-income households being: 

• Less likely to access organised out-of-school activities 
• More likely to experience 'unhealthy holidays' in terms of nutrition and physical health 
• More likely to experience social isolation 

  The COVID-19 pandemic brought holiday food poverty into sharp focus, with children who receive free school meals during term time potentially going hungry during the school holidays This has been

 further exacerbated by the present cost-of-living crisis. Campaigns led by Marcus Rashford and others have sought to address this major problem. 

 With the support of generous funders, The Sports Trust has been able to offer 7888 free spaces in 2023 for local children to attend their holiday camp programme for four weeks of the year. Hosted

 at two world-class sports venues, F51 and

Three Hills Sports Park, the experience includes high-quality sports coaching, education about nutrition and a healthy lunchtime meal. 

 The impact that these holiday camps have on children cannot be underestimated: 75% of the children who attended had increased confidence; 46% experienced reduced levels of anxiety; and another

 42% reported better sleep. 

 In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis where increasing numbers of parents in low-income families are struggling during the school holidays, the Holiday Camps are meeting an important need in

 the community. They are very popular with long waiting lists and The Sports Trust would like to be able to support more local families by running the camps for the other seven weeks of the school holidays. 

 Chief Operations Officer of The Sports Trust, Chris Kent, comments: "Our ambitious vision to use sport as an avenue to make a positive change to the lives of others cannot be realised without the

 support of others. We want to connect with other individuals and businesses who share our vision for a more active and inclusive future and encourage you to reach out to us" 

For more details on how you can get involved and support us please contact Chris Kent:c.kent@thesportstrust.org;