NORREVÅNGSSKOLAN 7-9 AND BREDABLICKSKOLAN
Norrevångsskolan 7-9 & Grundsärskolan Bredablick in Eslöv have a project together called ”Physical activity for learning”. Principal Susanne Svensson says: ”All our students have movement every day in the form of sports & health or pulse training. The school has ”active classrooms” and the classrooms are largely furnished for students with NPF. Most of the lessons are interrupted with ”brain breaks”. The school has three teams and three full-time mentors. The school’s sports association has two projects running; ”Young people leading young people” for F-6 and youth leaders working with the Malmö Redhawks. The school is also working with a doctoral mathematics developer to increase attainment in mathematics. In four years, Norrevångsskolan 7-9 has increased the qualification rate for upper secondary school from 67,9% to 92.2%!
The background to the project is that the headmistress Susanne Svensson asked the staff what they thought the school should work on a little more, and the majority replied that they would like to improve the students’ health. The school’s health team, led by Lisa Jönsson, and principal Susanne Svensson decided to go to Chicago’s Naperville Central High in 2017, where students have had daily gym sessions since 1992 and results have increased by 40% in core subjects.
There, delegates learned from project founders Paul Zientarski and David Sladkey’s expertise in the field of pulse training and active classrooms. In 2018, Norrevångsskolan invited Paul and David who were in Eslöv to give a lecture together with Activios CEO Moris Lahdo. They shared their knowledge and answered questions from staff and politicians.
Elisabeth ”Lisa” Jönsson, Head Teacher in Physical Education and Health and Project Manager continues:
– My colleagues and I have such good news to share, and that is that Norrevångsskolan broke records in grades and goal achievement! Since the Pul project started we have had the following increase in grades;
This means an increase of 24.3% from 2018 to 2021! It is mainly the boys who have increased their grades and overtaken the girls this academic year.
Expected results according to the socio-economic index are 83.8% for our school. The results include new arrivals. We achieved these results even though we had a lot of distance learning and in between we had the students out all school year for both PE and pulse.
Moris Lahdo, CEO of Activio:
– As a company, we support schools in the start of their health projects, usually with a lecture in the school to the school’s teachers, students or guardians. Furthermore, we offer e-learning with teacher guidance through our partner Teamkoncept Education. The focus is then: pedagogy, research and implementation. Working with integrated health management during the school day pays off, we show you how.
What benefits do you see?
– The benefits include improved health, academic benefits and a better working environment.
What kind of interventions can you offer?
– Active classrooms, walking pods, sleep courses, stand up pedagogy and learning in the classroom environment, movement in EHT, emotional connection, collaboration exercises, brain check, nature as an arena, yoga and doping issues are some of the courses we offer to schools alongside the benefits of heart rate training.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR LEARNING
PULSE
The project with pulse lessons at Norrevångsskolan in cooperation with Grundsärskolan Bredablick began in the 2017/2018 school year. This means that three days a week the students have a short pulse session where they perform pulse-raising activity for a shorter period of 20-30min.
ACTIVE CLASSROOMS
At the same time as the pulse project started, we also began developing our active classrooms at Norrevång 7-9. This may mean brain breaks during the theoretical lessons, but it also means that the classrooms are set up for physical activity. These include lots of whiteboards and standing tables, but also sitting wheels, pilates balls, tactile materials, etc.
HEALTH DAYS
At Norrevångsskolan 7-9, in cooperation with Bredablick, 8 to 10 health days are held every school year, breaking with traditional teaching. The health days always include physical activity such as skiing, volleyball, orienteering, etc., but at our school this is often combined with the theoretical subjects also ”moving out” their teaching. This may involve writing poetry in the forest or creating artwork on the ski slopes.
NORREVÅNGSSKOLANS IF (NIF)
All students at Norrevångsskolan 7-9 and Bredablicksskolan are offered to become members of NIF, for free! NIF has activities two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, immediately following the end of the school day in the Eslövshallen. In addition to the projects described on the front page, the pupils themselves control the activities at NIF and there are teachers on hand to support and help. There is everything from football to climbing wall and gym training. The conditions in the Eslövshallen are fantastic! Participation is voluntary and the only requirement for regular attendance is if the pupil wants to compete under the NIF name, for example in the school football championships.
FULL-TIME MENTORS
In the 2019/2020 academic year, Norrevång 7-9 switched to full-time mentors. Evaluations have shown that students feel more accessible, teaching staff have more time to be teachers, and stress among educators is reduced. Guardians and pupils have more opportunity to interact with mentors and teachers are able to provide clearer direct feedback on subject-specific issues.
All this has contributed to increased achievement at the school!