Bradford is one of 12 Local Delivery Pilots (LDPs) across the country, funded by the National Lottery through Sport England, who are aiming to better understand what helps people to be active in their communities. Born in Bradford (BiB), a research programme hosted by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, are leading the pilot on behalf of Active Bradford.
BiB data has shown that 77% of 5-11 year olds in Bradford don't do the recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day and 38% leave primary school overweight or obese. Due to statistics like this, one of the projects under the LDP umbrella is Join Us: Move Play, better known as JU:MP - a four year pilot programme running from 2018 to 2022 funded by Sport England, that aims to help children and families in North Bradford (see map here) to move and play more, testing and learning as we grow together. It is our aspiration that JU:MP supports the children and young people in North Bradford to be healthy, confident, skilled young people who have achieved academically, to be employable and not engage in anti-social behaviour or crime, and be empowered and valued members of society in Bradford. We want children and young people to see opportunities for themselves in the district and to contribute to the workforce, economy and prosperity of the district.
How have we set out to achieve this?
As we reach a crucial stage of the project, we wanted to share our learnings so far and how this has and will impact our work for the remainder of the project. The JU:MP programme takes a whole systems approach to increasing children's physical activity levels by working with families, communities, organisations (including schools, faith settings and the voluntary sector), improving the local environment and influencing city-wide policy and strategy. Below you can find out more information about each of the JU:MP work streams and their impact on the project…
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Our primary focus has been working with Islamic Religious Settings (IRS), due to the low level of inactivity among children and young people seen in South Asian children within the JU:MP area. Faith venues have been identified as a successful setting to support behaviour change for children and young people because they engage with whole families and communities, rather than just an individual child. Family and community support play a vital role in decreasing inactivity, planning and delivery of physical activities. Find out more about this part of the project here.
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The active travel work stream aims to increase children’s active travel across the neighbourhoods. It’s also aiming to prepare and enable neighbourhood action groups and its members to strategically plan active travel and influence plans in partnership with the local authority.
By working on these objectives, it will try to reduce consistent barriers on children’s active travel and playing in the streets due to safety and other concerns. Find out more about this part of the project here.
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One of the major issues raised by the local community was the lack of information around what was going on in their area(s).
An activity finder was created to help combat this issue.
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A key work stream and 36 schools are delivering the framework that helps them embed physical activity throughout the school system.
This means working at a policy level, engaging all stakeholders and every aspect of the school day e.g. active breaks, active travel to school and active learning. Find out more about CAS here.
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Access to local parks or greenspace is key in getting children outdoors and active. Three are already completed including the Peel Park Nature Play area. Previously a traditional play area suffering from repeated vandalism, it is now a valued, well used children’s play area built of stone, metal and earth mounds.
This is robust, low maintenance and our research shows children are more active in nature play areas than traditional play areas.
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An app is being developed with Born in Bradford that is designed as our insight shows young people value their digital world and would be motivated to be active and get outdoors though an App.
The App will use gamification to engage young people in active quests both at home and outdoors. It will also be a digital platform capturing data for research.
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14 JU:MP Connectors have been employed by commissioned VCS organisations in the area.
Mostly local people, they build the skills, confidence and motivation of less active families to be active together and independently.
Low cost, no cost, simple ways to be active are being encouraged plus building family engagement in local greenspace. Find out more about this part of the project here.
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These are designed to reach families who are less active and to raise the importance of being active and share simple, low cost ways children and families can be active together.
25 JU:MP Fun Days have been delivered engaging over 8000 children and family members in 2022 so far. Crucially they are an effective way of encouraging families to join the JUMP Movement.
Find out more about this part of the project here.
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We know that developing role models that reflect underrepresented groups is key and there is a lack of South Asian leaders in sports and physical activity.
The JUMP Leads programme has trained ten 16-25 year olds from diverse backgrounds to become young leaders in sport and physical activity with a further 20 young people in training.
This will ensure a strong and sustainable legacy from the programme. Find out more about this part of the project here.
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This has been co-created with families and children and uses a ‘people like me’ approach to create social norms, capture attention, and spread awareness through creativity and emotion. It uses well established marketing techniques to educate families, raise awareness of the benefits of playing and being active, and shares local opportunities to be active. Over 8,770 family members have joined the JU:MP movement which means we are now reaching almost a third of all families in the JUMP area. The aim is to reach over 50% by next summer.
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This work stream is aiming to make changes within the local communities based on what the local people really want using co-production methods. This work stream seeks to test the whole system working at a hyper local level. One main aim is to bring together community groups and organisations, families, schools and faith settings; all who have an interest in increasing the physical activity levels of children aged 5-14, to activate changes to the system. Find out more about this part of the project here.
Local JU:MP action groups (JAGs)
Engaging over 120 partners across 8 local action groups including schools, council partners, and community and faith organisations have been established and these groups lie at the heart of the approach.
Each has co-designed a local action plan that drives forward the work, with two of these led by JU:MP Coordinators in the Bradford West Area Neighbourhood team and six by the JU:MP core team. Find out more about this part of the project here.
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This work stream is aiming to bring together key stakeholders from Active Braford and Living Well and strengthen the presence of physical activity within policy and practice which will be done through whole systems change.
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This work stream is aiming to ensure the JU:MP workforce have the necessary knowledge, skills and motivation to support children and families to be active as an essential element of the whole systems working.
This will be done through a training package created by the JU:MP team and delivered to various stakeholders involved in the JU:MP programme.
The Sustainable Sports Programme
Another fantastic area of investment and one example is the work with Greater Horton Cricket club, which was traditionally focussed on male participation but with JU:MP funding has developed a girls cricket programme.
They have over 60 girls engaged and female cricket coaches trained and leading the programme.
Find out more about this part of the programme here.