South Yorkshire Active Start: Year Two impact report published 

Two years in, our early-years physical activity programme, working with practitioners across all four South Yorkshire districts, is going from strength to strength. 

Active Start is a training and development programme for practitioners working with children aged two to five, helping them use movement as a foundation for healthy development, school readiness, and an active life. In partnership with, and funded by, the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board's Children and Young People's Alliance, the programme supports settings across education, community, and health to build confidence and embed physical activity into everyday practice. 

Active Start Year Two has built on the strong foundations of the first year, and the numbers tell an encouraging story. Across 2025/26, the programme trained 98 staff across 112 settings, reached 1,388 children and 821 families, and saw significant gains in practitioner confidence. Those involved reported a 48% increase in their ability to plan and deliver movement through the Early Years Framework, a 43% increase in their confidence to support parents and carers to be active, and improved understanding of physical activity guidelines and physical literacy. 

The need for this work has never been clearer. Recent research suggests that less than a quarter (23%) of preschoolers meet the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 180 minutes of daily physical activity. Active Start gives settings and the people who work in them the tools to nurture the whole child, building motor skills, creativity, social interaction, and emotional wellbeing alongside a love of movement, while helping families build active habits from the earliest stages of life.

Yorkshire Sport Foundation - Children and Young People Development Manager, Adam Fuller, said:

"What's really exciting about Year Two is that the demand is coming from within the system itself. Practitioners find the programme useful, share it with colleagues, and want more. When you see confidence in planning movement through the Early Years Framework increase by nearly half, that's not just a number; it’s a practitioner who goes back into their setting on Monday morning and does something differently for the children in their care. 

"We're proud of what the Active Start programme has achieved and grateful to everyone who has been part of it, from the practitioners and settings who've embraced the training to our partners at the South Yorkshire ICB Children and Young People's Alliance.  

"We still have more to do, and we're looking forward to creating more impact in the future."

Read the full report