How active are London schools?

A major new collaboration between London Sport and Moki aims to promote positivity and active learning in schools.

London Sport and Moki have joined forces to help and encourage children in Tower Hamlets to keep active at school.

Four schools in the borough have signed up for the latest London Sport Active Schools initiative, with a total of 120 children in Key Stage 2 wearing Moki bands to track their physical activity for the duration of the Autumn term. A live dashboard is already up and running, delivering real-time insight into the activity levels of the children taking part. 

London Sport is dedicated to giving young Londoners the best opportunity to form a positive physical activity habit for life. Many children in the capital are disadvantaged in terms of living space, communal playing areas and access to team sports. There are also significant economic disparities across the city. 

Moki’s unique wristband and software application system tracks step counts, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and other metrics across large groups of children. By providing individual and cumulative class data, the idea is to encourage friendly competition, fun challenges and new ways of thinking around what being physically active is all about.

“This is a great opportunity to show Moki in action,” says James Huggins, one of Moki’s founders. “The work London Sport does is really important in getting young Londoners moving, and our trackers and live dashboard will provide the schools with real data that will help them shape immediate action plans and future initiatives.” 

London Sport will track the project closely during this autumn term, gathering feedback from teachers and children.

After Christmas the Moki devices will be switched to schools in other boroughs, enabling like-for-like comparisons and adding richness to the data. By the end of the project, it is hoped more than 1000 children across London will have participated, providing schools with fascinating insight into the activity levels of their pupils.

“We’re really excited to be working with Moki as we continue our efforts to promote a positive attitude towards physical activity and sport and help to get children moving more regularly,” says Bethaney Hall, Children and Young People Project Officer at London Sport. “Schools have a huge part to play in this and we believe Moki could be one of the tools that help inspire both children and their teachers to discover the huge benefits activity can have.”