Why we made Moki

'Obesity rate in UK children doubles during primary school years to top US figure'
The Times, 2018

News reports help reinforce our collective concern but we really only need to look around us to see it; kids in the UK are not active enough. Last year the rate of severe obesity among year 6 children (aged 10 to 11) was 34.3% (equal to 197,888 children). There is an inactivity epidemic that is having a large impact on the health and wellbeing of children and the damage to our society in the future is likely to be huge. At Moki we are determined to help schools get kids more active.

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has said: 'Tackling obesity is a shared responsibility for society'. Ofsted is now holding schools more accountable for the levels of activity undertaken by their students during school time and in 2019 the UK Government has again made the £320 million PE & Sport Premium fund available to schools. The PE & Sport Premium was introduced in 2013 and saw the government allocate funding directly to primary school headteachers in order for them to decide how to use it to best provide PE and sporting activities for pupils. So teachers have been able to provide new opportunities to increase the quality of PE and sport provision in primary schools. But the question we asked ourselves when thinking about ways we could act was: how was the success of these initiatives being measured? 

In 2015 ukactive produced a report called Generation Inactive 1, an analysis of the UK's childhood inactivity epidemic. It stresses the need for a better understanding of children’s activity and fitness levels so that targeted and evidence-based action can be taken to improve children’s health. The report states that: 'It is absolutely critical that a measure is introduced and done so in a way that is fun, inspiring and engaging for children and young people, informed by the academic community but shaped by young people themselves. Any organisation that does not believe such an approach is possible lacks the belief in creativity and innovation that is needed to turn the tide of inactivity.' 

'Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.' 
H. James Harrington

Moki is an activity tracker that gives schools the power to measure how active their whole school is. From the Moki Scale and take home reports to the displayless face on the Band, Moki has been developed with schools, for schools.