We heard compelling evidence that fundamental motor skills need to be taught at an early age. There is a misconception that all the skills will develop naturally in childhood, and that is just not the case. We heard evidence that, like many other academic skills, fundamental motor skills need developmentally appropriate instruction and opportunities to practice skills in enriched learning environments. Children who are delayed in fundamental motor skills are less likely to be physically active both now and in the future.

We heard about successful kinaesthetic instruction for pre-schoolers—SKIP—an evidence based programme of professional development that has been used to train teachers, teaching assistants and parents about the importance of early movement for child development. Dr Nalda Wainwright, director of the Welsh Institute for Physical Literacy, told us, and I quote, 

'we train the teachers to understand how children move through those stages. They do it in literacy and numeracy, but nobody's taught them that in a physical context. There's been such a misconception in the world of academia around motor development—suggesting children learn that by themselves through play. But that's like chucking a bag of letters in the room and saying, "Play with it enough and you'll learn to read"'.

We therefore recommended—recommendation 5—that the Welsh Government takes further action in the new curriculum to ensure that every child in Wales is enabled to develop the essential fundamental motor skills required at an early age in school, and ensure that current gaps in the foundation phase related to these skills are fully addressed. We would support investment for programmes such as SKIP Cymru to be rolled out across the country to ensure that every school in Wales is able to adequately support children to learn these skills. While the Welsh Government appears to accept this recommendation, this isn't really reflected in the response, which talks about the foundation phase and existing resources delivering the requirements and notes that they might develop a case study on the SKIP Cymru programme. In response to this statement, Dr Nalda Wainwright told us, and I quote,

'It is extremely disappointing that in Wales, where we have the highest childhood obesity in Europe and a third of children living in poverty, Welsh Government feels an appropriate response to the recommendations of the report is to quote the Foundation Phase curriculum, which published research shows does not develop the necessary motor skills. They also suggest that resources with no evidence base are a pedagogical model for physical education. By ignoring the evidence Welsh Government are in danger of failing the young children and families of Wales in particular in areas of deprivation where they are faced with a growing crisis of inactivity, poor motor development and rising obesity.'

It is clear to us that physical activity is not given enough priority in schools, and this must change. The new curriculum offers a great opportunity to redress the balance and give physical activity the attention and priority it deserves. We are very concerned to hear that the majority of schools are not meeting the recommended 120 minutes a week for physical education, and that reductions in the time allocated to physical education in both primary and secondary schools are commonplace due to curriculum pressures. We agree with stakeholders that the recommended 120 minutes a week should be a statutory requirement, making it clear that this is a minimum target, and more activity should be encouraged if possible. Therefore, we are hugely disappointed that the Welsh Government rejected this recommendation, given the evidence that it's not happening in the vast majority of schools in Wales.

We also agree that, to elevate the status and priority given to physical activity in schools, it must be inspected by Estyn, both to monitor compliance that the 120 minutes is being adhered to and also to assess the quality of physical education experience. Again, while on the face of it recommendation 9—that the Welsh Government gives physical education a greater priority in the new curriculum and makes this priority clear to Estyn—has been accepted, the accompanying narrative just sets out what Estyn currently does, whereas the recommendation calls for new action, for physical activity to be given greater priority in Estyn's inspection regime. Therefore it does not appear that the recommendation has actually been accepted. I would be grateful for the Minister’s comments on this.

We heard about the importance of providing an appropriate choice of activities and involving pupils in the development of the physical activity and sports on offer in their schools. This was supported in our discussions with pupils at Bassaleg School, who told us that the school had a well-rounded approach, and being given an option was important, particularly for those who did not want to take part in formal exercise. I therefore welcome the Welsh Government's acceptance of recommendation 7, to ensure that all secondary schools regularly consult pupils on the choice and range of physical activities available to them and ensure their views are taken into account.

We looked at the differences in boys and girls' attitudes to physical activity. The 2018 school sport survey shows that 50 per cent of boys are taking part in sport three or more times a week in comparison to 46 per cent of girls. In terms of attitudes towards sports, enjoyment of school-based PE in primary schools is similar between the sexes—75 per cent for boys versus 71 per cent for girls—but the picture changes at secondary level. Here, while 64 per cent of boys enjoy PE, only 45 per cent of girls report doing so.