The Prime Minister has called upon parents and teachers to help tackle the issue of childhood obesity through diet and sport.
Mr Brown’s comments came during a visit to a special breakfast club at Harris Girls’ Academy in South London. Accompanied by Children’s minister Ed Balls and athlete Kelly Holmes, the PM chatted with students playing sport prior to the start of classes.
Read the transcript for the film below:
Ed Balls:
We had a very early start today to come down to East Dulwich to the Harris Academy to this girls-only school, which is a sports college, and to find the way which they’re inspiring young people in this school to be involved in sport, and it’s been a really great morning. I’ve been here with the prime minister and also with Kelly Holmes, who’s done so much work round the country to get girls more involved in sports.
Kelly Holmes:
Getting girls active and children active is absolutely crucial, and this school here is brilliant. They get their kids in at seven o’clock doing clubs. They’ve got people getting scholarships, playing for England, and I think they’re really good role models for everybody else to look up to.
Gordon Brown:
And I’ve been at this breakfast club this morning in the school where kids are coming, eating healthy food. Then they’re doing their exercise, and they’re playing all sorts of sports between eight and nine, then after school. And the rise in the number of young people doing sports in schools has been phenomenal, from 20% ten years ago to 86% now, but there’s still some way to go, and particularly for girls, and that’s why we’re at a girls’ school today. As we move up to the Olympics, it’s going to be great to see young people in school getting five hours of sport. The better provision of sports facilities, the enthusiasm of young people, more teachers in sports will start to make a difference to childhood obesity levels.
Ed Balls:
If we’re going to tackle the obesity problem in our country, we’ve got to get more young people involved in sport and also eating more healthy meals in school and also at home. There’s things I can do as government, there’s things that schools can do to give a lead, but in the end it’ll be parents and young people themselves who will make the difference. It’s our job to encourage them and that’s what we’re trying to do today.
Gordon Brown:
Thank you very much for having me here. It’s been great to be here. Best of luck for the future. What a school. It’s really exciting.
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