More than half of borough children not taking enough regular exercise

More than half of children in South Tyneside were not taking enough exercise last year, new figures show.

- by Gazette Reporter

Sport England data shows that just 48% of school age youngsters in the borough were getting at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day - the target set by England's chief medical officer during the 2024/25 academic year.

That was a slight fall on the 49% a year earlier, but a rise on the 45% in 2017-18.

The data shows, 21% of children in South Tyneside were classed as 'fairly active' - getting between 30 and 60 minutes of activity a day, and 31% were 'less active', with fewer than 30 minutes.

Nationally, the organisation's annual Active Lives survey, completed by more than 130,000 children, shows 49% (3.6 million) were getting the recommended amount of physical activity every day - a 2% increase on the year before, and the highest total since 2017-18, when the survey began.