Students' health is key to school performance and to developing into a dynamic adult. During and after the pandemic, there has been a drastic decline in the health and well-being of children and young people. This is why #movewithIES was started. #movewithIES is a national health initiative that was first introduced to five chosen schools during the school year 21/22 . Today, #movewithIES is implemented in nearly half of our schools, 23 of them, and the goal is for all schools to be part of the initiative in the near future.
Although the initiative is called #movewithIES, it does not only focus on improving students' physical health; it also aims to enhance their social and mental health. Each #movewithIES school has its own designated Health motivator who is responsible for running the initiative locally by implementing materials and tasks from the Health Initiative Manager. The manager is connected to the head office and holds overall responsibility for the systematic quality work, planning, and implementation of the initiative nationally. The manager is also part of the central student health team, and the initiative is part of our IES Student Health Plan.
Studies have shown that students who are active and healthy improve their ability to focus, and thus their learning. This makes #movewithIES strongly linked to our ethos: high academic ambition and expectations, along with a calm and safe learning environment.
#movewithIES helps students remain active by ensuring they have 1-2 brain breaks per day while offering various activities during these breaks. Helping students stay active during breaks will also improve their social health by helping to reduce the number of conflicts in the schoolyard.
#movewithIES also strives to educate students about health. In collaboration with author Maria Dufva, we have created educational videos and lesson plans linked to different chapters in her book "Värsta bästa hälsan." We also use a web-based tool called "Det syns inte" (It’s Not Visible) to educate our students on the topic of mental health.
The ultimate goal of #movewithIES is to create and establish healthy habits that will stay with students, giving them the best possible foundation for a happy and successful life!