Exploring the contributions of Barnet’s Golden Kilometre intervention to primary school pupils’ physical literacy development

This thesis forms part of a funded research project with Public Health Barnet exploring the impact a primary school run/walk intervention has on developing pupils’ physical literacy (PL). The Barnet’s Golden Kilometre intervention was developed as a feasible, low-cost initiative, involving primary school children walking, jogging or running one km every day whilst at school. It has been demonstrated that PL is more important than purely physical elements regarding the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. Identifying initiatives that are likely to encourage progression in the domains of PL (affective, cognitive and physical) from a young age is deemed important to encourage regular physical activity (PA) participation throughout life. The initial study of this thesis determined that no current literature examining school-based run/walk programmes has considered all three domains of PL. Outcomes relating to the physical domain were most commonly explored, and no studies explored the cognitive domain. Based on these initial findings, the thesis examined the PL and PA related effects of participating in Barnet's Golden kilometre over one academic year were. The combined findings revealed that mixed responses were reported following one academic year of participation, and that the intervention may not be universally suitable due to factors such as variation in age, ability and initial PL. However, when implementation is successful, improvements in perceived and actual physical competence (physical domain), improved thoughts and feeling towards exercise (affective domain), improvements in knowledge and understanding of healthy eating and exercise (cognitive domain), as well as health related outcomes (BMI, BF% and waist circumferences) can be observed. In order to encourage positive PL experiences and the benefits reported herein, it is recommended that future research considers the youth promotion model within the Boroughs policy promotion and to help schools understand the valuable role they play in intervention implementation and adaption.