Healthy Movers supports children aged two to five to develop their physical literacy, social and emotional skills and wellbeing, helping to give them the best start in life. Through training and resources for Early Years practitioners, alongside activities for families, the programme helps embed physical activity both in settings and at home.

With funding from the Mercers’ Company, as trustee of the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington, the Youth Sport Trust is delivering Healthy Movers London from 2023–2027. The programme focuses particularly on areas of high disadvantage, using physical literacy to improve Early Years outcomes and school readiness.

Interim findings:

• More than 2,000 children have taken part and over 200 practitioners have been trained.
• Practitioners report increases in children's physical activity levels, along with improvements to their physical skills, plus improvements in children’s personal, social and emotional development.
• Healthy Movers is supporting school readiness, including core strength and stability, self-regulation, turn-taking and communication.
• The programme is also supporting children facing inequalities at important transition points.
• Delivering Healthy Movers both in Early Years settings and at home is seen as central to its impact, although family engagement varies between settings.

"We benefited from utilising the Healthy Movers resources during our second Ofsted inspection; the children were so engaged and so happy. We now incorporate Healthy Movers in our weekly curriculum planning." (Early Years Setting Manager)