BARELY a week goes by without the issue of child obesity and fitness levels among our young hitting the headlines.
It's certainly a growing problem, with more and more children becoming overweight.
Much of the problem is blamed on schools for failing to provide
enough sport. But one Worcester school has hit back at the critics, saying sport is very high on the agenda and is becoming increasingly popular as more diverse activities become available.
Sean Devlin, principal at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, said: "Sport and physical exercise is a crucial part of school life. We offer a host of sports so our pupils have a lot of choice and there is something for everybody.
"As a Catholic college we encourage our students to link sport with their faith, getting the pupils to realise their body was created by God and the need for them to look after it."
The Government's current target is for children to get two hours of PE a week, but two in three secondary schools and nearly a third of primaries fail to hit that target.
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"We do provide two hours of PE for pupils in years seven, eight and nine," Mr Devlin said.
"But when it comes to GCSE this goes to one hour because we would not fit in all the subjects that students must take otherwise. However, our provisions for sport in lunchtimes and after school could rival any school."
Dom O'Brien wields the bat during a cricket lesson at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Worcester but it's not just traditional sports that are on offer at the school, and it's not just the boys who play them. Picture by Simon Rogers. 17372204
Gone are the days when only boys played football and rugby and girls did netball and hockey. The school now has an equal rights policy, enabling any pupil to take any sport.
The list of sport on offer is long. There are the traditional sports, such as football, rugby, cricket, hockey, netball and athletics. Then there is golf, trampolining, skiing, weight training, pilates and martial arts, to name but a few.
Mr Devlin said: "If a student doesn't enjoy any of the sport we offer there is the chance to take a sports leadership accreditation, so there is plenty on offer, whatever a students' preference. We are also open to new ideas and are always expanding the sport on offer."
Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, as a specialist school in maths and computing, has an enviable academic record. Its GCSE grades are often among the best in the county. However, the Timberdine Avenue school also boasts a top sporting reputation, with both individual and team champions.
"Our girls' under-13 rugby team is through to the finals of a national competition and will get the chance to play at Twickenham next month," said Paul Coward, area leader of PE at the college.
"The boys' under-16 rugby team are West Midlands champions, we won both under-13 and under-14 county basketball championships, were runner up in under-16 and won the under-13 cup final, to name but a few of our achievements.
Mr Coward said the school aimed to create a culture where all pupils enjoyed at least one kind of sport, which they would continue with later in life, combating the
growing obesity problem among today's young.
"When I go to the gym and see former pupils I feel pleased that they are doing something," he said.
"We don't want pupils to go away hating sport, we want them to find something they enjoy and continue with it after school. Whether that's a team sport or an individual activity like martial arts, or weight training, or even dancing.
"It's all about changing their mindset about sport and getting them to enjoy it."
The school has been selected to take part in the Dreams and Teams programme, launched by the British Council to link schools across the world through sport and culture.
Blessed Edward has been linked with Bal Shikshan Mandir English Medium School in Pune, India.
Mr Devlin said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for us. We have a number of students from the school coming over to stay with us in September and they will be teaching our pupils traditional Indian sports. Then in January next year a group of students from our college will go to India to teach them traditional English sports."
Students from Blessed Edward also get the chance to go to Malta, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Italy and Austria on sporting trips, and soon they could even be getting a taste of the Caribbean.
With so much on offer in our schools where should we be laying the blame for today's overweight society? Perhaps at the door of food manufacturers? Computer games firms? Or should it be parents? It seems schools are doing all they can.
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