Carleton University’s varsity sports council, in partnership with the City of Ottawa, is developing an after school program for kids that combines sports and homework help. The council hopes that starting in January parents can sign their kids up for this fitness and learning workshop run by Carleton athletes, at the McNabb Recreation Centre.
Ainslee Kent, a member of the varsity council, says the council wants the program to run every weekday for two hours after school. Kent says they are expecting around 25 student athletes to participate in the program, five from each varsity sports team.
“The city is also providing us with a lot of free equipment because we want to make this as low cost as possible,” says Kent. She says the program is supposed to provide kids with a place to go after school to have fun while getting help with their homework.
A report from the Institute of Medicine released in May found that increasing physical activity may lead to better academic performance. The report called “Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School,” says this is because brain functions that facilitate learning are enhanced by physical activity.
Kent says the idea for the new program was developed because the girls’ varsity hockey team, which she is a part of, used to participate in a similar program called Running and Reading, a program which has seen improved reading scores.
Running and Reading is a weekly club held at many inner city schools across Canada. It was developed by Brampton-based organization Start2Finish, as part of a broader goal to address child poverty in the country.
Cynthia Willman is the principal at Robert E. Wilson Public School, one of two schools in Ottawa who organize Running and Reading clubs. She says the program is effective at addressing the needs of kids who are struggling with school work. Kids at her school who participate in the program on a regular basis see their reading scores go up.
“It allows kids to have one day a week where they can participate in physical education in a non-judgmental, non-competitive environment. After we get their blood pumping, and they sit down to do homework, they have an easier time concentrating,” says Willman.
Research from the Start2Finish website says that 17 per cent of kids who participated in the Running and Reading program during the 2008-2009 school year raised their reading and writing scores by a full letter grade.
Willman says she’s noticed that kids feel better about reading after doing physical activity. She adds that the program owes a lot to its student volunteers. “We really enjoyed volunteering for Running and Reading last year, but then our schedules got changed and we couldn’t do it anymore, so we decided to start our own program,” says Kent.
The program at McNabb follows a similar model to Running and Reading and may reap the same academic benefits for participants.