Kick-Smart: Promoting academic achievement, fitness and well-being in primary school-aged children

All children in a selected Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) class will participate in the program, while children in another Stage 3 class will act as a control group, however, only children from whom a parental consent form has been provided will be involved in the data collection aspects of this research. The program will combine a curriculum-based program with the integration of physical activity and martial arts at school delivered in PE and School Sport time. The control class will continue with their usual PE and Sport lessons. The program will run for six weeks starting week 2 of term 3, 2019. This research will be conducted as a feasibility trial. Data to test the potential effectiveness of the intervention will be collected from students in both intervention and control classes during Term 3, 2019. The control class will receive a condensed delivery of the intervention in weeks 8-10. Classes will be randomised after baseline data collection. Both classes class have equal chance of being selected for either group. During the program, students (in the test class) will engage in two, 1-hour sessions each week, which will include activities and techniques from a range of martial arts including Karate, Boxing, Taekwon-Do and Pankration/MMA. This will include learning basic punches and kicks and practicing them on pads, as well as basic self-defence techniques. The students will not be striking each other at any point, however in some classes, controlled physical contact will be necessary. For example: • Students will learn how to escape simple grabs such as a wrist grab. This will require students to practice this with a partner by holding their partner’s wrist and the other to apply the escape technique. The martial arts program will also include discussions and activities that aim to develop a better understanding of various character/ethic topics such as courage, self-control and teamwork. Additionally, the content from this project meets many Stage 3 requirements for the NSW Mathematics and the NSW PDHPE syllabi. Mr Burt, and members of the research team, qualified to administer the assessment, will be involved in the delivery of all assessments and the observations of pupils. Follow up data will be collected in week 8 of Term 3. Class teacher for the control class will continue with regular class duties and activities. The class teacher for the test class will be required to be present to supervise their class during each Kick-Smart session and manage any behaviour issues during this time. The intervention will be administered by Mr Louis Burt, who is the University PhD research Student. Mr Burt is a qualified primary school teacher, as well as an accredited martial arts instructor with 19 years martial arts experience. Teachers’ consent should be received in order to be able to deliver the program in their classes and collect data. Children will complete a range of assessments at baseline (Week 1, Term 3) and follow up (Week 8, Term 3).