Getting schoolchildren moving

The “Getting schoolchildren moving” project is the result of a partnership between the Lycée Pierre Mendès France and Decathlon employees. The project was approved by our Board of Directors in December 2022.

The Pierre Mendès secondary school in Tourcoing currently supports 384 secondary school pupils from priority neighbourhoods, including 34 in the SEGPA, and more than 11,000 young people from the Cité Educative.

GETTING SCHOOLCHILDREN MOVING

The “Getting schoolchildren moving” project aims to get young people moving, both athletically and intellectually, through active design.

The aim? To combat sedentary lifestyles among young people.

To achieve this, a number of themes are being addressed:

• With a view to a HEALTH pathway (and in favour of health education): promote the well-being of pupils by contributing to the development of healthy lifestyles in order to combat sedentary lifestyles and overweight => “a healthy mind in a healthy body”.
• As part of the FUTURE pathway (career guidance): develop a partnership with a teldesi brand.
• As part of the CITIZENSHIP pathway: promote the values of the Republic through sport (refereeing), respect for equipment and eco-responsibility.
• With a view to SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: to raise awareness but above all to ACT for the planet and the cleanliness of the school by keeping the premises clean, collecting, sorting and managing waste + developing soft mobility.
• With a view to INCLUSION and MIXITY: participation of all the schemes (ULIS, SEGPA, IMPRO) with a special mention for the SEGPA in the creation and maintenance of sports facilities (bike workshop, creation of parkour elements, etc.).

THE ACTIVE DESIGN

Active design is the means used in this project to combat the sedentary lifestyle of young people. The aim is to design the school to promote accessibility, safety and a mix of uses in a pleasant, fun and attractive way. Physical activity is integrated into pupils’ daily lives, encouraging them to take the stairs, use soft mobility, etc. Active design raises pupils’ awareness of sporting culture, but above all encourages them to get moving.

Active design has been developed with schoolchildren in mind, and also helps to give meaning to certain subjects and make them concrete.

Some examples of active design: 

• Maths: use of the torpedo ball to work on mental arithmetic
• Science: work on energy expenditure: how long do you need to exercise to burn off as many calories? + work on the time and intensity of the activity
• History-Geography/French: creation of an escape game (BREVET 3e revision), creation of an ancient J.O, creation of a Quidditch simulation
• Cooking workshop: work on food hygiene using the example of infused, flavoured and sugar-free water (with the occasional help of a dietician).

The aim of this project is to go beyond the secondary school and extend the benefits to the Tourcoing educational estate. The aim is to bring in pupils from neighbouring schools so that they too can benefit from active design.

The Decathlon employees involved in this project support the school and the young people by donating sports equipment, testing equipment and working on innovation projects with the young people, but also by helping them to find a career path: shop visits, presentations on sports-related professions, bike repair courses, etc.

Photo of a painting by Emilien, a talented young man from Tourcoing. The fresco highlights diversity and disabled sport.

Photo of the steps created by the high school “Le Corbusier”.

“The desire is to join forces with others to get young people moving, that’s what social innovation is all about, solving social problems. It’s also in line with Decathlon’s philosophy, which is to get people moving. The idea is not to give them the impression that they’re doing sport, but to get them moving in a fun way, so that they can join a sports club, and also to create links between them, after the covid, to get them interested in mixing, so that girls and boys can play together and get together rather than just sitting around at playtime” Laurence Fischer, social innovation leader at Decathlon and leader of the “Getting schoolchildren moving” project.

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