Earlier this year, YST posted hard copies of the This Girl Can…Create Change! resources to all secondary schools in England. Created in collaboration with girls and PE teachers, the resources celebrate friends as girls’ biggest influencers while recognising that positive encouragement from peers is the most effective way to get girls active - at school and at home.

With 24% of girls aged 11-14 and 50% of 15-18 year olds reporting that COVID-19 and lockdown had a negative impact on their mental health, and 40% of young people feeling worse during lockdown due to not being able to take part in sport, now is the perfect time to get girls active in your school.

Not only did lockdown create barriers to learning, socialising and keeping active, it also made leadership opportunities few and far between. Girls lead and take ownership of their own campaign through This Girl Can… Create Change!, which may well build the next generation of female leaders, influencers and campaigners.

Kate Dale, This Girl Can Lead said:

The This Girl Can… Create Change programme helps to creates the next generation of female leaders, influencers and campaigners. These timely resources help girls voice how physical activity and improved wellbeing can be done at school and at home. Working together they can create ways to move that are right for them. This is exactly what This Girl Can is all about.

YST and This Girl Can want to know how schools are planning to use the resources to create change in their school. The first 400 schools that fill in their survey will receive five This Girl Can pin badges for girls to wear in their campaigning role. The information gleaned from this survey will provide insight of schools’ intended actions and enable us to share practice.

As well as the hard copies, resources are also available for download from the Youth Sport Trust website where you can watch videos giving some great hints and tips for how to make the most of them.

Join in the conversation on social @YouthSportTrust @ThisGirlCanUK using #ThisGirlCan. 

Schools can also sign up to the This Girl Can supporters hub by visiting www.thisgirlcan.co.uk where further resources and tools are available.