As recent national statistics show that from the age of five up, boys are more active than girls at every age. Sport England data from its Active Lives: Children & Young People survey revealed that boys (51%) are more likely to be active than girls (43%).

The campaign recognises that friends are the greatest influencers on adolescent girls and that positive encouragement and support from their peers is the most effective way to get girls more active.

Part of the national This Girl Can campaign – which is back on TV with brand new adverts - and delivered by children’s charity the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, girls aged 11 to 18 will receive practical ideas and advice about how they can get their friends, families, and teachers active.

This Girl Can…Create Change is a charity partnership, funded by The National Lottery, and aims to create change for girls. It encourages girls to set up PE opinion boxes in school changing rooms, use social media to promote positive messages about getting active, and plan flash mobs in school lobbies to celebrate PE and school sport.

Since its launch five years ago, This Girl Can has inspired nearly three million women to take steps towards or become more active. Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust are now taking the award-winning formula into secondary schools by refreshing resources for teachers.

It forms part of a wider programme of work by the organisations to help young people get active – including their offer of free training to 17,000 secondary school PE teachers to help young people develop a positive attitude towards PE and being active so they are more likely to be active adults.

The programme is backed by a £13.5 million investment from Sport England between now and 2021 and teachers can get their schools involved by downloading the resources at www.youthsporttrust.org/this-girl-can/teachers

Kate Dale, from Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, said:

Teachers play a crucial role in helping their students develop positive attitudes towards PE, and we’ve introduced these resources to help teachers make PE engaging for students.

Sport England’s research shows that fun – above all else – is the number one factor motivating children to get active. With these new resources, girls can become the Greta Thunberg’s of their school by helping other girls enjoy activity. The students themselves are going to be the ones improving the design and delivery of PE so it works for them.

The resources also support girls to lobby teachers and head teachers to explain how young campaigners can raise awareness, change attitudes and inform provision. The resource guide for teachers aims to help schools to construct a curriculum that meets every girl’s needs – now and for future success.

Ali Oliver, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said:

We know from our research and other girls focussed programmes that girls’ needs differ and change as they mature. When girls have input on the design and delivery of their PE and sport offer, we know it has incredible results.

We are really excited by the This Girl Can…Create Change resources. It presents a real opportunity to develop the next generation of PE and school sport campaigners in our schools that we desperately need to prevent curriculum time for the subject from being squeezed, and to make a stance against the decline in girls getting active.

To view and access the resources for free visit www.youthsporttrust.org/this-girl-can/teachers