Movement Matters in Hertfordshire: Strengthening Early Childhood Physical Activity Since 2023

Since 2023, Herts Sport & Physical Activity Partnership, in collaboration with Hertfordshire County Council, has been working alongside leading early years physical development specialist Helen Battelley to strengthen physical activity provision for young children across the county through the Herts Mini Movers initiative.

This work was developed in response to a clear and consistent message from the sector: early years educators wanted greater confidence, clearer guidance and practical strategies to embed meaningful movement into everyday practice.

Understanding the Need

In 2022, the Active Partnership Network coordinated a National Early Years Survey to better understand physical activity provision across the sector. The findings were clear: many early years settings in Hertfordshire required additional support to deliver physical activity effectively, with educators reporting lower confidence in embedding movement within their daily practice.

Using this insight, Herts Sport & Physical Activity Partnership worked with Hertfordshire County Council to shape a targeted, evidence-informed response. A proposal was developed outlining the importance of physical development within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), supported by both research evidence and local data.

From this, a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) was established to guide the programme.

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Programme Aims

The overall aim of the programme has been to:

  • Increase physical activity levels among young children
  • Support early years settings to embed movement into daily provision
  • Provide accessible, practical resources for educators
  • Strengthen workforce knowledge and confidence
  • Promote a consistent, research-informed approach to early years physical development across Hertfordshire

Key Areas of Delivery

Working in partnership with Helen Battelley, the programme has focused on three core strands:

Herts Mini Movers: Early Years Physical Activity Package

The Partnership has led the promotion and implementation of Herts Mini Movers, an early years physical activity toolkit designed to support educators working with children aged 2–5 years.

This package provides:

  • Practical activities and games
  • Clear guidance linked to physical development
  • Accessible strategies for everyday implementation

Workforce Development and Training

A key priority has been to strengthen the confidence and capability of the early years workforce.

Through partnership delivery, Helen Battelley has led a programme of professional development sessions, enabling educators to:

  • Deepen their understanding of physical development from birth to five
  • Embed movement across daily routines
  • Design enabling, movement-rich environments
  • Support children in developing fundamental movement skills

This work has focused on enhancing existing practice, rather than adding additional workload, ensuring sustainable and realistic implementation within settings.

Early Years Physical Activity Advocacy Group

To ensure long-term sustainability, the Partnership has established the Herts Early Years Physical Activity Advocacy Group.

This group brings together:

  • Early years setting managers
  • Physical activity leads
  • Local authority representatives
  • Partnership stakeholders

Meeting regularly, the group provides a platform for:

  • Ongoing professional dialogue
  • Shared learning and reflection
  • Peer support and collaboration
  • Development of local champions for physical activity

To further support educators Herts Sports Partnership and Helen Battelley manage a private Facebook group called HSP Early Years Physical Activity Network with 65 members sharing physical development best practice.

What is Herts Mini Movers?

Herts Mini Movers is a free online toolkit designed to support educators in embedding movement throughout the day.

The toolkit includes:

  • Research-informed written guidance
  • Demonstration videos
  • Practical, easy-to-implement activity ideas
  • Everyday strategies to support movement-rich practice

Resources are structured around five key areas:

  • Locomotor skills and navigating space
  • Music and movement
  • Balance, coordination and control
  • Object control and catching
  • Equipment and wheeled toys

These domains reflect the foundations of early movement competence, helping educators understand progression and purpose within physical development.

The core aim is simple:

To ensure movement is visible, intentional and embedded, not occasional.

https://sportinherts.org.uk/herts-mini-movers

Why This Work Matters

National guidelines recommend that children aged 2–5 years engage in:

  • At least 180 minutes of physical activity daily
  • Including 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity

However, current data suggests that only a small proportion of children meet these recommendations.

Where movement opportunities are limited, children may experience delays in:

  • Movement competence
  • Strength and stamina
  • Confidence
  • Physical literacy

Importantly, physical development underpins wider outcomes, including:

  • Emotional regulation
  • Executive function
  • Communication and language
  • Social development
  • School readiness
  • Lifelong health behaviours

This work aligns with growing national recognition that early movement experiences are fundamental to children’s development and wellbeing.

Professional Learning and Reach

Since 2023, the programme has delivered:

  • Six CPD sessions (mix of online and face to face delivery)
  • Reaching nearly 300 early years educators across Hertfordshire

This training has focused on building confidence, strengthening knowledge and supporting educators to implement meaningful, movement-rich practice.

Wider Impact: A Ripple Effect

Using a Ripple Effect Mapping approach, the potential reach of this work is significant.

  • Nearly 300 educators trained, ripple effect mapped to 5000 educators in Hertfordshire
  • Reaching approximately  30,000 children a year

As educators continue to apply this learning over time, the cumulative impact grows, demonstrating sustainable, system-wide change rather than one-off intervention.

Building Sustainable Change

The combination of:

  • Toolkit development
  • Workforce training
  • Advocacy leadership and ambassador models
  • Cross-sector collaboration

has enabled the Partnership to move beyond isolated initiatives towards a coherent, sustainable approach to early years physical activity.

The Advocacy Group ensures that this work remains dynamic, responsive and embedded within the sector.

A Collective Commitment

The collaboration between Herts Sport & Physical Activity Partnership, Hertfordshire County Council, Helen Battelley and early years educators across the county demonstrates what can be achieved through shared vision and partnership working.

This work is about more than increasing activity levels.

It is about:

  • Protecting children’s freedom to move and explore
  • Supporting educators with practical, evidence-informed tools
  • Creating environments that prioritise physical development
  • Strengthening the foundations for lifelong health and learning

Since 2023, we have begun to shift the culture around early years physical activity in Hertfordshire.

June, 2026.