What's your relationship with movement? Turning Physical Literacy into action in Greater Manchester

By GM Moving | 20 August 2025 | TAGS: physical literacy

At the Positive Experiences Collective Conference, Jess Simons, our Active Children Lead, recently shared how we’ve been putting the physical consensus statement into action in Greater Manchester. 

The Positive Experiences Collective is a network that brings together people working in sport, physical activity, and early years to explore how children and young people can have positive, lasting experiences of movement.

Their annual conference focuses on sharing best practice and translating research into real-world practice.

This year, the conference included panel discussions focused on helping all children, from all backgrounds, have positive movement experiences that last a lifetime. 

Morning panel: From Statement to Action

As part of the morning panel discussion, Jess shared our work with physical literacy since the consensus statement launched in September 2023. She reflected on our successes, challenges, and ongoing work to turn the statement into action.

Speaking alongside panellists from the Youth Sport Trust, Swim England, and Leeds Beckett University, Jess explained how a physical-literacy-informed approach could support lifelong engagement in sport and physical activity.

Afternoon panel: Celebrating real-world practice

Later in the day, the conference showcased the Patchwork programme. This initiative supports its members to embed physical literacy into everyday practice by working in interdisciplinary teams.

As part of the programme, Jess had joined forces with Jane Gardiner (School Readiness, GMCA) and Sheron Kantor (Start Well, Bolton Council) to form the team ‘Beyond Movement’.

They stressed a key insight from their work: Before adults can embed physical literacy in their roles, they must first understand it and connect with it personally.

As part of Beyond Movement, Jess highlighted the important role early years workers play in creating positive movement experiences for children.

The team also showed how listening to children and encouraging their relationship with movement supports their overall development, helps them get ready for school, and builds positive attitudes towards sport and activity for life. 

Reflecting on the conference

After the conference, we caught up with Jess to hear her reflections on the event and her experience as part of the Patchwork programme.

"For GM Moving, the physical literacy consensus statement and Patchwork programme have guided us and our partners to focus on shared goals: creating positive movement experiences, reducing inactivity, and increasing activity throughout life. 
 
"Everyone’s relationship with movement changes over time, influenced by many life factors.

"Once those planning, delivering, or evaluating movement programmes recognise this, we can create more meaningful, lasting change. This benefits everyone involved in sport, physical activity, and movement."

Key Takeaways

This work underlines the importance of creating the right conditions for change.

Our experience in Greater Manchester shows that putting physical literacy into practice requires:

1. Building understanding among adults. We know that parents, teachers, coaches, health workers, and community champions first need to connect with physical literacy personally.

2. Creating collaborative groups. Jess and her interdisciplinary team is doing this by working with those from public health, early years, and leisure services in Tameside and Wigan, forming a wider GM physical literacy group.

3. Translating ideas into practice. We're facilitating this as part the wider GM physical group. We're co-designing a toolkit to help early years professionals embed physical literacy in their everyday work.

Resources

Ready to start translating the statement into action? We've gathered some resources to help you get started.

Collective Learning and Best Practice:

• Collective Best Practice in Physical Literacy
• Physical Literacy Toolkit – Youth Sport Trust
• Positive Experiences Collective
• Conference learnings from the interdisciplinary teams
• Conference highlights, tools and resources

Programmes and Opportunities:

• Join Cohort 2 of the Patchwork Programme
• How partners like Activity Alliance are putting physical literacy into action
• Physical Literacy – Thoughts from Sector Leaders | Sport England

If you would like support to translate the physical literacy consensus statement in Greater Manchester, email Jess Simons, Active Children Lead: [email protected]