European School Sports Day | getting schools on the move

EUROPEAN SCHOOL SPORT DAY

What if every child could #BeActive in school with sport and play? What if every school took one day to celebrate sport in Europe? Could it help students to kick-off a lifetime of health? We say YES. Join us.

WHY? THE FACTS

Plenty of research shows that #Being active makes students healthier and better learners in the classroom. School spirit improves too with fun and inclusive team sports. Does your school have a sports day? Let's organise one!

Top five reasons to join ESSD

Raise the profile of physical education (PE) and sport in schools

Create fun and enjoyment through physical activity for young people

Promote health and wellbeing for lifelong learning

Encourage social inclusion and develop social competence amongst students

Connect with other European countries

What makes your Day "ESSD official"?

Getting your school to #BeActive for at least 120 minutes. Run or walk the distance of the given year (e.g. 2019 meters in 2019). Running, hopping, skipping, dancing: any kind of physical activity counts.

History

The European School Sport Day has empowered 1.5 million European students to #BeActive in 20 countries so far. And we have Hungary to thank for the inspiration. School leaders, teachers and students across Hungary had been successfully leading school sport days for 10 years when we started in 2015.
With the European Commission’s support through the Erasmus Plus Programme and many partners, we developed the Day based on Hungary’s model. We quickly expanded across Europe and by linking with the European Week of Sport, we are getting even more schools on the move.

2015

Testing in 3 pilot countries with funding through Erasmus+ and support of partners

2016

Success! Expanded to total of 20 countries, reached 1.5 million students

2017

Linked the Day officially to the European Week of Sport and the #BeActive campaign

2018

Getting even more schools on the move

Partners

Associative Partner

Communication partners

NewsList

How kids can #BeActiveAtHome – 6 fresh ideas for families
2020-10-13
This European School Sport Day showed all the innovative ways schools and school children are keeping active and adapting to a “new normal” at school. But we like to think ...
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Hungarian School Sports Day recognised as official theme day in Hungary
2020-09-14
The Ministry of Human Capacities in Hungary has announced that the Hungarian School Sport Day, an initiative started by the Hungarian School Sport Federation and successfully rolled out as European ...
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What next for the COVID generation? The wellbeing challenge ahead
2020-09-14
By Maria Malyshkina, ISCA “Take a step back and think about what children have had to go through over the last few months,” Amanda Vernalls, Head of Research & Insight at ...
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FESI member Puma donates shoes for European School Sport Day
2020-09-11
Global sports brand Puma is supporting European School Sport Day with a donation of shoes for school children. More Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) members are set ...
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Mental health a timely focus topic for European School Sport Day 2020
2020-09-10
By Rachel Payne, ISCA “I can’t think of anything more timely to be the focus topic of ESSD 2020,” Youth Sport Trust International’s Managing Director Helen Vost said about the choice ...
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Spain launches European School Sport Day 2020 Challenge
2020-09-07
Today, 1 September, Spain’s European School Sport Day (ESSD) National Coordinator Sport for Education and Health has officially launched an “ESSD 2020 Challenge” contest for all schools participating in the ...
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