A FORMER Barnsley PE teacher who went on to create an award-winning sports business warns that an increased emphasis on academic subjects could create a generation of obese youngsters.
Darren Padgett, founder of Team Activ, says schools are already struggling to fit sport into the school day because of new changes to the curriculum which emphasise maths and literacy.
Darren, whose company works with 60 schools, fears PE will be squeezed even further after a new report warned over 3,000 primary schools could fall below the government's tough new minimum standards in reading, writing and maths.
Darren says he is already seeing schools cut back on the amount of time pupils can be active.
Darren, who set up Team Activ in 2011 after being made redundant from running the Schools Sports Partnership in Barnsley, said: "We are facing a growing obesity problem with children yet seem to be hampering every chance they have to exercise.
"I know of schools which have cordoned-off playgrounds for quiet time, instead of letting children run around and burn off energy."
** The full story appears in the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper, dated October 3. **
