Late April and early May are not good times for curriculum PE and Games. Often deprived of indoor facilities by exam demands, and facing the historical primacy of Athletics, lessons on damp, cool fields can be uninspiring. Field events are especially vulnerable to being slow-moving, overly technical and short on both fun and progress.

And yet they persist in many environments. The infrequently challenged assumption that all events must be ‘covered’ ensures that groups of shivering pupils assemble around the sandpits and throwing areas, which have been roused from the sad neglect of their winter hibernation, for a few...

The dust is settling on the start of the summer term. For many schools, this means that the tri-annual mission of establishing the ‘games lists’ will be largely complete, with the late changes accommodated – or not – and a status quo established. This provides a clear opportunity to analyse the success of the programme – or otherwise.

For many schools, the significant factor is the number of pupils, in each year group, who choose to remain engaged within traditional games. In the summer, this means the numbers who choose to take part in Cricket, to join the meaningful...

Exercised by Daniel Lieberman

Exercised is the first book of its kind by a leading scientific expert. Daniel Lieberman is an anthropologist, who examines the concept of exercise and lifestyle from an evolutionary perspective. He concludes that humans never evolved to exercise. They are hardwired for moderate exertion throughout each day, not triathlons or treadmills. Drawing on over a decade of high-level scientific research and eye-opening insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman explains precisely how exercise can promote health.

He considers the ways in which modern, industrialised societies have created a lifestyle that is contrary to evolutionary...