Regular physical activity has many important physical and mental health benefits. However, many children do not meet the government-recommended guidelines, and physical activity levels tend to decline as children go through primary school. The after-school period is a crucial time when children can accumulate part of the recommended 60 minutes of MVPA per day, and yet much existing after-school provision is dominated by team sports, which does not appeal to all children and can be expensive for schools to pay for external providers to deliver. The evidence presented in this report demonstrates that a TA-led after-school physical activity programme is feasible to implement in primary schools and is enjoyed by both pupils and TAs. The study was able to recruit a range of pupils, including girls and those who were less active. Attendance levels were high and maintained throughout the study, and intervention fidelity was also high.
The joint aims of this randomised feasibility trial were to explore whether or not sufficient evidence of promise existed to suggest that the Action 3:30 physical activity intervention could improve MVPA levels among primary school children and whether or not progression to a definitive trial would be warranted. No effect was observed in any of the primary or secondary accelerometer-derived outcomes when comparing intervention with control participants, and therefore the intervention was not effective at increasing MVPA in these children. Process data implied that participants attending Action 3:30 sessions were swapping physical activity from other contexts instead of adding physical activity where none existed before. However, the economic evaluation revealed that Action 3:30 is inexpensive to deliver compared with existing provision and so could be deemed a financially viable programme for primary schools to deliver, which would engage a range of pupils in physical activity and upskill core staff simultaneously.