Impulse Leisure Proudly Hosts Girls’ PE Empowerment Day

The event aims to inspire, motivate and empower young girls to learn essential knowledge about their bodies, to embrace physical activity, to boost their confidence in their local community, and to overcome barriers to participate in PE as they move into KS4.

Working alongside the dedicated PE department at William Edwards and The Mintridge Foundation, Impulse Leisure successfully coordinated a day filled with motivational talks, interactive workshops, and fitness sessions.

The day was kicked off by well-respected Olympian Marilyn Okoro, whose powerful story of resilience and determination left a highly impactful and lasting impression on the students.

Workshops tackled key issues affecting female participation in sport, including body confidence, self-esteem, and physical health. A special Body Confidence session was led by the school’s Girls Panel —students who attended the first PE Empowerment Day in 2022 and have now returned as role models for their peers.

Following the workshops, students reported that they had learnt valuable knowledge on how to become more body confident, how to be confident in PE and how to stay confident.

In addition to the workshops, our incredible Impulse Leisure instructors led a series of engaging fitness sessions, including Rebound, Zumba, Pound, and Gym-based workouts. These activities proved to be the highlight of the event, with 71% of students naming the Impulse Leisure fitness classes as their favourite part of the day!

Only 45% of school-aged girls are active for 60 minutes or more a day, and while this figure has improved due to national campaigns like This Girl Can, Impulse Leisure remains committed to being a driving force in breaking down barriers and promoting the health and wellbeing benefits of active lifestyles among young people.

When asked “How will today impact you being active in the Future?” The girls responded with positively.

These days are vital in delivering key information essential for girls to develop healthy relationships with their body, exercise and their community. We are excited to be seeing a huge increase in numbers of girls participating in KS4 PE.

“As a community-focused Leisure Trust and registered charity, we are dedicated to making health and fitness accessible for everyone, and young people are a vital part of this commitment.

Collaborating with local schools such as William Edwards allows us to support young girls in building confidence and overcoming obstacles to participation. We want every student to feel empowered to take part in fitness, whether that’s in PE lessons or by discovering a class or activity they love outside of school.

Our team was incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm and engagement shown by the students, and we are already looking forward to hosting this event again in the future.”

• Karl Hayes, Managing Director at Impulse Leisure.

 Impulse Leisure offers a comprehensive range of activities for children and young people across its facilities, including the Active 1115 membership, which provides access to supervised gym sessions, public swimming, and Belhus Park’s golf and adventure footgolf courses.

Find out more at www.impulseleisure.co.uk/juniors.