Belonging, Movement and Meaningful Change: How Greenside Primary Transformed Wellbeing Through RISE Up and CAS

By GM Moving | 17 December 2025 | TAGS: Children and young people, schools, creating active schools

Over the past two years, two key approaches, the RISE Up programme and the Creating Active Schools (CAS) framework have helped turn that belief into daily reality, reshaping their culture, environment, and the way their children start and experience school, physical activity and movement. Creating Active Schools (CAS) framework have helped turn that belief into daily reality, reshaping our culture, environment, and the way our children start and experience school, physical activity and movement. 

RISE Up: A Positive Start and a Place to Belong 

RISE Up is a trauma-informed, movement-based, early intervention programme that gives educators the tools to build confidence, regulation, resilience and belonging — every single day. 

Greenside Primary introduced the programme to support a small group of pupils in Years 4–6. As staff reflected, “we wanted to create a space that gave them a sense of belonging and something to look forward to.” 

Their RISE Up Sport Sanctuary and Active Play sessions provided movement, routine and connection, followed by toast and check-ins to help pupils feel heard and valued. The club began linking with wider wellbeing provision such as the Nurture Room and Forest Schools. The programme also inspired Wellbeing Warriors, a pupil-led initiative supporting peers through snack bars and wellbeing tools. 

The change has been striking. Children who once struggled with confidence or mornings are now more positive, engaged, and ready to learn. Many have joined extra-curricular clubs and have grown in self-belief and energy. Attendance has improved too, of eight pupils with concerns, six finished the year above 92%, a transformational shift that shows the power of belonging and a positive start. 

One girl who was previously very anxious now arrives happy, attends three clubs, and even represents the school. Another Year 6 pupil left the club simply to join football: “The real win? He’s now in school early every day.” 

Children themselves describe what they value, this demonstrates how powerful it can be when children feel they belong. 

• “I like getting to talk about what I’ve been up to over the weekend with my friends.” 

• “I love doing lots of different activities and games.” 

• “I love doing different sports — it’s cool!!” 

• “I love that we get toast! It is my breakfast on Monday and Friday!!!” 

The impact has been extraordinary. Teacher perceptions of pupils’ wellbeing improved by 37.5%, and our Wellbeing Scorecard rose from 49% to 77%. 

Creating Active Schools: Shaping a Culture of Movement 

The Creating active schools programme utilises the whole school approach framework to support schools to create happy and healthy environments through physical activity. It is designed to weave movement into the fabric of the school day, from lessons and playtimes to leadership and culture.  GM Moving supported Greenside Primary to implement the CAS programme in their school. 

Alongside RISE Up, the CAS framework has helped reshape the school’s culture so movement becomes a natural part of school life. They shifted staff approaches, trained lunchtime supervisors to play with children, and increased active travel—leading to a 30% reduction in car journeys to the school gates. 

Policy changes now embed movement breaks as regulation tools. Instead of sitting quietly when dysregulated, “it is now commonplace to see children doing press ups and star jumps in the corridors.” 

They invested in their environment too: new trim trails, outdoor gym equipment, lunchtime discos, and a surge in skipping after the Skip2Bfit workshop. Community partnerships led to active pavements and a much-loved Duck Trail designed with children’s artwork. 

The outcome? Fewer behavioural incidents, happier lunchtimes, and almost every child reporting that break and dinner times have become more enjoyable and active. 

Why These Approaches Matter Together 

What unites RISE Up and CAS is a simple idea: movement, connection, and belonging can change lives. These two approaches work so effectively together because they both use physical activity to support whole-school wellbeing, rather than treating PE and movement in isolation. 

Michael Ellis, PE lead at  Greenside Primary school reflected on their journey: “We continually aim to improve our offer and be more inclusive, ensuring all CYP can benefit from physical activity to support a range of outcomes. CAS highlighted active travel and lunchtimes as key areas to increase activity, while Future Action helped ensure this was done through a relational, trauma-informed lens. By blending the two, we introduced tools like the WOW Tracker and shifted lunchtime staff towards play-focused supervision, improving behaviour and activity levels. Together, the approaches provide clear direction, practical support and strong evidence for senior leaders about the wider benefits of physical activity.”

This blended approach—combining active environments with trauma-informed relationships—has strengthened attendance, behaviour, and belonging across school. 

A Call to Schools Everywhere  
There are a number of initiatives available for a school, and they do not need to be used in isolation. If your school is looking to strengthen wellbeing, attendance, engagement, or wants to build a more active, inclusive and connected culture, consider how RISE Up and CAS could work together for your community.  

Start small. Build trust. Let children lead. Make movement the norm. Create spaces where everyone belongs. 

For more information on the Rise up programme by Future Actions please contact Neil Moggan [email protected] . For more information on CAS please contact  [email protected] .