Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) is delighted to announce the return of Move it Boom, the physical activity competition for primary school children across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, for 2023.

The competition gets underway this week, and will run until Friday 15 December 2023. The winning schools will be announced during the week commencing 18 December.

The award-winning competition encourages children to get up, get active and log the physical activities they complete to be in with a chance of winning a great prize for their school.

For 2023, the Move it Boom website has been redeveloped to see children venture on a monster hunt as part of the Secret Monster Society. Their task is to track down a missing professor, travelling around the world meeting mysterious monsters and earning trophies as they go.

As children complete and log their physical activities through their own personal account on the Move it Boom website, they will earn power to unlock additional parts of the story. This, in turn, will see them travelling further around the world, meeting monsters who will aid them in their quest.

Every physical activity they log will also earn points for their school. At the end of the competition, the best performing schools will win a great prize from one of the local partners on board to support Move it Boom.

These partners include: Leicester City in the Community, ME Sports in the Community, Leicester Tigers, Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Fox Soccer Academy and Loughborough Sport. Move it Boom has also welcomed three new partners this year, MegaStrikers, Core Dance Company and Si Sports.

Sarah Tebbett, Digital Clinical Lead at LPT said: "We are incredibly excited to relaunch Move it Boom this year with a brand-new look in the form of the Monster Hunt. To celebrate their physical activity, we can't wait to see what surprises and clues the children will discover as they venture across the world in search of the missing professor.

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"This initiative is a great opportunity for the whole school community to come together and have fun being physically active. It can really help the children understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle and being active too."

This year, Raising Health, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust's charity, has partnered with Move it Boom to raise vital funds to support children and young people with mental health conditions.

The charity is raising money to buy new sensory equipment for The Beacon, an in-patient mental health facility for children and young people.

"We know that using sensory equipment contributes to the recovery of young people and children with mental health conditions by improving learning, relaxation and communication. We would like to make sure that we are doing all we can to support our young people on their recovery journey," said Carolyn Pascoe, Fundraising Manager of Raising Health.

Schools are being encouraged to complete a 'Move it Boom Monster Day Mile' around their playground in their favourite scary or monster themed mask for a voluntary donation towards the appeal.

Leicester City in the Community will support Move It Boom 2023 by promoting the programme in each of their partner primary schools via assembly content and hope to create ambassadors for the programme in each school to help promote a culture of being active.

Leicester City in the Community Primary Stars Coordinator, Glenn Short, said: "We at Leicester City in the Community are excited and proud to partner with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust through Move it Boom. We are looking forward to hearing all about the monsters the children are discovering and are confident this will encourage children in our partner schools to take part."

Dovelands Primary School take part in Move it Boom every year and are looking forward to embarking on the Monster Hunt. Roberto Amoroso, PE teacher said: "Move it Boom is a competition that the children at Dovelands Primary School have always enjoyed taking part in.

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"The mix of physical activity along with a story about monsters and a quest the children can undertake will be something they will absolutely love. We can't wait to give it a go!"