A brand-new app built by four former teachers and self-taught coders will launch in schools from September 2021, providing teachers with the tools they need to engage pupils in an active curriculum.
Following a decrease in activity levels among children during the Covid-19 pandemic and the government’s announcement that £320 million will be invested into physical education in schools this year, myphizz provides a solution for teachers to encourage children to play more sport, increase social skills and lead more happier and healthier lifestyles.
Using a live leaderboard, children have the ability to set myphizz challenges in their classrooms, compare results across their school, as well as nationally. Teachers also have access to a functional control dashboard which measures individual pupils’ activity levels.
Working alongside brand ambassador and Olympic sprinter Adam Gemili, myphizz empowers children to take control of their own mental and physical wellbeing. The new app, which runs through secure schools networks and is only visible to school communities, is available to download from the Apple App Store, Google Play and can be accessed as a web-based application on PCs, mobiles and tablets.
myphizz has undergone numerous successful trials in schools earlier this year. Siobhan Roe, teacher at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School trialled the app with her year three class and said: “myphizz has been a huge hit amongst our pupils – there’s been such a buzz in the classroom with every single pupil involved in creating, sharing and accomplishing activities. The children have rushed home to tell their parents all about their ‘phizzes’ and we can’t wait to see the rest of school enjoy it.
“The platform is so easy to use and I’ve found the images to describe the ‘phizzes’ really useful as it helps a lot of the children with their reading and spellings as they compare words and pictures. The mix of activities that can be set is incredible – we’ve used myphizz for practicing our times tables as well as challenging each other to do as many press-ups as possible! myphizz has opened up a world of fun activity and movements for our children.”
Co-founder and director of myphizz, Anthony Mcbride added: “Working with tech developers, educational experts and sporting icons, we’ve developed a platform which means schools can raise the quality and frequency of physical activity in a sustainable way.
“Unlike other apps, myphizz users formulate their own activities and challenges, which can range from a 100m sprint time to completing as many star jumps as possible in 15 seconds.”