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The school bell may signal the end of lessons, but for more than half a million Australian children each week, it doesn't mean the end of opportunities to be active.

A major Adelaide University study has found that outside school hours care services can play an important role in keeping children moving, with services that completed the Activated OSHC program showing substantial improvements in physical activity and screen time practices. The work is published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Assessing the impact of Activated OSHC—an online training and accreditation program designed to boost activity and reduce screen time—researchers found that OSHC services that had completed the program had:

Activated OSHC is a free, evidence-based program co-designed by Adelaide University and the OSHC sector, in collaboration with government and child health experts, to help care providers get children to be more active and spend less time on screens.

Tested in almost 200 OSHC services collectively caring for approximately 10,000 children across Australia, the self-paced online training and accreditation program provides tips for creating an active environment, strategies to reduce screen time and ways to encourage participation from all children regardless of age or ability.

Importantly, it helps the OSHC service create a physical activity and screen time policy that aligns with the Australian guidelines for OSHC.

The program was developed in response to concerns about low levels of physical activity among Australian children.

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