Laya Super Troopers celebrates 10 years of empowering one million Irish children to lead healthier lives.

Participants report significant improvements in wellbeing, exercise and eating habits.

Laya Super Troopers, laya healthcare’s health homework programme, is marking its 10th anniversary with a resounding message of success. Over the past decade, the initiative has reached over one million primary school children and their families across Ireland, inspiring them to embrace healthier habits and build a foundation for a brighter future.

Ireland’s first ever health homework programme, Laya Super Troopers was launched in 2014 and has been developed with teachers and experts focusing on three core pillars - mental wellbeing, physical activity and nutrition. The free programme is designed for the primary schools of Ireland and teachers, children and families are encouraged to adopt healthy habits and take part in daily and weekly challenges.

Laya Super Troopers Ambassador Johnny Sexton spoke about why he got involved with the programme and how his family have adopted some of the healthy habits “Being a Dad has opened my eyes to the importance of getting active as a family. I’m a huge fan of Laya Super Troopers, it’s such a clever way to get kids more active with their families. Involving teachers in overseeing the health homework aspect of Super Troopers is an integral part of the Programme and that’s really clever because we all know how conscientious parents are to make sure that homework is done and signed off on. I’ve already introduced my kids to some of the activities and they love them, it makes getting active together easy and fun.”

As Laya Super Troopers marks its 10-year milestone, the proof is in the data as the results show the significant positive impact of Laya Super Troopers on participating children.

The research[1], conducted with primary school children in Munster and Leinster who took part in the Laya Super Troopers programme, points to positive changes:

• Exercise is on the rise: The number of children engaging in physical activity six or more days a week has jumped from 37% to 41%, while those who were physically active four or more days a week increased from 74% to 79%.
• Girls are leading the charge: A remarkable improvement was seen in girls' exercise levels, with those exercising four or more days a week soaring from 70% to 81%.
• Healthy choices are becoming the norm: Children are making smarter snacking decisions, with those opting for healthy snacks 'always' or 'often' increasing from 43% to 47%. Meanwhile, those who ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ choose a healthy snack dropped from 11% to 8%.
• Wellbeing is flourishing: The programme has had a profound impact on children's mental wellbeing, with those reporting feeling calm and relaxed 'often' or 'always' rising significantly from 48% to 56%.

Reacting to the results, Sinead Proos, Head of Health and Wellbeing at laya healthcare, said: “With marked improvements in exercise, nutrition and wellbeing, the data clearly shows that Laya Super Troopers makes a compelling difference for the kids who take part. We can see from the data that the programme really works to encourage healthy behaviours in our children. Laya Super Troopers is fun, has proven results and is completely free so I would encourage every school to register for the year ahead.”

How to sign up

Laya Super Troopers is easy to get involved in and free for all schools. Simply visit www.layahealthcare.ie/supertroopers to register your school’s interest to participate and all materials will be provided free of charge. Participating schools and families receive Laya Super Trooper activity family wallcharts, a teacher’s guide to the programme, Laya Super Troopers prizes and much more including a chance to win a sports experience from one of laya healthcare's sports partnerships with Connacht, Leinster and Munster Rugby.

About Laya Super Troopers:

Laya Super Troopers was launched in 2014 to encourage children and their families to become more active and learn about healthy lifestyles. Since its inception, there have been over 8,000 school registrations for Laya Super Troopers, with over one million children taking part.

[1] Research was carried out by Real Nation