Healthy and Physically Active Schools in Europe project begins in Luxembourg

One of the world’s most innovative university campuses, the University of Luxembourg’s Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Esch-Belval, was not only the backdrop for the Healthy and Physically Active Schools in Europe (HEPAS) project kick-off meeting on 21-23 January 2020, but also a striking example of urban space design that characterises placemaking and ISCA’s concept of MOVEment Spaces.

The campus was literally built around an old steelworks factory, with its library, cafés, start-up hubs and grounds being studded with feature walls and structures from the original factory. Plans are under way to convert part of the site into a sports hall, HEPAS project manager Claude Scheuer from the University of Luxembourg told the project team on an eye-opening tour of the campus.

The HEPAS project runs from until November 2021 and aims to create a free open educational resource for school staff and other school-related stakeholders to enhance school-based physical activity and healthy lifestyle programmes for children and adolescents. The partners and project participants will establish a European network of physically active and healthy schools.

The project is co-funded by EU Erasmus+ Key Action 2 and builds on the momentum of the European School Sport Day collaborative partnership and the EU Physical Activity Label for Schools, both led by the Hungarian School Sport Federation and partnered by ISCA.

Partners of the HEPAS project, in addition to ISCA and the University of Luxembourg (lead partner), include EUPEA, the Hungarian School Sport Federation, and Deporte Para La Educacion y La Salud.

University of Luxembourg website: https://wwwen.uni.lu/fhse/belval_campus

By Rachel Payne, ISCA