Pupils turn their backs on sport in London’s secondary schools

Thousands of London children give up sport when they get to secondary school, new figures reveal.

In some boroughs only six per cent of pupils do two hours of exercise in school every week by the time they reach the sixth form. The previous government wanted all students to do that a week.

Today's figures show a slight increase in the numbers but many boroughs are still missing the target.

Figures released by the Department for Education show that more than 90 per cent of children aged five to 11 participate in at least two hours of PE in schools across Britain.

But by the time they reach the age of 12 the figure drops to 87 per cent and by the sixth form just 23 per cent of teenagers are doing enough sport.

Only six per cent of Hackney's 807 sixth-formers do two hours of PE a week, while in Kensington and Chelsea the figure is 100 per cent. Less than 10 per cent of sixth-formers in Brent, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich reach the two-hour target.

The report also shows that just 21 per cent of schoolchildren participated in competitive sport in the last academic year — a small rise from 19 per cent in the previous year.

Children's minister Tim Loughton said: "Young people's involvement in competitive sport remains disappointingly low. We aim to spark a competitive school sport revolution by giving thousands of young people the chance to compete at school sport competitions in 2012."

The report comes as concern over childhood obesity is rising. About a third of young people are overweight, while 10 per cent of six-year-olds are obese. Rates are predicted to rise significantly in the next few years.