This is Austria's Most Active School

350 children jump, dance, and move together through the event hall in Gunskirchen. With 116,553 minutes of physical activity collected, the students of Volksschule Gunskirchen earned the title of Austria's most active school.

The award marks the highlight of this year's "The Active School" initiative. Behind the initiative is the motion4kids educational foundation, which supports schools in naturally integrating physical activity into daily school life, thus creating better conditions for education and social development. More than 100 schools from all over Austria participated this school year and collectively gathered over 2.3 million minutes of physical activity.

"Physical Activity is a Key Component"

As part of the closing event, Volksschule Gunskirchen received the quality seal from the Active School Austria association. Together with Mayor Christian Schöffmann, school principal Bettina Fuchshuber, and Christoph Mayer, representing the motion4kids educational foundation which launched the initiative, as well as numerous partners, the children celebrated the end of an exceptionally active school year.

"For us, physical activity is much more than just a balance to lessons – it is an important building block for successful learning, health, and well-being. Our goal was never a place in the ranking, but rather to integrate more physical activity into our children's daily school life. Therefore, we are even more pleased that Volksschule Gunskirchen achieved 1st place nationwide and has now received the Active School quality seal," says principal Bettina Fuchshuber.

Congratulations from Hong Kong

The children collected their minutes of physical activity throughout the school year using the Digital Movement Worlds on the motion4kids educational foundation's platform. These include movevo4kids and Break it Kids!, two programs that playfully integrate physical activity into lessons and breaks and support schools all year round. Both movement worlds motivate children to be regularly active and to experience physical activity as an integral part of their daily school life.

While the movevo4kids team got the children moving at the on-site closing event, the Break it Kids! team joined remotely from Hong Kong to congratulate the students on their outstanding achievement.

"The benefits of physical activity for children have been well documented for years. Especially for successful learning, physical activity plays an important role. Nevertheless, eight out of ten children do not reach the WHO-recommended daily hour of physical activity. That's why we must bring physical activity to where we can reach all children: into schools. VS Gunskirchen is a particularly impressive example of what is possible when physical activity is supported by the entire school community. Even more encouraging, however, is that this success is no longer an exception: out of over 100 participating schools, 94 already met the requirements for the Active School quality seal after just one school year. The willingness for more physical activity is therefore present. The challenge lies more in creating opportunities for it to truly unfold in daily school life," says Christoph Mayer, Secretary General of the motion4kids 'We Move Our Future' Educational Foundation.

The "The Active School" initiative was launched by the motion4kids educational foundation. The project is realized with the support of Red Bull Media House as part of the "Servus moves children" campaign. Together with partners such as the Daily Movement Unit, the Active School Austria association, movevo4kids, and Break it Kids!, the initiative supports schools in sustainably embedding physical activity into daily school life.