NFU Mutual choose Pavilion Dance to support Health & Wellbeing initiative in local BCP Schools

NFU Mutual Agents and their staff at the Bournemouth office recently nominated local charity Pavilion Dance South West to receive a donation of more than £6,500 from NFU Mutual’s national £1.92million ‘Agency Giving Fund’.

The leading rural insurer launched this fund, now in its fifth year, to help local frontline charities across the country. The Agency Giving Fund forms part of NFU Mutual’s £3.25m funding pledge for both local and national charities in 2024, to assist with the ongoing recovery from the pandemic and to help tackle the impact of the rising cost of living.

To ensure these donations reach all corners of the UK and are directed to where they’re needed most, all NFU Mutual Agencies, with more than 280 offices nationwide, have been given the opportunity to nominate local charities to receive a share of the fund.

Pavilion Dance’s mission is to transform lives through dance. The Primary School Dance Tool Kit project is aimed at driving positive change for society by providing targeted healthcare support through preventative measures in schools. It aligns with NHS Dorset’s Joint Forward Plan outcome target to prevent 55,000 children from becoming overweight by 2040 and aims to bring the mental and physical health benefits of dancing to 30,000 children in all 86 BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole) primary schools over the next three years.

Funding from NFU Mutual’s Agency Giving Fund directly supports this mission to get more children moving, helping to tackle child obesity levels, with more than one in five 10 and 11-year-olds now living with obesity in England. It will also mean more young people across BCP will get the chance to dance in schools. Ofsted’s latest subject report on PE found that a third of UK primary schools are not teaching dance at all, despite it being part of the National Curriculum, and in two-thirds of schools dance is not taught to all pupils.

Helen Keall, Joint CEO at Pavilion Dance, said: “We see the physical and mental wellbeing benefits across our dance communities every day and we are extremely thankful to NFU Mutual for supporting us with this project. This generous funding will enable us to create a short and targeted programme giving primary school teachers the skills to deliver the dance curriculum and to integrate movement into their lesson plans more widely. It will also leave a lasting legacy: every primary school in BCP will have a toolkit that empowers their staff to teach curriculum-linked dance confidently and well into the future, enhancing children’s overall learning experience and wellbeing.”

Darren Seward, Agent at NFU Mutual New Forest, Isle of Wight and Bournemouth Agency, said: “In 2024, our Agency has decided to support charities across our three offices that focus on healthcare – prevention, critical care and end of life support. Pavilion Dance South West are known for engaging the local community using dance. Encouraging young people to be active from an early age will reduce the incidence of childhood obesity and we are delighted to be supporting their project to roll out their dance-based schemes to schools across the area.”

For more information about your local NFU Mutual Agent in the New Forest, visit www.nfumutual.co.uk/new-forest

NFU Mutual Agency Giving Fund, Image credit NFU Mutual