Meet the team

Andy is passionate about improving the lives of children and young people through physical activity. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Bradford and Co-director for the Centre for Applied Education Research at the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research. In his role as research and development lead, he draws on over 20 years of experience of working in school-based physical activity and training student teachers. He led the development of the initial CAS framework and is a published author with over 40 peer reviewed articles. Internationally, Andy has led cross European projects on physically active learning and whole school physical activity and is often invited to present keynote lectures.

Alex Ogden is a former teacher working in primary schools across Leeds and Bradford for 15 years and leading PE, Sport and physical activity within these settings. For three years he worked as an education consultant, travelling up and down the country supporting schools to adopt a whole school approach to physically active learning across the curriculum. Alex is currently the Education Lead for Yorkshire Sport Foundation, working with senior leaders and teachers across West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire on how to embed physical activity at the heart of school culture and ethos, and is also part of the Creating Active Schools national team in his role as the CAS National Lead

Dan has worked in education for 12 years including roles in primary, secondary and special schools in Coventry, Newcastle and London. He later moved to the local authority, working as a school improvement adviser for PE and sport. Now as a Director at the Yorkshire Sport Foundation (the Active Partnership covering West and South Yorkshire) Dan leads the children and young people, skills, clubs and active design teams, as well as the continuous improvement and business development of the organisation.
Dan has been instrumental in bringing together partners from different sectors to develop the ‘Creating Active Schools’ framework, which draws on behaviour change methodology and empirical research to put physical activity at the heart of school strategy. This is now being implemented in over 200 schools internationally.
He is also the Chair of Governors of a large academy in North Yorkshire and a Trustee for Groundwork, a charity that mobilises practical community action on poverty and the environment.

Ian Holmes is a former head teacher who ensured physical activity sat at the heart of the school’s culture and ethos. He is passionate about supporting schools to embrace a whole systems approach to physical activity and well-being in order to improve outcomes for the children they serve. He recently worked for the University of Bradford, ensuring research and practice were brought together in the implementation of the Creating Active Schools programmes at local, regional and national levels. He is now a co-director of Move & Learn Community Interest Company - providing coaching, mentoring and CPD programmes for those in education, with a focus on the benefits of reducing sedentary time. He is also an EMCC accredited coach at master practitioner level.

Jade is a Postdoc Research Fellow at the University of Bradford in physical activity and healthy childhood within the Faculty of Health Studies and Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research. Jade’s primary research focus at the University is to lead a Sport England funded project to create a Physical Literacy Assessment Tool for education and community-based settings. Jade’s also supports on Creating Active Schools, recently providing 1-year insights into the implementation and effectiveness of CAS in Bradford. Jade is passionate about both prevention and intervention approaches to support children and young people’s physical and mental health.

Zoe is a PhD student at the University of Bradford evaluating the implementation and impact of the Creating Active Schools Programme in Bradford. Her research focuses on schools engagement and experience with CAS, and the organisational changes to their physical activity provision. Zoe remains passionate about child health and wellbeing and has focused her academic career on enhancing physical activity within primary schools, and engaging school stakeholders and students within her research

Dr Anna Chalkley is an Honorary Visiting Researcher at the University of Bradford and acts as a strategic adviser and research partner for CAS. Anna is a Research Fellow at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, her research focuses on working at the interface of research, policy and practice in relation to children’s physical activity and health and includes the development, implementation and evaluation of school-based physical activity interventions. Anna has acted as an advisor and consultant to a range of national and international health promotion agencies, including the Department of Health and Social Care and the World Health Organization.