IT is a popular children's book about a witch, her cat, a frog, a dog and a dragon which has enchanted youngsters across the globe.

Now the classic tale Room on the Broom by Scottish writer Julia Donaldson is being used in a major project to look at ways of improving children's health and wellbeing through better physical education sessions.

Young children at seven schools throughout South Lanarkshire are being given two hours of PE a week with the results monitored by a team of researchers from the West of Scotland University's Institute of Clinical Exercise and Health.

Teachers have been given resource packs containing a series of instruction cards along which explore different themes, along with extra training to help deliver the lessons.

The first resource pack, Learning through Exploration, sees children play with a range of equipment and apparatus such as beanbags, balls, hoops, bubbles, newspaper, carpet tiles and benches.

A second strand, Learning through Stories, Rhymes and Poems, allows teachers to use the rhymes and story or the spooky Room on the Broom yarn to encourage the development of rhythmic and creative movement.

The sessions will also be guided by a third resource pack titled Learning Through Activities which covers games, gymnastics and dance.

The project has been developed through a collaboration between South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture (SLLC), the local council, NHS Lanarkshire, University of Glasgow and University of the West of Scotland.

Roisin Lochrin-Hopkins, business development officer with SLLCs Sport and Physical Activity Department said: "We know many class teachers are not confident about delivering PE sessions.

"Over the past 12 months, teachers have worked closely with physical education lecturers from Glasgow University and others to develop a resource pack comprising of 50 cards that set out ways to improve children's sensory motor and fundamental movement skills.

"This has been backed up with two sessions of in-service training on how to deliver the programme for class teachers in the pilot schools."

Schools taking part in the Connections Pilot are Spittal and St Mark's Primaries in Rutherglen, St Elizabeth's and Glenlee in Hamilton, Maxwellton in East Kilbride, St Athanasius in Carluke and Lanark Primary.

A further two schools not participating will provide researchers with a control group for comparison.

Theresa Campbell of Glasgow University said: "Our hope is that these cards will act as a catalyst for teachers to seek out other ideas to add to the sessions.

"Teachers are very imaginative in their approaches to the curriculum in a huge range of areas.

"I am confident that they will be able to take what we have provided for physical education and enrich it through adding their own ideas and certainly their own particular personalities and style to how the programme is delivered."