ELEVEN-year-old Ewan Mason is campaigning for more sports equipment for his school after he noticed some students were being left out at lunchtime.
Ewan, a Year 6 student at Cleveland State School, said students would race to the equipment bin when the bell rang so they could get equipment to play during their lunch break.
He said there was not enough to go around, with some lucky students getting their hands on a football or basketball but others being left with nothing.
"If there is not enough sporting equipment, then a lot of children get excluded and have no fun at break whereas the students with sporting equipment are having fun and getting rid of all their energy before going back to class," Ewan said.
An Education Department student said every classroom at Cleveland State School had a sport equipment kit for playtime activities, with further excess supplies kept by the school's head Health and Physical Education teacher.
"On top of regular budget allocations for sporting events and goods, Cleveland State School organises a yearly Colour Run to raise further funds to ensure all students have access to a variety of sporting equipment," the spokesperson said.
Ewan said the kits for older grades consisted of about four pieces of sports equipment to share between 30 children or more.
He said younger grades did not have kits at all.
"I've seen (Year 3 students) kicking handballs around as footies and it gets me really annoyed that some kids get equipment and others don't," he said.
"Some of them look bored... and they said we wish we had a footy but we don't."
A 2018 Active Healthy Kids Australia report stated active play was emotionally, socially and cognitively valuable for children.
Ewan said students with too much built-up energy could get into trouble in the classroom.
He said additional equipment could also benefit the school as a whole.
"The more equipment we have, the better kids get at that sport, then they can enter competitions and give the school a better name for sport," he said.
"I just want more funding for sports equipment, more funding for public schools in general."
The spokesperson said the Education Department recognised that regular physical activity and participation in sport enhanced students' health and wellbeing.
"Queensland state schools encourage participation, enjoyment and skill development by creating sports programs that meet the needs of all students," the spokesperson said.
"School principals, through community consultation, make local decisions about the purchase of sporting equipment to meet the health and wellbeing needs of students in their schools."
