Helen Moors

Hello and welcome to my author’s page.

Early career and writing experience

I qualified as a PE teacher at Loughborough University in 1982. My first 3 jobs were working with 16-19 year olds teaching A Level Physical Education. I mainly taught Anatomy & Physiology and Exercise Physiology, but also taught Skill Acquisition and Sport Psychology. I was invited to be part of a 3 man team tasked with writing an A Level PE text for Stanley Thornes. At the time I had 2 young boys and was initially overwhelmed and full of trepidation. However, holding the printed book for the first time made the whole experience worthwhile and gave me a tremendous sense of achievement and satisfaction. As they say there is a book in all of us!

Change of career direction

In my 40s I began work in a High School as a School Sport Coordinator, moving on to another school to work as a Partnership Development Manager. For the first time I was working with KS1, KS2, KS3 and KS4. The data collection for PE and School Sport at the time, revealed that KS1 were the poor relation in terms of Physical Education. So in 2008 I began work on a KS1 PE programme with a character called Fitzy, with the aim to increase the number of children engaged in physical activity. In 2010 this aim widened to active and healthy lifestyle development. A number of different resources were written including Fitzy stories.

Another change of focus

During the final 8 years of my career I established an independent network of Primary Schools (oPEn), working alongside Primary PE leads providing curriculum support, resource development and CPD; it was during this time that I also worked with Primary PGCE students. So Fitzy was still part of my life.

Retirement – or not?

After a year of retirement, I decided that I didn’t want Fitzy to have to retire too. Fitzy has always been very successful in engaging young children and encouraging and motivating them to be active and healthy. A series of Fitzy books with an accompanying website seemed to be the answer; so Fitzy is still alive and kicking!

Visit www.fitzyandme.com for more information and free Fitzy downloads for children.

I would also like to say a massive thank you to my illustrator, Sarah Dixon. Sarah is a very talented illustrator and graphic designer, who has brought the Fitzy stories to life and captured the essence of each character; the playful portrayal of Pocket the cat will definitely make children giggle. Sarah has a profile on Linkedin if you would like contact details.

Best wishes

Helen

@fitzyandme