Table 5 Exemplar quotes to support qualitative findings

Objective 2—Feasibility of trial

Consent

• ‘… for things like school trips or yes, anything like that, usually it’s an opt in, so, that was in line with what we do … especially because we were asking the girls to wear a monitor and keep track of that, it was an investment for them, an investment of time, so, I think it was fair that it, it was right that it was an opt in’ 1PST1

• ‘I think, I’ll be honest with you, when you address the parents, all the parents want to really know about is the actual activity (intervention)’ 5PST

• ‘We normally, I’ve learnt this over time, we send letters out, or via schools comms and electronically, digitally, giving the information and then, obviously, on the bottom of the email, or whatever, comms are, if you don’t want your child to take part in this study, please contact, and even email.… Because otherwise, you’ve got to have somebody to collect the list of names, somebody chasing the names, oh no, too much time’ SSS01

• ‘… it’s never a high percentage of … bringing paperwork back in, is a no-go, if that makes sense. It has literally got to be, if you’ve got lots, if it’s a full A4 or two A4’s it’s very rare one of our parents would read that… Unless it’s not, you know, the major important ones, you do push it (letter) to one side, unfortunately’ 5PST

Study Documents and School-Level Administration

• ‘So, I really liked the sheet that you gave us which was for the girls, which was phrased, I thought it was phrased really well for their age, it was completely appropriate and they understood it really well … … it was really helpful that you < researcher > joined in with us for the session, when the girls were filling in the forms and giving out the activity monitors. I don’t think I would have been able to answer their questions in the way that you were able to, and to explain the project.’ 1PST1

• ‘Initially there seemed to be a lot of paperwork and there was a bit … I think we all had a bit of a panic and what have we signed up for? But I think the CHARMING project were really good with us, in changing that, and how it was set up, we were really happy with the way that it way that it was changed too. For us, the less admin side of it’ 6SMT3

Study measures

• ‘I think we could make it (survey) a little bit shorter, because it did take a while’ 3GFG

• ‘It (activity monitor) was fun, they were OK to wear’ 6GFG

• ‘But in school they all seemed happy to wear them and it didn’t affect their activity, it didn’t seem to bother them during the day at all, it was just a bit of a novelty at the beginning and then they seemed to get used to them’ 1PST1

Peer role model recruitment

• ‘… I probably would have encouraged other pupils that don’t necessarily do much in the community, to be part of this project, because some children do a lot of different activities, be it sport and drama and music and. So, I think it would have been an opportunity to tap into those pupils, maybe that are not part of everything. However, like I said, you probably noticed with the girls that you’ve got there, they are some of my best pupils and my best pupils in sport’ SSS01

• ‘… rather than giving the (recruitment) sheets initially, it was just having a chat, so this is what’s expected, do you like the idea of being leaders and, obviously, like I said, we did have certain girls in mind but we wanted to put to everyone and it just so happened, the girls we thought were going to go for it, straight away went for it really, so it was quite an easy process for us actually, trying to find these girls’ SSS03

Objective 3— Acceptability of intervention

Aligning with school ethos

• ‘Especially, when you said about physical activity, I just feel like, that it is a blip there for this particular age, and I actually know what, that’s why, you know, I’ve noticed that girls are quite, they do give up quite easy. There’s that stigma, that it’s going to. If you understand what I mean, it’s like I find they’re too embarrassed to even attempt to do anything. That goes with the transition of high school as well. It’s that fear’ 6SMT

• ‘I think you could really plug that mental health as well, because the mental health now is a national priority, and we’ve got the framework being released now in the next couple of weeks, months on the Whole School approach to mental health. Which is going to have to include physical activity’ 1SLT1

Enjoyment

• ‘I think the best thing about it, is that they’ve been able to take part in things that we don’t usually do at school. We tend to stick to activities where we have the equipment and we have the knowledge, in schools, so, we do the same sort of sports, every year. So, the chance to do gymnastics or basketball, or completely different activities, was, they really enjoyed that and a lot of them want to have the information, which was given at the end of the session to join after school clubs’ 1PST

• ‘… And it was quite nice, because they weren't just super sporty ones, they were ones who don't do sport, you know. So, it was quite nice that … really unfit children don't ever do any exercise or sport, and they came every week, so I thought that was a really positive thing’ 6SMT3

• ‘What I learned was how to play squash because I never knew how to play it. So that was quite fun’ 6GFG

Girls only

• ‘Well I, because some girls like don’t want to do much sport or like they choose to, but I think because on TV mostly, if we look at Sports Channels, most of them are boys playing. So, they don’t have as much inspire …’ 3BFG

• ‘It was actually really nice, just being girls, because we’re so used to having boys around us, as we do… But it’s nice just to be around people like the same as you, not the same looking as you, but knowing that they’re the same gender. And it’s, it’s nice to be just girls for once, instead of all the boys messing about and stuff’ 3GFG

• ‘But … you know, the vision is here to get more girls participating, so you have to take something away (boys) for that to happen’ 1SLT1

• ‘Especially, because I thought it was quite nice, just the fact it was all girls, there’s no worries of doing something wrong in front of the boys’ 6SMT

Peer role models

• ‘Again, I thought it was really lovely that some of them were ex pupils, so, that was really nice and we could say to the girls “Oh I remember when such and such was in my class”, and funny little anecdotes … it’s them in a few years’ time isn’t it, and the fact that they were wearing their sporty things, and all joining in and then when we had a little chat, they go to netball and they go to gymnastics and they attend hockey and, so, it was really lovely peer role models. They were proper role models for them … and the fact that they were from [CHARMING Secondary School], which is one of our feeder schools, was great. They got to see [CHARMING Secondary School Teacher] and one of the other teachers, that will, potentially, be teaching them’ 3PST2

• ‘So, actually, that I think was a really vital part of the whole programme, … The girls or volunteers, being the age that they are, they’re also at the point where they’ve just made it through that usual drop out age of around ten, eleven, twelve. They’ve made it just past that sort of thing. So, it’s nice for them to be like oh, they’re still in the sport, whereas I’m just coaching it, they’re like, they’re actually still doing sports and that. So, even just that, and them just talking about what they do around that, is really good for them’ CRM5

• ‘One of these Year 9 s was really kind and they didn’t show off… but they showed me. She made me feel a bit confident, because after seeing her do it, it made me feel a bit more confident in myself. I’d seen all the Year 9’s do it and all my friends do it’ 3GFG

• ‘They could have said, right we have to do this, keep going, keep going and keep coaching and encouraging us but no, they kept doing giggling … … I think they were embarrassed’ 3GFG3M

Community role models

• ‘I thought that all the coaches were fab’ 5PST

• ‘I think a lot of them responded really well. One of the girls at the end of the session they were like, do we have you next Monday and I was like, oh no. She was like, no. So, I think that they like warmed to me quite well in the only hour that I had’ CRM18

• ‘I thought that everyone who’s come in, has been absolutely brilliant, the coaches, that’s what’s been the best thing, I think, about the programme, they’ve all been very knowledgeable, really engaging, really good with the girls’ 1PST1

• ‘I think, having the community peer role model, it’s that chance of assuming their coaches in maybe clubs in the community … it’s having those links for the kids to know where they can go. So, I think that’s something that has a lot of room for, like, positively, because I do think, a lot of our girls, they come, they do Physical Education, they might enjoy this sport or that sport and, a lot of the time they’re, like, well, what can I do with it? Where can I go in the community? And, like, a lot of the time, like, things aren’t that well-advertised or well known’ SSS03