Hundreds of pupils at five Sussex schools have been given pedometers in a bid to tackle childhood obesity.

The Government has dished out the devices, allowing children to keep track of how far they have walked each day, in a pilot project to encourage physical activity.

Pupils at Angmering Sports College, Oak Grove College in Worthing, Clapham and Patching Primary School in Worthing, Davison High School for Girls in Worthing and Ferring Primary School are among 9,000 to take part.

Judith Skitt at Clapham and Patching school in The Street, said pupils loved the project, called Schools on the Move, and that the pedometers had become the main topic of conversation in school.

She said: "This is all about getting the children motivated to do exercise and it's made a huge difference already. The kids are fascinated by how many steps they've taken and keep asking me and other teachers how we are doing."

She said pupils entered their total number of steps for each day on the Schools on the Move web site, www.schoolsonthemove.co.uk, so experts could analyse the results.

There are a number of individual and group challenges pupils can take part in to earn themselves awards and certificates and make walking more fun.

The scheme aims to get more children exercising regularly. Health experts say girls should take about 12,000 steps a day and boys should take about 15,000 to remain fit and healthy.

Mrs Skitt, who is also wearing a pedometer, said: "I was quite frightened by how many steps I took one day when I was doing lots of administration work.

"I did 702 steps in the whole day, which is awful. At the weekend I did about 15,000 by walking into town and back.

"It's made me think a lot more about my work and life balance and proved I need to make my health more of a priority."

She said the pedometers had provoked friendly competition among pupils and was driving them to take more steps to out-do each other.

She said: "We've been doing this less than a week but it's been so successful already. The kids love it."

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said: "Childhood obesity is a serious issue, which the Government is determined to tackle on a number of fronts, including increasing levels of physical activity.

"Pedometers are effective in motivating people to become more active.

"Schools on the Move takes this further by incorporating the information children gain from pedometers into lessons like maths, science, art and geography, making the distance they walk and the number of steps they take relevant across the school curriculum, not just in PE and school sports."

The scheme is funded by the Department for Health and the Department for Education and Skills and is run by the Youth Sport Trust.

Steve Grainger, the trust's chief executive, said: "Taking the physical activity message into the classroom and day-to-day school life is a major step forward in encouraging all young people to be more active on a daily basis.

Schools across the country began the scheme in October and have been asked to continue the project until at least Easter.

Researchers from the London Sport Institute will analyse the children's daily step count to see whether their activity levels increase and they will carry out several case studies on individual children and their schools.