Daily Mile Track

 I am delighted to let you know that after quite a while, the Daily Mile track is now complete and ready for us to use! A big thank you goes to the PTA for working with the Woodger Trust who have very kindly funded the vast majority of this project.

 We were joined by our Governors and representatives from the Woodger Trust on our grand opening of the track.

We have put a number of markings on the track to encourage children to find different ways of moving along it.

You may be aware of concerns around physical inactivity and childhood obesity. As they go through primary school, many children put on weight and, across the UK, around 35% of pupils in Year 6 are categorised as overweight or obese. In addition, many 10-year olds lack basic fitness.

The Daily Mile is an initiative which was started in February 2012 by Elaine Wyllie MBE, who was the headteacher of a large Scottish primary school. She was concerned by the children’s lack of fitness and introduced The Daily Mile, which proved to be effective in combatting inactivity and obesity in her school. The result was that, in November 2015, the Scottish Government wrote to every Scottish primary school to recommend that they implement the scheme too. In addition, both Public Health England and the UK government’s Childhood Obesity strategy have acknowledged The Daily Mile’s contribution towards the recommended hour that children should spend taking daily exercise in school.

The Daily Mile is very simple to start in a school. Every class goes out each day in the fresh air to run or jog at their own pace for 15 minutes. It is not competitive though some will compete and that is fine. Most children will average a mile in the 15 minutes, with some doing more and some doing less. It is not PE, sport or cross-country but physical activity in a social setting which is aimed at improving the children’s physical, social, emotional and mental health, and wellbeing. The children run in their ordinary school clothes with trainers being ideal but not essential. It can help children to focus and concentrate in the classroom making them more learning-ready. And most importantly, the children really enjoy it.

Since 2015, The Daily Mile has been adopted by almost 8,000 schools in the UK alone, proving extraordinarily popular with thousands of children, parents and teachers. The initiative is also attracting strong overseas interest, and schools have signed up in over 78 different countries. Globally, it has been adopted by over 11,000 schools.

As a school we are excited about this new initiative and we are looking forward to the benefits it will bring to the children. To find out more about how it all works please visit: thedailymile.co.uk