Mead Vale Community Primary School, England

Mead Vale has been completing The Daily Mile for a year, once a day during lesson time, five days a week. Since starting we have found that the children are calmer, happier and concentrate more after completing The Daily Mile. It gives the children a chance to release built up energy and gives them a reason to get outside. Furthermore, staff are now joining in with The Daily Mile as well and this has seen an improvement in the children’s interest in running.

The Daily Mile also provides an excellent opportunity to provide children with an extra chance for some physical activity, helping to keep our children as fit and active as possible. Where children are engaged, we are really seeing the benefits The Daily Mile brings, both with improvements to their physical stamina and their stamina in the classroom.

Initially the staff were reluctant with the worry of having time away from lessons. However the children now pester the teacher to make sure they do it. All staff have the freedom to complete The Daily Mile when they feel it can be most useful.

One boy in particular had a difficult start to the year, often refusing to work and leaving the classroom to hide. He attended a couple of after school clubs but his behaviour was also an issue there so he wasn’t getting much physical activity. He really took to The Daily Mile, running by their teacher’s side every day, and by the end of the year, his classroom behaviour had completely changed. He now works hard and tries his best. His running ability has also come on hugely. He commented towards the end of last year that “I can run longer distances easier now without getting tired”. His efforts were rewarded at the end of the year when he won the long distance race on sports day!