The Daily Mile™ at Peakirk cum Glinton

Where do we do The Daily Mile? 

On our track which has been laid into the school field – a vibrant royal blue astro turf path which can be accessed and used in all weathers.

Since starting The Daily Mile, what differences, if any, have you noticed in the children and across your school?

• All children do The Daily Mile at their own pace. Questionnaires revealed that nearly all the children who answered said they felt healthier since taking part in The Daily Mile.
• Children in the younger classes in particular are constantly asking “When are we doing our mile today?”

Did you encounter any barriers to getting started with The Daily Mile or whilst implementing The Daily Mile in your school? If yes, how did you overcome them? 

• The biggest barrier for us was finding curriculum time to dedicate to the mile. This was overcome with the support of our headteacher who presented research to staff regarding the benefits of exercise on brain power! Once it was made clear that all teachers were expected to make it happen it became much easier for us.

Can you tell us about any successful links you have made between The Daily Mile and your curriculum?

• We use the track whenever we can, particularly for science and PE lessons. Being over enthusiastic in the early days of having this lovely track, I planned a maths measuring lesson and set up points I wanted children to measure between on the fabulous blue astro. I set the scene…gave the task…set 30 children off with metre sticks and chalk only to discover the chalk wouldn’t mark the astro!!! Not a mistake I made again!!

Do you have any individual success stories of pupils or staff members you would like to share with us?

• We did experience some less active children in the beginning looking for excuses not to participate (needing the toilet, bad ankle etc.) however these excuses didn’t last long and the handful of children making these excuses now run and run and run! We don’t have any children trying to avoid it now – even as the weather has got colder it hasn’t deterred.
• Katherine Jenson, our PE Coordinator, has been at the school for nearly 10 years and has always worked hard to keep our children as active and enthusiastic to participate in as many sporting challenges as possible. When she heard about The Daily Mile initiative, she couldn’t wait to launch it at the school. As a keen runner herself and having run various marathons the children and their parents have always shown an interest her running and none more so that when she ran the New York Marathon in Nov 2019 which had been on her bucket list.

The support Katherine received from the school was immense. So many children wanted to ask questions about running marathons and how to train for them, everybody knew how many miles Katherine was running each week and hundreds of children and their parents were glued to their i-pads following Katherine as she ran.

The day following the New York marathon the children celebrated Katherine’s success by running their own marathons. Each class had to run a total of 26.2 miles collectively. Teachers joined in too. Some classes ran more than a marathon and the Head teacher recorded a total of 185 miles run on that one day alone!

When Katherine returned from New York she talked through the route with the children and shared her photos, medal and race poncho with them. She also told the children how proud she was to hear they had run their own marathon and that she hopes one day many of them will do what she has done. 

Have you included parents and the community in some aspects of your Daily Mile?

• Parents have access to our school track before and after school and often we see parents and their children running or walking their own Daily Mile before or after school (admittedly more in the summer months than in the winter!!). We have signed up to host a Race for Life event later in the school year which parents can be part of (using our track).

 To find out more about Peakirk cum Glinton Primary School please visit www.pcgprimaryschool.co.uk. You can learn more about how The Daily Mile is increasing physical activity levels in our county here. 

As an independent charity, Living Sport are reliant on generous support from partners. Donations are greatly appreciated and help Living Sport to inspire active lifestyles and increase the health and wellbeing of residents of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough through physical activity.