Put your best foot forward

Source: The Scottish Government

Date: 26-December-2017

Scots are being urged to start their New Year’s resolutions early and pledge to walk for 15 minutes a day, as the country takes steps towards becoming the world’s first Daily Mile nation.

Earlier this year the Scottish Government wrote to workplaces, schools, nurseries, colleges and universities encouraging people to walk, jog or run a mile every day – and has today published guidance for early learning and childcare services on how The Daily Mile can become an integral part of younger children’s early learning and development.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, The Scottish Government. To continue reading, please click the link below.

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Oaklands School (SEN)
“Pupils are out more, socialising with other pupils”

Oaklands School

Fact File

  • Where we’re based: Edinburgh, Scotland
  • School roll: 55 students
  • Where do you run your Daily Mile? We use our school corridor
  • Month/Year we started The Daily Mile: November 2017

Sharon Humble, PE teacher, talks us through Oaklands School’s experience of The Daily Mile, thus far.

A brief description of your school?

Oaklands School provides education for children and young people with complex, long term additional support needs where the presumption of mainstream cannot be met and require a significantly modified learning environment. Needs of learners are primarily associated with learning disability and significant visual / sensory, health and medical needs.

Ryan using his walker

How many, and which, children in your school complete The Daily Mile?

The whole school are participating in The Daily Mile, from Nursery through to the Senior class.

Please, describe your school’s experience of The Daily Mile to date.

Oaklands launched their Daily Mile on Friday 3rd November 2017. Over 120 pupils, parents, staff and friends of Oaklands took part in this event. We were very lucky to be able to welcome Maria Lyle, Paralympian, along too! Maria spent the morning answering our questions, sharing her experiences and medals with us. Before helping to complete our first Daily Mile.

The ‘Oaklands Mile’ is an adaption of The Daily Mile campaign.

It’s all about personal achievement, improving health and wellbeing, having fun and extending our opportunities to get out and about more during our daily school routine.

100 metres can be a rather ambitious distance for most of us, but in Oaklands we like a challenge! We are walking, running, cycling and rotating our way around the school.

Chloe recording how far she has cycled onto her record sheet

Did you face any barriers when implementing The Daily Mile? If yes, how did you overcome them?

Yes, it can be difficult to implement something new into the already cramped school day. Some staff were concerned about how we would fit it in, but somehow we have managed and now everyone is fully on board and seeing the benefits.

By adapting The Daily Mile to suit the needs of our pupils and incorporating it into our daily routine.

Dawid using his running bike

Since starting The Daily Mile, what differences in the school have you observed?

Even in just a few weeks, we have noticed an increased amount of activity in our corridors. Pupils are out more, socialising with other pupils and staff as they travel around the school. They are all enjoying clocking up their miles and recording on their record sheet.

It is having an impact on their behaviour, alertness and fitness. We are celebrating our achievements in weekly assemblies.

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

We have also been using the ‘InnoWalk’ for our pupils who have limited mobility. The InnoWalk is a motorised device, which gives our pupils the chance to experience assisted and repetitive movement in an upright, weight-bearing position. This device has allowed pupils who would not normally get physical activity in their school day the chance to participate in The Daily Mile with their peers!

Sophie using the InnoWalk to do her Daily Mile

Do you have any tips for other schools looking to get started?

Go for it! Our parents, pupils and staff have been amazed at the distances our pupils are achieving and the skills being transferred out of school to home with parents getting their children out more, cycling and walking as a family.

Any other comments?

Morna Phillips, Headteacher – “I can’t believe how quickly it has become embedded into everyone’s daily routine.”

Rebecca Vaughan, DHT – “One of my favourite parts of my school day is seeing the kids out doing their laps walking, on their bikes, walkers, etc.”

Elaine Weir, Parent – “I am so proud of Jack and his achievement(s) on the InnoWalk, being able to participate with his school friends is fantastic. I love when he brings his mile certificates home.”

Maria

 

Visit Oaklands School’s website for more information

Herald view: The long, hard battle ahead to tackle obesity

Source: Herald Scotland

Date: 13-December-2017

Last year 12.4 per cent of the children starting school in Scotland had a body mass index putting them at risk of being overweight; 10.5 per cent were at risk of being obese. And, slowly but surely, the situation is getting worse.

The extent of the slow creep of the problem has been underlined by the latest figures from the NHS, which show that 76.1 per cent of primary one youngsters were assessed as having a healthy body weight in 2016-17, which is down from 77.1 per cent in 2007-08. Over the same period, the proportion of children at risk of being overweight rose to 12.4 per cent from 11.9 per cent; the percentage at risk of being obese was also up from 9.2 per cent to 10.5 per cent.

In response, the Scottish Government is developing a new strategy to tackle the problem, and has already come up with ideas, such as The Daily Mile scheme – which urges employers to encourage workers to take a break and walk a mile a day to improve their health.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, Herald Scotland. To continue reading, please click the link below.

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For those who truly believe: Overton students receive almost 400 pairs of new running shoes

Source: Salisbury Post

Date: 12-December-2017

About a year ago, Communities in School representative Fran Lescoe decided she wanted to do something special for the kids at Overton. After five months of planning – A generous donor, with the help of Ralph Baker Jr. at Ralph Baker Shoes and many volunteer hours by Lescoe and others, brought the dream to fruition.

“We had to do this,” Lescoe said. “Our kids just started the Healthy Rowan Daily Mile program in August, and most of them didn’t have good shoes. At least 70 percent of the students had ill-fitting or worn-out shoes…”

More than 70% of Overton students live at the poverty level, and all of them qualify for free breakfast and lunch.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, Salisbury Post. To continue reading, please click the link below.

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All Saints C of E Primary School
“Personal fitness levels of the children hasn’t stopped any of them”

All Saints Church of England Primary School

Fact File

  • Where we’re based: Whitefield, Manchester in England.
  • School roll: 239 students
  • Month/Year we started The Daily Mile: October 2017

Mr Yates, Year 5 class teacher, talks us through All Saints Church of England Primary School’s experience of The Daily Mile, thus far.

A brief description of your school?

All Saints’ CE Primary School is in the suburbs of Greater Manchester and has 239 pupils on the roll, including the 50 part time places in the Foundation Stage Unit for Nursery aged children (full time equivalent of 25). The intake limit is 30 in each year group.

Classroom assistants and Special Support assistants work across the school in classes, supporting children with particular needs. New legislation, from September 2014, has meant that our SEND children now fall under one category of SEN Support – 10 children with statements (Education Health and Care Plans / EHCP) and 32 children who receive school support (SEN Support).

How many, and which, children in your school complete The Daily Mile?

During the summer term Year 5 completed The Daily Mile, as the class teacher, Mr Yates, was keen to improve the fitness of the class and increase their motivational skills. All the children were extremely keen to complete The Daily Mile, however due to restrictions caused by the small playground, it was decided that a longer route was required. Funding was secured in the summer term and a new path was built around the periphery of the school field. This was completed in the Autumn Term, thus the strategy was rolled out across the school from October 2017. Initially all classes in Key Stage 2 children completed the activity in October, however these were then joined by Key Stage 1 in November.

Where do you run your Daily Mile?

Initially, The Daily Mile was completed in the school playground, however now it is completed on our new footpath around the periphery of the field. This has led to our school field being used daily, instead of merely in the summer months when it was dry. As a school, we always felt that our school field was a wonderful resource, yet due to poor drainage it wasn’t being used to its full potential. Now it’s being used daily by hundreds of children.

Did you face any barriers when implementing The Daily Mile? If yes, how did you overcome them?

The size of our school playground limited our ability to complete The Daily Mile due to it being used for PE lessons and not being very inspirational to run around – a small, rectangle shaped yard which didn’t give the more energetic children to reach their true potential. Additional funding was secured in the summer of 2017 and allowed us to construct a path around our school field. By creating a longer path, which weaves around the field and has small slopes, the children’s excitement and competitiveness has increased.

Since starting The Daily Mile, what differences in the school have you observed?

From firsthand experience in Year 5, Mr Yates has noticed the excitement the children have shown when completing The Daily Mile. The children are constantly challenging themselves to run faster or maintain a steady pace throughout the session. The sense of achievement when they’ve achieved their personal goal is amazing to see. All children, even those who find exercise difficult, are able to improve their goal over a relatively short period of time. Some children will jog around with their friends, whilst chatting, other children will be racing around the path to beat their personal target. The personal fitness levels of the children hasn’t stopped any of them from completing The Daily Mile and ALL the children are disappointed when we are unable to do it.

What has been the impact on the children’s learning, concentration, focus and behaviour?

As a school we haven’t timetabled when classes have to complete The Daily Mile. We feel that it should be up to the discretion of the class teacher. As Year 5 teacher, I often use The Daily Mile as a means to improve the concentration of the children in the afternoon. It’s a wonderful means of breaking up the afternoon, especially when teaching two different subjects. It provides a useful transitional period when children can relax and enjoy some exercise with their friends.

What has been the impact on the children’s mood and relationships?

After completing The Daily Mile the children are more focused on the next task and their mood and attitude is greatly improved. This is most apparent in the afternoon when the children have been concentrating for over an hour, without exercise. The exercise appears to re-energise the children and get them ready for the next session. Many of the teachers have noticed children running around the path chatting and simply enjoying each other’s company.

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

Whilst completing The Daily Mile, Mr Yates has noticed that often those children who struggle to concentrate during the lessons are the ones who have the most energy when completing the run. These children often struggle to contain this energy in the classroom, thus resulting in them displaying negative behaviour. Yet, when completing their run they are encouraged to use this energy in a positive manner, thus providing Mr Yates with lots of opportunities to praise them in a positive way. These energetic children just love to run!

Do you have any tips for other schools looking to get started?

It was decided to initially pilot The Daily Mile in one class, which proved extremely useful. This enabled us to identify any barriers that arose and solve them before they became established in our routine. Then we started The Daily Mile in Key Stage 2 and then introduced it into Key Stage 1. Also, we have allowed the teachers to select when they complete their Daily Mile. There is no fixed timetable. The teachers use their personal judgement and monitor when they feel the class would benefit from some exercise. Sometimes its in the morning, and other times its in the afternoon.

What have parents’ reactions to The Daily Mile been?

All the parents seem extremely pleased that their children are completing the strategy and are amazed that they’re able to run a mile in fifteen minutes.

Any other comments?

Mr Yates, Year 5 class teacher – “It’s amazing to watch the sheer excitement and enjoyment children get from simply running. You have some children who are pleased that they’ve completed one circuit without stopping, and some children who are pleased that they’ve beaten their personal target. It’s wonderful to see the determination and sense of pride spread across their face when they’ve completed The Daily Mile.”

Skye, Year 5 pupil – “I love doing The Daily Mile because I can run with my friends and get healthier at the same time.”

Niamh, Year 5 pupil – “I like doing the run a lot. Everyone has fun chatting and barely realises how many laps they’ve done. You get lots of fresh air and get healthier at the same time.”

 

Visit All Saints Church of England Primary School’s website for more information