Press Release: The Daily Mile founder awarded MBE in New Year Honours List

THE DAILY MILE FOUNDER AWARDED MBE IN NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST


Elaine Wyllie, former head teacher and founder of the well-known children’s fitness initiative, The Daily Mile, has been awarded an MBE for services to the fitness of children in the New Year Honours lists.  Elaine is honoured among an incredible list of over 1,000 people, the majority for and outstanding work in their communities.

The recognition comes after an incredible year for both Elaine and the Foundation in which The Daily Mile was acknowledged by Prime Minister, Theresa May in Parliament back in May as an “excellent programme” and called on schools to sign up.  In July, the Government’s Childhood Obesity strategy was published and included the ‘fantastic Daily Mile initiative’ as a way to ‘improve the physical, social and mental wellbeing on our children regardless of age, ability or circumstance.’

The Daily Mile founder Elaine Wyllie says: “The response to The Daily Mile campaign in 2018 has been absolutely phenomenal.  We now have nearly 7,000 schools signed up in 55 countries, meaning children across the UK and the world are getting fit for life and establishing healthy habits in their early years.  I am very grateful to be recognised in the New Year Honours list and delighted that the work of the Foundation has been acknowledged.”

 ENDS.

 

Media contacts

Andrew McLachlan – Media Zoo – (+44) 7931 377162 / andrew@mediazoo.tv

Press Release: Hit Children’s Fitness Initiative Receives £1.5 Million Boost in biggest step taken to reach all schools in England

HIT CHILDREN’S FITNESS INITIATIVE RECEIVES £1.5 MILLION BOOST IN BIGGEST STEP TAKEN TO REACH ALL SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND

  • Today, Sport England have pledged £1.5 million of National Lottery funding to grow The Daily Mile, an initiative started by former head teacher, Elaine Wyllie.
  • The new partnership is part of a joint mission to help children get active as new figures show 1/3 of children are ‘less active’, meaning they do fewer than 30 minutes of activity a day.
  • Children from Ladypool Primary School in Birmingham will take part in a Daily Mile, with VIP guests from Sport England and The Daily Mile Foundation joining.
  • The new partnership is a huge step forward for The Daily Mile in putting people on the ground to get more schools across England signed up and get more children #FitForLife.

Sport England has today committed £1.5 million of National Lottery funding to support The Daily Mile, the ground-breaking fitness initiative that aims to get children fit for life.  In what is the biggest ever expansion of the programme since it originated in 2012, the investment will fund the recruitment of National and Local Coordinators to support and encourage more schools in England to sign-up.

Figures from Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People survey released this month shows the scale of the challenge to help the nation’s children be more active.  It showed that, despite 3 million children doing an average of 60 or more minutes of physical activity a day, just over 2.3 million children and young people are ‘less active’ which means they do less than 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

Currently, The Daily Mile helps schoolchildren in over 3,500+ English schools reach their daily activity target. Sport England and The Daily Mile Foundation’s partnership marks their shared vision to bring   daily physical activity to all 20,000 primary schools in England.

Today, children from Ladypool Primary School in Birmingham will take part in a Daily Mile, alongside VIP guests and key stakeholders from The Daily Mile Foundation, Sport Birmingham and Sport England.

The founder of The Daily Mile, Elaine Wyllie; Director of The Daily Mile project at INEOS, John Mayock; Sport England’s Executive Director Children of Young People and Tackling Inactivity, Mike Diaper; CEO of Sport Birmingham, Mike Chamberlain; and, Sport England CEO, Tim Hollingsworth will be joining Olympic Athlete and local Radio personality, Katharine Merry, at Ladypool to launch the partnership.

The event will celebrate the partnership and bring together local children to further spread this important message.

Founder of The Daily Mile, Elaine Wyllie said: “Since starting The Daily Mile six years ago, the progress we have made has been incredible. With Sport England’s generous investment of National Lottery funding, The Daily Mile Foundation can continue to move closer towards our goal of every child in the UK being able to participate in The Daily Mile.

Sport England CEO, Tim Hollingsworth said:Earlier this month, the landmark Active Lives Children’s survey revealed that a third of children in England do less than 30 minutes of activity a day. It’s the strongest evidence yet that not enough is being done to support our youngsters, and change is needed if we’re to increase activity levels.

Through getting schoolchildren to walk or run for 15 minutes every day, The Daily Mile has been proven to significantly improve fitness levels. As part of our support of all active mile initiatives, Sport England are delighted to be partnering with The Daily Mile Foundation and investing £1.5 million of National Lottery money into The Daily Mile. We want to take the initiative to even more primary schools across the county to improve the health of thousands more children.

Sport England’s investment in The Daily Mile is a key part of its work to help children develop positive attitudes to exercise so they are more likely to continue the habit, and benefit as adults.

School Standards Minister, Nick Gibb said:The Daily Mile is a hugely successful programme designed to ensure that every pupil in a primary school learns the habit of taking rigorous exercise every day.

This very welcome funding from Sport England will enable more schools to sign-up for the programme. I believe every primary school in England should be introducing The Daily Mile into their school.

Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Mims Davies, added:The Daily Mile is a great initiative that is fun and helps improve children’s fitness and mental health.

We know that an active child is a happier child and this investment will mean many more young people can take part, enjoy themselves and inspire them to stay active.

This event in Birmingham on the 17th December 2018 is the most recent in series of events to both raise awareness of the campaign and celebrate the 1.3 million children already running The Daily Mile.  

 ENDS.

 

Adults left to right: Chris Rabone (PE Lead of Ladypool Primary School), Mike Chamberlain (Sport Birmingham CEO), Mike Diaper (Sport England Children and Young People), Tim Hollingsworth (Sport England CEO), Elaine Wyllie (Founder of The Daily Mile), Gillian Twaite (Schoolteacher), Katharine Merry (Olympic Sprinter), Huda Aslam (Headteacher of Ladypool Primary School).

 

Media contacts

Corinna Mason – Media Zoo – (+44) 020 7384 6980 / corinna.mason@mediazoo.tv

Over 13,000 Suffolk primary school children now benefitting from Daily Mile campaign

Source: East Anglian Daily Times

Date: 14-December-2018

Winter might not seem the obvious time to get children out and about, but the success of The Daily Mile campaign suggests otherwise – as more Suffolk schools than ever commit to fit regular exercise into the school day.

The Daily Mile, in which children jog or run at their own pace for 15 minutes daily, has seen another 25 schools sign up since the summer holidays – the biggest leap in numbers since the campaign launched in Suffolk in May last year.

There are now 64 schools in Suffolk registered, meaning 13,000 primary school pupils are regularly exercising.

Emma Churchman, headteacher at Martlesham Primary Academy near Ipswich, said implementing The Daily Mile had helped the school embed values of ‘healthy body, healthy mind’. Since registering for the scheme in October 2018, the schoolchildren now look forward to their regular exercise, which slots in perfectly with the school day. She said: “In terms of benefits, we’ve seen increased collaboration across the school. The exercise increases adrenaline levels, which in turn really helps to tackle any afternoon dips in concentration.”

Councillor James Reeder, Cabinet Member for Health at Suffolk County Council, said: “Teachers have a lot on their plate, and what’s so great about The Daily Mile is its simplicity. Each school does it in their own way. It’s not only about physical activity, but keeping the mind active which can help improve concentration and support academic attainment.”

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, East Anglian Daily Times. To read the article in full, please click the link below.

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Sugar tax pays for running tracks

Source: Shropshire Star

Date: 13-December-2018

Running tracks are to be built at 15 primary schools – made from recycled roads. Funding for the tracks at the schools in Shropshire to help children stay fit, have come from the Government’s ‘sugar tax’. Construction of the first track is underway at Criftins Primary School near Ellesmere, with the remaining 14 tracks due to be completed by the end of March 2019. They will be tracks constructed from 1500 tonnes of recycled Shropshire roads.

In total, 4000 children are set to benefit from the project, which will enable each child to walk or run a total of 285km in each academic year, at a cost of just £1.30 per pupil per year.

The idea for the tracks came about earlier this year when Shropshire Council received £226,572 from the Healthy Pupils Capital Funds funded through the ‘sugar tax’ grant. Of the total grant, £105,000 was set aside to provide school running tracks – to help children get involved in The Daily Mile, by jogging or running for 15 minutes every day.

Nick Bardsley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services, said: “The schools who will be receiving the tracks have embraced the project and are looking forward to realising and assessing the health and educational learning benefits they will bring for their pupils, both in terms of physical and mental well-being.”

Other schools to get the tracks are Oakmeadow, Bayston Hill, Church Preen, Cockshutt CE, Cressage, Highley Community Primary School, Kinnerley, Market Drayton Infant and Junior Schools, Lower Heath, Shifnal, Harlescott Junior School, St George’s Junior School, Shrewsbury, Wem and Woore.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, Shropshire Star. To read the article in full, please click the link below.

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