THE DAILY MILE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES A PARTNERSHIP WITH IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON AND INEOS TO UNDERTAKE IN-DEPTH RESEARCH ON THE LONG-TERM IMPACT OF THE DAILY MILE INITIATIVE FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN.

• The benefits of The Daily Mile have already been acknowledged by teachers, parents and initial research.
• Imperial College to bring together a new research partnership which aims to extend existing evidence on the long-term impact of The Daily Mile initiative.
• The three-year research project by Imperial College London’s team will be supported by INEOS.

The Daily Mile and Imperial College London have announced a collaborative research partnership at the children’s  “GO Run London” event at Battersea Park, London. The three-year project will delve deeper into the benefits of The Daily Mile to analyse the long-term impact on primary school children.

This study will provide the first large scale assessment, of the benefits of The Daily Mile on the health and educational achievement of pupils in primary schools across England. The study will also assess the socio-demographic profile of schools who do The Daily Mile, to explore in particular how the programme impacts schools in area of disadvantage.

Imperial College London, with the support of The Daily Mile Foundation, will aim to address two key questions: whether schools who participate in The Daily Mile have better physical health and educational attainment, and whether these improvements are sustained over primary school life.

Professor Sonia Saxena, Professor of Primary Care at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, is the project’s principal investigator, supported by a team of researchers, co-funded by the National School for Public Health Research. The research will analyse data from a range of sources, including national data sets, such as the National Childhood Measurement Programme and information gathered from primary schools across England, to answer the research questions.

Elaine Wyllie MBE, founder of The Daily Mile said: “We’ve seen the positive impact of The Daily Mile for the 8,890 schools and nurseries across the world that are already taking part. This has been backed by initial studies and anecdotal evidence from schools worldwide. We are very excited to work with Imperial College London to really understand the physical, mental and social benefits.”

Professor Sonia Saxena of Imperial College London said: “The Daily Mile is a great example of a simple, free inclusive intervention that has built in sustainability because it has grown from grass roots. The potential lifelong health benefits of investing in daily physical activity are immense but need strong science to support its implementation. We look forward to working closely with the Foundation over the coming years.”

Peter Williams, Group Technology Director INEOS: “INEOS is delighted to support The Daily Mile in its collaboration with Imperial College. Whilst the benefits of The Daily Mile on schoolchildren are already acknowledged by teachers and others, this extensive research programme will provide a scientific understanding of these benefits and support its implementation globally.”

ENDS.

Media contacts

The Playbook: Niamh Moran – niamh@wearetheplaybook.com – 07961 426 720

GO Run For Fun is the world’s largest children’s running initiative, with over 300,000 children having taken part since its establishment in 2013.

Today, GO Run For Fun, a pupil-led initiative that inspires children to get active through running events, returned to London to host its annual flagship event in Battersea Park.

Over 2,400 children and 45 schools crossed the finish line in the world’s largest children’s running initiative, hosted by GB athlete Jazmin Sawyers and TV presenter Radzi Chinyanganya, alongside special guest, Elaine Wyllie MBE.

The event was in collaboration with The Daily Mile – an initiative to encourage pupils to get active by running or jogging, at their own pace, for 15 minutes every day in school. Of the 45 participating schools, 4 are signed up to The Daily Mile initiative.

GO Run For Fun has been making a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of more than 300,000 children worldwide since its launch in 2013. Collectively with The Daily Mile, founded by former headteacher Elaine Wyllie MBE in 2012, the two initiatives have since inspired over two million children to get active.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS  said: “We know that the positive experiences we have at a young age shape habits for life – which is why it’s so key to help young children enjoy getting active daily. Running is the simplest, most natural exercise you can do. It’s fun and social, and it helps to teach the basics of a healthy lifestyle.”

GO Run For Fun ambassador, Jazmin Sawyers said: “The GO Run For Fun team are so passionate about encouraging kids to get active and honestly it’s contagious, I couldn’t help but love it! All the kids ran 2km in the sunshine and all had a great time doing it. They all inspired me and gave me an enlightening reminder of how fun exercise can be!”

Elaine Wyllie MBE, founder of The Daily Mile said: “It’s amazing to see so many children making an active step towards improving their health & wellbeing through taking part in The Daily Mile and GO Run For Fun initiatives!”

Alongside attendance from Jazmin and Radzi, children were also treated to a live performance from The Voice Kids UK winner Jess Folley who also helped participants make their way around the 2km route.

To find out more about the free-to-enter GO Run For Fun initiative and find how you can get involved in future events, visit the website.

ENDS.

Media contacts

The Playbook: Niamh Moran – niamh@wearetheplaybook.com – 07961 426 720

Source: Cauldwell School

Date: 18-June-2019

On Thursday 6th June, Cauldwell School in Bedford launched The Daily Mile! The launch co-incided with the school’s Heath Week, wherein the children were learning about both physical and mental health. Frankie Johnson, a Junior International Pole Vaulter who competes for the local Bedford and County Athletics Club, helped the youngest children in the school walk, jog and run their first Daily Mile, followed by all other classes.

Anna Litchfield, Cauldwell’s PE Subject Leader said, “We are delighted to be taking part in The Daily Mile.  We are encouraging a whole school approach with all the children and staff getting involved. The Daily Mile sits really well with our school ethos of ‘Achievement for All’.”

The children thoroughly enjoyed getting started with The Daily Mile, and had a wonderful time with big smiles on their faces. All the classes in the school have since continued with getting out, even in the dreadful rainy days we have had recently.

Source: West Sussex County Council

Date: 10-June-2019

More than 50 schools across West Sussex are already enjoying the benefits of taking part in The Daily Mile, and are now calling upon those schools who haven’t signed up to give it a try. The Daily Mile sees children run or jog, at their own pace, for 15 minutes, outside in the fresh air with their friends. During this time, most children average a mile, or more, each day and no set up, tidy up or equipment is needed.

Polly Neville is the PE Co-Coordinator at Bosham Primary School. She said: “We started The Daily Mile in one class and had so much success, we rolled it out to every class in the school three years ago. We find that it is an essential tool in keeping children engaged in their learning, giving them a wake up break whenever needed!

“Our children are definitely fitter and more resilient and teachers relish the opportunity to chat to children one-on-one in an informal way, not usually possible within the lesson. We feel that The Daily Mile supports every aspect of our children’s health and wellbeing and is great fun as well!”

Megan Kerrigan, PE Leader at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Primary School in Crawley, said: “We decided to introduce The Daily Mile into our school because it’s a great, fun way to increase fitness in our children. We noticed many of our children had little to no stamina during PE lessons and some children didn’t even know what it was like to get out of breath.

“It has been a great way to increase fitness, enjoyment of exercise and focus within class. In a teacher survey recently, all teachers said that The Daily Mile has shown an improvement in the focus of the children and is a great way to help children to become more alert in the afternoon when they have become ‘sluggish’. I have noticed that the children in my class are learning how to pace themselves and all of them enjoy going out to do The Daily Mile and seem to enjoy the running. It has been brilliant to get children feeling fit and increase their alertness in school.”

Jane Towey is the Leader for PE at Leechpool Primary School in Horsham. She said: “We have been running The Daily Mile consistently for most of this academic year, and many of our staff and children can boast about the benefits – often the children are asking when they will get to do it and really pushing themselves to get further each time.”

Penny Wojcik is the PE Leader at St. Richard’s Catholic Primary School in Chichester. She explained that The Daily Mile was popular with pupils, with one year 3 child telling her: “The mile run not only keeps you fit but gives our brain time to sort out the things we have done in the day and it gives us a break from our work! I enjoy the run because it is a time to run with friends!”

But it isn’t just the pupils who were benefiting. Penny said: “We also have three teachers who were inspired to do a mini triathlon and have chosen to keep up the running and are taking part in parkrun’s and a 10k.

“I also ran the London Marathon this year and we got the children involved with fundraising for charity by giving a whole school challenge of ‘how many miles could we all run in a day’ with each class running for 20 minutes. It was a great success and lots said that The Daily Mile helped them to sustain their running and not give up!”

Richard Burrett, West Sussex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “It is wonderful to hear so many positive comments from our schools about the benefits of getting outside and enjoying the fresh air while being active.

“I am delighted that so many schools have already signed up to take part in The Daily Mile, and I would urge any schools who have not yet done so to consider the real benefits of taking part.”

Read More