Assessment of The Daily Mile as a public health intervention in South London

Article title: The Daily Mile as a public health intervention: A rapid ethnographic assessment of uptake and implementation in South London, UK.

King’s College London (Division of Health and Social Care Research) evaluated The Daily Mile and its uptake in the borough of Lewisham (South London, UK) in order to understand the potential impact of The Daily Mile as a public health intervention.

Their research conducted interviews, focus groups and observed implementation of The Daily Mile in 12 classes from 5 primary schools. Additionally, they analysed data on school characteristics, specifically the percentage of pupils from Black and Minority Ethnic communities, and the percentage of children eligible for free school meals.

They found that of the 69 schools in the borough, 22 schools (48%) had adopted The Daily Mile by September 2018. There was no difference between adopters and non-adopters in terms of school size, percentage of children eligible for free school meals, or percentage of children from Black or Minority Ethnic populations. 

A wider range of benefits from engaging in the initiative were identified by participating Teachers and Head Teachers, such as:

  • Improvement in children’s fitness – teachers believed this was most pronounced for children who otherwise might not get as much physical activity in their day
  • Positive peer-to-peer and teacher-student relationships
  • Better concentration in class
  • The Daily Mile made contributions to other parts of the curriculum, which enhanced learning outcomes

Few interviewees identified negative impacts however, fitting The Daily Mile in around a busy timetable was a concern for some teachers.

In general, schools completed The Daily Mile 2-4 times a week and found introducing incentives to keep the children interested – such as, ‘collecting’ and recording miles – helpful. If it was raining, some teachers organised alternative activities indoors.

They concluded that to foster an inclusive and positive approach to physical activity and health, The Daily Mile should be implemented as benefiting everyone, and not associated as particularly useful for larger or ‘less sporty’ children.

Read the full article online, published in BMC Public Health on 27th August 2019.

Elaine Wyllie MBE receives Kingdom FM Outstanding Achievement Award

Source: The Courier UK

Date: 24-August-2019

We thank The Courier UK for showcasing Elaine’s receival of the Kingdom FM Outstanding Achievement Award, which celebrates the local heroes of Fife.

 

Fife’s unsung heroes take centre stage at 2019 Kingdom FM Local Hero Awards

Hundreds of guests packed into the Rothes Halls in Glenrothes to hear amazing stories and mark the achievements of people across the region.

Top gong of the night was the Kingdom FM Outstanding Achievement Award which went to Elaine Wyllie MBE in recognition of her major contribution to the health and wellbeing of children across the globe.

The retired teacher from Burntisland started The Daily Mile initiative at a school in Stirling in 2012 and, since then, the initiative has been adopted in 63 countries, with 9,387 schools and nurseries taking part.

Mike Watson, Chief Executive of DC Thomson Media, presented the award to Mrs Wyllie, stating she had demonstrated that “keeping it simple works best”.

 

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

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