Mrs Heather Duffield, Year 2 Teacher at Dinas Powys Primary School, shares their Daily Mile story with us:

We have been completing The Daily Mile since the beginning of the Spring Term. In January, the children used a trundle wheel to measure the perimeter of the playground and then with support used a calculator to work the distance they would cover. This engaged the children from the beginning, and they were able to explain what they had done so they had some ownership of their progress. We explained to the children the importance of exercise and used the saying of healthy body healthy mind. In January, they completed a mile every day for the month of January and Monday, Thursday and Friday during February and March.

We focus and base our classroom practice on Growth Mindset. So, the children were excited at first to complete The Daily Mile, but this did wain and they needed motivational language and sentence patterns which were adult led to continue to motivate the children. As a runner myself the benefits and the way it makes you feel has a positive effect. The children can now be heard saying” even though I find this hard, I’m going to keep going”, “my legs are aching but I’m not going to give up”, “I’m getting myself fit”. We’ve discussed playing music on Thursday and Friday to continue to motivate the children towards the end of the week. The Daily Mile has become part of the school week.

The children now see The Daily Mile as part of their daily routine. They have said that they really enjoyed doing it and how it makes them feel happy. Staff said they found it easier the more times they completed it and how much better it makes them feel. The social benefits we have seen are that children are encouraging each other to keep going and through the taught growth mindset approach they openly say they will not give up even if they are feeling tired.

We decided that on Fridays we would have a celebrity from the world of fitness and sport to hopefully come and complete The Daily Mile with us. Consequently, we had a visit from Dan from Cardiff City and he promoted the positivity of exercise. Cath Bingham came from Run Wales and explained to the children about The Daily Mile and showed them a map of the different countries where The Daily Mile was being done. Joe Ledley from the Football Association of Wales has also completed The Daily Mile with the children. There was a question-and-answer session with the celebrities and as the Health and Wellbeing topic this term is all about Being Healthy the children asked well thought out questions. The impact has been the links we have generated with outside agencies who have provided the children with opportunities to understand the importance of keeping fit and healthy. Also, they were able to hear sports people talk about the importance of exercise.

One of the staff members was initially daunted by having to complete The Daily Mile. Through integration and motivating the children she was running with; she has grown her confidence in her ability to run and has seen an increase in her own fitness levels as she has completed it. In addition, she is now more confident running and enjoys the way it makes her feel.

Quotes from some of our pupils:

“It’s fun”

“It keeps me fit”

“It makes me calm”

“It makes me happy”

“It’s really good to do exercise”

“I like it when I have a stitch and I keep going and don’t give up”

“You can feel it through your body”

“I like calming myself down after doing it”

“I like running fast”

“I like it when I feel sweaty”

We are One School Global with over 960 children taking part in The Daily Mile across our 24 UK camupses for 2 years! Each campus does their Daily Mile at various times of the day in their playground and main field.

We have worked hard to promote the benefits of The Daily Mile to all campuses involved via our regular Zoom meetings. All campuses have different facilities, staff and timetables so we are flexible regarding when our children can run The Daily Mile. Each week, staff fill in a SmartSheet with their results, this is collated and then shared back to all campuses in our weekly newsletters so they can track their progress in both the individual and collective distances. Results are also shared in assemblies to inspire pupils to keep up their efforts with The Daily Mile, and to encourage teamwork to increase their collective miles.

Our pupils have gained an insight into the health benefits of staying active throughout the day, and some campuses have developed Daily Mile displays to make children and staff aware of these benefits. Staff have also noticed improvements in the engagement of children during their learning when they are more active. Children have enjoyed seeing how other campuses are progressing with their Daily Mile activity. We have noticed improvements in the fitness, focus in the classroom and self esteem of our pupils. Some of these benefits are also acknowledged in our weekly round up, identifiying where children have demonstrated perseverance, beaten their own goal or shown team spirit in relation to their classmates.

In the 2022-23 academic year, One School Global pupils completed 42,199 miles in total beating the previous years total of 31,042 miles. Our year 4 students led the way with 11,543 miles in total.

• One School Global Atherstone campus completed the most number of days taking part in The Daily Mile.
• One School Global Bristol campus had the highest average Daily Mile totals over the year.
• One School Global Maidstone campus had the highest total miles for the year with 5,755 miles.

We link The Daily Mile to our self-directed curriculum with children planning when they take part and recording the distance that they have achieved, as well as researching the benefits and sharing these with peers.

Parents and the wider community are updated every week through our Daily Mile presentation which gives an overview of how campuses are progressing and highlights our star performers each week.

Quotes from some of our campuses:

Atherstone Campus – “We do it every day come rain or shine!”

Hindhead Campus – “It gives our children a chance to exercise and it also gives the well-being team a chance to take responsibility and show leadership as they oversee choosing the destination and the Star Runner each week.”

Biggleswade Campus – “We share results in Assembly on Friday to great cheers when we win and ‘argh’s’ when we don’t! We link our successes with The Daily Mile to success in other areas of our learning. Students recognise their role as part of a wider team.”

Gloucester Campus – “We have noticed that The Daily Mile has a positive impact on allowing the children to be able to stretch their legs in the morning after getting off the bus. It also allows for the children to be running with different year groups.”

Feedback from children at our Swaffham campus
“I enjoy the fresh air and competing with the other Campuses”.
“It helps to keep me fit and when we do it in the morning, it sets me up for the day”.
“The Daily Mile is great fun and I enjoy seeing who makes it on to the leaderboard each week”.
“I like it as I get some exercise and it makes me feel refreshed”.
“The Daily Mile helps me to concentrate”.