Peakirk cum Glinton C of E Primary School
“The biggest barrier for us was finding curriculum time to dedicate to The Daily Mile”
Fact File
Where we’re based: Glinton, Cambridgeshire
Roll: 230
When we started The Daily Mile: April 2019
Our Daily Mile Story
230 pupils from Peakirk cum Glinton C of E Primary School have been completing The Daily Mile since April 2019. All children do The Daily Mile at their own pace and questionnaires have revealed that nearly all the children who answered said they felt healthier since taking part. Children in the younger classes in particular are constantly asking “When are we doing our Daily Mile?”.
We complete The Daily Mile on our all-weather track which has been laid into the school field, and was officially opened by ex-pupil Luke Steele (Goalkeeper, Nottingham Forest, currently on loan to Millwall), who took time out of his busy schedule to come and cut the red tape.
The biggest barrier for us was finding curriculum time to dedicate to The Daily Mile. This was overcome with the support of our headteacher who presented research to staff regarding the benefits of exercise on brain power! Once it was made clear that all teachers were expected to make it happen it became much easier for us.
We did experience some less active children in the beginning looking for excuses not to participate (needing the toilet, bad ankle etc.), however these excuses didn’t last long and the handful of children making these excuses now run and run and run! We don’t have any children trying to avoid it now – even as the weather has got colder it hasn’t deterred.
Parents have access to our school track before and after school and often we see parents and their children running or walking their own Daily Mile before or after school (admittedly more in the summer months than in the winter!!).
Katherine Jenson, our PE Coordinator, has been at the school for nearly 10 years and has always worked hard to keep our children as active and enthusiastic to participate in as many sporting challenges as possible. When she heard about The Daily Mile initiative, she couldn’t wait to launch it at the school. As a keen runner herself and having run various marathons the children and their parents have always shown an interest her running and none more so that when she ran the New York Marathon in Nov 2019 which had been on her bucket list.
The support Katherine received from the school was immense. So many children wanted to ask questions about running marathons and how to train for them. The day following the New York marathon the children celebrated Katherine’s success by running their own marathons. Each class had to run a total of 26.2 miles collectively. Teachers joined in too. Some classes ran more than a marathon and the Head teacher recorded a total of 185 miles run on that one day alone!
When Katherine returned from New York she talked through the route with the children and shared her photos, medal and race poncho with them. She also told the children how proud she was to hear they had run their own marathon and that she hopes one day many of them will do what she has done.
To find out more about Peakirk cum Glinton Primary School please visit www.pcgprimaryschool.co.uk.