PULSE CASE STUDY 1


GREENFIELDS COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL


What made you want to introduce The Daily Mile at Greenfields Community Primary School?


Headteacher Mr Andrews said: “When I came in to post I was shocked to find that children were more overweight leaving primary school than they were when they started, and I knew we had to do something about that. Sport was a key part of school for me as a child, and I wanted to share that experience with my pupils”.


Around the same time Head of Sport & Wellbeing, Mrs Ball, watched as Elaine Wyllie, founder of The Daily Mile, received a Pride of Britain award for her ground-breaking initiative. Mrs Ball thought it would be a great idea that could be recreated back at school and so when she took the idea to Mr Andrews there was no hesitation!


How does The Daily Mile work at your school?


We do The Daily Mile every day without exception and the children love it. Each class teacher takes their class out when they are ready and most do it in the mornings. We have a line marking the route around the playground, and the children know that seven laps is a mile. We use number cubes to help them keep track of their laps-each child collects a cube when they have completed a lap, and they love showing us how many they have collected!


What benefits have you seen since introducing The Daily Mile?


We run an inter-class competition with a different theme each term. Pupils


know that each mile counts towards their class total and as a result we have seen real improvements in attendance as no one wants to miss their mile! We have even had pupils ask if they can make up their missed days at lunch because they don’t want to let their class down, so it builds a team ethic too.


Fitness benefits have also been huge. We host regular cross-country events with other local schools each bring a team of 6 and this year Greenfields took all top six places!


This in turn builds a positive association with physical activity for our pupils-they enjoy sport, and all want to be in school teams now.


Do you have any success stories you would like to share?


One of our Year 4 pupils, Louie, has quite bad asthma. At a cross-country event last year, he really struggled and only completed half the course due to his asthma flaring up. Doing The Daily Mile has transformed his health—he hardly uses his inhaler now and during a recent visit his respiratory specialist said this is highly likely due to the regular exercise which has helped to improve his lung and muscular function. At this year’s cross-country, he not only managed to complete the course, but even went on to finish sixth!


We asked Louie what he liked about The Daily Mile and he said: “I enjoy it because it makes me fitter and faster and now I am in the football squad. I also like it because it helps me concentrate and gives me a break”.


CASE STUDY 2 BREDHURST C OF E PRIMARY SCHOOL


How does The Daily Mile work at your school?


We are a very small school and so the whole school often go out together. We do The Daily Mile every day in the afternoon, and each teacher takes their class out when they are ready. In the summer we go out on to the field, and in the winter, we use the playground. The pupils don’t keep track of how far they have gone - but some of the teachers do!


How well does The Daily Mile fit in to the existing school day?


It fits in perfectly. We used to do it in the morning, but we have found it is more effective in the afternoon as it gives the pupils a mental break at the right time of the school day. Once a month on a Wednesday morning we also hold an additional Daily Mile first thing in the morning where parents and carers can stay and join in, which gets good engagement from the parents. On these days we still have our Daily Mile in the afternoon - that’s how beneficial we think The Daily Mile is.


What benefits have you seen since introducing The Daily Mile?


It’s great to see the children mixing with other year groups-some have


siblings in other year groups, and they do The Daily Mile together. Some of our older pupils also take it upon themselves to go around with the younger children which is a heart-warming sight. Pupils also get the chance to chat to teachers from other classes who they sometimes find it easier to talk to about anything that may be troubling them. Without The Daily Mile, they wouldn’t really get that opportunity so it brings great mental health benefits for our pupils by giving them that opportunity to voice any concerns.


What has been the best thing about introducing The Daily Mile?


Assistant Headteacher Mrs Steer said: “We have found the pastoral side of The Daily Mile has made a massive impact to our pupils and staff. Pupils talking to younger pupils - sharing concerns or worries and talking to adults very freely as they are just walking round the playground together. This has led to happier pupils and staff as it is a time when they feel happy and able to talk about any concerns. This has also reduced the time in class when we as teachers ended up sorting out disagreements between friends or things at home, but The Daily Mile gives time for this to happen”.


The Kent & Medway School Sports Magazine 9


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