Children at Laddingford walk a mile every day.

You will probably be aware of recent concerns around physical inactivity and childhood obesity. As they go through Primary school, many children put on weight and, across the UK, around 30% of children in their final year at Primary are categorised as overweight or obese.  Experts have described this as an epidemic and a crisis that must be tackled before it is too late.  So far, no approach in the western world has made any difference, with millions of pounds spent on schemes which have had no lasting impact - and the situation continues to worsen.

There is, however, an initiative called The Daily Mile which was started in February 2012 by Elaine Wyllie who was headteacher of a large Scottish Primary school.  She was concerned by the children’s obvious lack of fitness and, a few years after it starting it, she had shown it to be both sustainable and effective.  The result was that the Scottish Government wrote to every Scottish school to recommend that they implement it too.

The Daily Mile is very simple to start in a school.  Without wasting time to change into kit, every child in a school, goes out each day in the fresh air to run, jog or walk for 15 minutes. It is not competitive and most children average a mile, with some doing more and some doing less. It is not PE, sport or cross-country but a physical activity which is aimed at improving the children's physical, social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing. It can help children to focus and concentrate in the classroom and raise their attainment. 

The Daily Mile has since been adopted by well over 1000 schools in the UK – proving to be very popular with children, parents and teachers. We have introduced The Daily Mile for all the children at Laddingford and the response from the children has already been very positive. In a recent parent survey 100% of respondents said they felt the daily mile has a positive impact on their child.

For further information please have a look at the booklet below, along with the 2 maps of our possible routes (with thanks to Mrs Bibby) and a risk assessment for the 'road' walk.