Our morning running club is up and running (ha ha please excuse the pun). It has been lovely to see so many children choosing to take part every morning.

The Daily Mile was started last year by a Head Teacher in a Scottish school. We noticed as soon as we started running too that exercise in the morning improves learning readiness, concentration and behaviour - leading to better attainment. We can see how it builds the children's confidence, resilience and determination while they are enjoying being outside in the fresh air, running with their friends.

We have introduced the Daily Mile to the children as a run and not a walk. Almost all of our children are able to run continuously for 15 minutes or 5 laps around our MUGA. If they do this, they can even earn class points for their class. This level of fitness is then maintained or improved over future months.

Why does the daily mile work for schools?

• The daily Mile is free and simple to implement
• It's proven to be sustainable (we have been doing this for 2 years now)
• It always takes place in a safe, risk assessed school environment.
• It helps improve focus, concentration and behaviour in class.
• Physical activity is known to improve attainment
• Teachers can, if they wish, choose to link to aspects of our creative curriculum
• It embeds daily activity into our approach to Health and Well-Being
• Children are fitter and it helps them access Sport and PE more easily.

If your child is doing the Daily Mile, you can support this at home by both encouraging their confidence in running and moving outside with them out of school hours. Parents say that this helps them to eat and sleep better and they often become ambassadors for whole family fitness!