Published: | Updated:

WHAT IS THE 'DAILY MILE' SCHEME?

Elaine Wyllie, who was the headteacher at St Ninian's Primary School in Stirling, set up the Daily Mile to offer children a simple, inexpensive way to incorporate exercise into their daily regimens. 

It involves pupils leaving the classroom for 15 minutes every day to walk, jog or run a mile by going around the playground several times. 

Individual teachers decide when to incorporate the activity into the school day, which is done in addition to PE lessons and does not replace exercise during playtime. 

Ms Wyllie claims she saw first hand that the initiative both improves children's health and their concentration.

The Scottish Government encourages schools to take up the Daily Mile scheme, but has no plans to make it compulsory. 

According to the Daily Mile Foundation, more than 2,265 UK schools take part in the initiative, which has also been taken up by 3,600 schools worldwide.

Advertisement

Read articles that feature this panel

Children who are made to walk or run a mile a day are significantly healthier than their sedentary peers, study finds

Researchers from Stirling University found schools who take part in the Daily Mile initiative are more likely to have students of a healthy...

Exercise could make your child better at school: Fit pupils perform better in learning and memory tests, study finds

Nottingham Trent University scientists found that fitter primary school pupils had, on average, better response times in visual and reading...

Most watched News videos