On the last day of term (Friday February 15, 2019), some children in Year 4 took part in a research project with the University of Chester to find out if the children who participate in the Daily Mile initiative have better fitness scores and lower BMI scores than children at schools who don’t participate in the initiative.

The aim of The Daily Mile is to incorporate 15 minutes of self-paced physical activity (walking, jogging or running) into your daily life, to experience the benefits of regular exercise. We all know that regular physical activity has a positive impact on our health and wellbeing, and can help us to feel refreshed, happier, more productive, and less stressed.

We were very proud of the children’s athleticism overall with two children (Ben and Zak) achieving high enough scores in the bleep test to technically be able to enter the army!

Zak achieved level 8.7 which is the highest level achieved by a child in the project by a whole level! We started the Daily Mile in September 2016 as part of our ‘Wilmslow GETs Moving’ project when Zak and Ben were in year 2. Each day the children run laps around the track in Meriton Road Park before they have lunch. This has had huge benefits to both their focus and concentration and overall fitness.