Deanburn Primary School – Bo’ness, Scotland
Deanburn Primary School
Fact File
- Where we’re based: Bo’ness, Scotland
- School roll: 364, including 55 in the Nursery
- Where do you run your Daily Mile? We run around the perimeter of the playground with 5 laps = 1 mile. We are hoping to have a track painted or marked out later this session.
- Month/Year we started The Daily Mile: August 2015 – We started this initially as the ‘Road to Rio’ with the stimulus of the whole school walking to Rio in Brazil before the Summer 2016 Olympics.
Laura Beattie, Depute Head Teacher (Acting), talks us through Oaklands School’s experience of The Daily Mile, thus far.
A brief description of your school?
Deanburn Primary School is a medium sized, non-denominational primary school located on the west side of Bo’ness, which is approximately 7 miles from Falkirk. The school provides education from Nursery to Primary 7, with currently a morning and afternoon nursery session and 12 classes. We also cater for pupils with ASN through our two Enhanced Provision classes. Our school motto is ‘Believe and Achieve’.
How many, and which, children in your school complete The Daily Mile?
The whole school from Primary 1 – Primary 7, with the minimum expectation of 3 times per week. Some classes do it everyday. The Nursery takes part on occasion.
Please, describe your school’s experience of The Daily Mile to date.
When the pupils had a target of completing a certain distance, this motivated them to go that bit further and their enthusiasm to reach the target was evident. Following on from last year’s success with the ‘Road to Rio’, classes in the Upper School this year have picked their own destinations to walk to and are working in pairs / groups to achieve this over the year, tracking their performance regularly and updating their class display boards.
It has worked well also with the children having a set time each time, and everyone trying to achieve a mile (or as close to this as they can, and trying to improve their distance each time).
Also, using stop watches to time themselves running / walking a mile and trying to beat their score.
Have you experienced any successful links to the curriculum?
Mrs McKay P5 – Used it effectively last year with her P5 class linked to data handling.
I.E. What is the total of laps / miles at your group?
What is the mean number of laps in your group?
What is the mode / median for the class?
Miss Furmage P7/6 – In my class, pupils have been really motivated to reach a goal which they have decided in their group. E.G. One group want to get to London, another to Madrid or Paris, and are keeping track of how many miles they complete towards their target as a group.
Pupils are keen and some often ask if we can go out for The Daily Mile. It is particularly motivating for a pupil with challenging behaviour who loves to sprint around and is very proud of the number of laps they complete.
Mrs Brown SflA – During playtimes the children (P5-7) would ask me if they could still do The Daily Mile, and I gave them a book which tallied how many they did. They were very enthusiastic about it then (had a target for Rio).
Mrs McAllister P2 – I found that when I link The Daily Mile with French (on the completion of each lap, every child had to pass me and give me a day of the week / month of the year / phrase we had been working on in French) the children were really engaged and enthusiastic. Sometimes we do this with our spelling words for the week or addition / subtraction facts, too.
Nursery – I wanted the Nursery class to do a “weekly” mile, ensuring all children go outdoors daily, even if just for a walk around the school grounds. This doesn’t happen everyday, though. I do think it is a positive experience for the children, however. It also helps on our weekly trip to the woods, that the children now have the stamina to walk without complaining of being tired.
Any comments or quotes?
Erin and Morgan, P4 – “It is fun to collect as many laps as you can.”
Logan and Skye, P4 – “It is exhausting but really fun.”
Josh and Kai, P4 – “It is all about fitness and it keeps you strong.”
Zara and Ella, P4 – “It is exhausting but keeps you happy.”
Mason, Brody, Dylan and Jessica, P4 – “It keeps us strong and fit.”
Zara and Blair, P4 – “It keeps us healthy.”
Molly and Sydney, P4 – “It can sometimes be tiring.”
Brooklyn and Eva, P4 – “It is alot of fun and keeps us fit and healthy.”
Caleb and Faith, P4 – “It is good to get 5 laps or more.”
Adam and Mary, P4 – “It keeps us strong and healthy.”
Roni and Adam, P4 – “It is exciting because you don’t know how many laps you will get.”
Robbie and Emily-Louise, P4 – “It is exhausting but good to beat your last score.”
Visit Deanburn Primary School’s website for more information
Twitter: @DeanburnPS and @DeanburnPS_P4JB