Loch Primary School – Glasgow, Scotland

Loch Primary School

Fact File

  • Where we’re based: Rutherglen near Glasgow, in Scotland.
  • A description of our school: A medium sized, urban school which is currently involved in the Scottish Attainment Challenge
  • School roll: 194 students
  • Children in school doing The Daily Mile: Primary 1 to 7
  • Where we run: The children run around the perimeter of the playground and MUGA pitch.
  • Month/Year we started The Daily Mile: May 2017

Miss Gina Harrington, P6 Class Teacher, talked us through Loch Primary School’s experience of The Daily Mile.

Did you face any barriers when implementing The Daily Mile? If yes, how did you overcome them?

During the school year 2017/17 we started a Sports Council within the school. One of the areas for development that the children identified was a need to provide additional opportunities for pupils to increase their fitness levels. As we have one gym hall and eight classes, the Sports Council concluded that it would need to be the outside space which was used to do this if we were to implement anything during the school day.

Together, we researched The Daily Mile initiative and the pupils were impressed by the benefits they read about on the website. The Sports Council measured the distance of the school playground and MUGA pitch perimeter and calculated that you would need to complete 8 laps of the course to walk, jog or run a full mile.

To begin with, we wondered how we would be able to fit anything else into an already full curriculum. However, as a staff we felt that our learners’ physical fitness needed to be prioritised. To overcome this barrier, we made the decision that The Daily Mile would be implemented with classes on the days that the children did not have a formal PE lesson so that we were not taking time from other curricular areas on every day of the week.

We also decided that Primary 4-7 would spend 15 minutes doing their Daily Mile and Primary 1-3 would complete theirs in 10 minutes. We rolled The Daily Mile programme out beginning with the upper stages. This allowed them to become familiar with the routine and to set an example to the Infant classes when they began.

Since starting The Daily Mile, what differences in the school have you observed?

Since beginning The Daily Mile there has been an increase in classes using the outdoor areas in all weathers, as the children are keen to complete their Daily Mile.

What has been the impact on the children’s learning, concentration, focus and behaviour?

Last year, one of the upper school classes completed their Daily Mile in the middle of the afternoon session to allow the children to re-focus for the remainder of the day. This had a positive impact on behaviour and effort in the class during the longer afternoon school session.

What has been the impact on the children’s mood and relationships?

The Daily Mile also helped relationships to build amongst pupils in this class, as The Daily Mile gave them an opportunity to discuss any issues which had arisen throughout the day and allowed them to be resolved while remaining active and engaged in completing the course.

Do you have any individual success stories of linking The Daily Mile to your curriculum?

Our next challenge will be to keep pupils interested and motivated in The Daily Mile as it becomes more familiar to them. We will begin to do this by challenging classes to run the length of Britain and compare results to see which classes manage to achieve this and how long it took them to do.

Any other comments?

Miss Harrington, P6 Class Teacher – “The Daily Mile had a positive impact on the concentration levels during afternoon sessions in my class with children remaining engaged throughout their lessons as they had the chance to break from their tasks. They found it easy to re-focus and return to the task they had been working on and continue giving it their best efforts. It also brought out a competitive streak in many of the children who were determined to complete the full mile and more in the 15-minute time slot.”

Denis, Primary 4 – “It gives you more energy.”

Ryan, Primary 3 – “It keeps you fit.”

Kyle, Primary 4 – “It improves your running so you can move faster.”

 

Visit Loch Primary School’s website for more information

Twitter: @LochPS