Over 1,000 school children celebrate The Daily Mile

01 Jul 2019 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news

Over 1,000 school children from around the county celebrated The Daily Mile last week by walking to the Northumberland School Games Festival in Cramlington.

The pupils aged between 6-15 years of age walked from a designated drop off point in Cramlington to the festival which was held at the town’s The Learning Village.

The Daily Mile is a national campaign aimed at improving the physical, social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of school children regardless of age, ability or personal circumstances.  It is fun, free and easy to do and is being backed by Northumberland County Council.

Children at school are encouraged to simply walk, run or jog for fifteen minutes each day. Studies are beginning to show that The Daily Mile improves children’s health, happiness and even school results. They eat and sleep better, they concentrate more in class and they feel happier.

Councillor Wayne Daley, cabinet member for children’s services at Northumberland County Council said:  

“It was great that we were able to incorporate The Daily Mile into the festival for the young people and their teachers. In Northumberland we are  encouraging a flexible, whole school approach so that the responsibility for physical activity doesn’t just lie with the PE department, or limit activity to the sports hall or playing field. We want to encourage children to walk to school and we want to encourage all teachers to incorporate some form of physical activity into their lessons and their daily classroom routine.

"Raising physical activity and fitness in our young children will undoubtedly help to build stronger and more successful students while instilling in them good  habits that they will take into adult life.”

The School Games Festival is a celebration of sport which is designed to motivate and inspire young people to take part in competitive sport. It is a government led programme, funded by The National Lottery and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust.