Fife teacher's wellbeing initiative, The Daily Mile, sets goal for next 10 years

The Daily Mile started at a single school in Stirling ten years ago, where now retired Elaine Wyllie MBE from Burntisland was headteacher.

The initiative encourages children to run, jog or wheel outside with their friends for 15 minutes a day, with most children averaging a mile or more during that time.

From that one school in Stirling, The Daily Mile has spread around the world with three million children in more than 14,000 schools taking part thanks to teachers and partners in 87 countries around the world.

The Daily Mile laid out its ambition for the next ten years at an event last week during the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, setting a goal to improve the wellbeing of ten million children around the globe by 2032.

The event at University College Birmingham was chaired by Daily Mile Ambassador, double Commonwealth Champion, World Champion and Olympian Colin Jackson.

Guests heard from the Scottish Government about Scotland’s ongoing commitment to growing The Daily Mile initiative and there was discussion about the positive impact it has on wellbeing and the most recent research and first-hand accounts from teachers and pupils as well as the ambition to have more children take part across the UK and around the world.

In the UK more than 2.3 million children in over 9700 schools are signed up to The Daily Mile, which improves academic performance, physical and mental health, and ironically, even kids who have never exercised before love taking part, become fitter and more engaged with sport and PE.

Elaine Wyllie, founder of The Daily Mile, said: “It is amazing to come together with a successful group of former athletes, leaders and health professionals to lay out our ambition to see every child enjoy the benefits of The Daily Mile.

"Multiple scientific studies have shown that The Daily Mile improves fitness, allows teachers to develop trusted relationships with students, children achieve more at school and report feeling calmer and happier with better focus and mental wellbeing.

"We want to get ten million children around the world doing The Daily Mile by 2032 and together we will make this happen.”