Primary school pupils complete marathon challenge

Anglia
Norfolk
And Finally
Saturday 23 April 2016 at 12:17pm

Kicking off their last mile of the marathon! Credit: ITV News Anglia

Ahead of the London marathon a group of children from Norwich have just completed their own special Marathon.

Pupils from Trowse Primary have run a mile a day for the last 26 days as part of the schools commitment to increase their physical activity and improve their overall well being.

Credit: ITV News Anglia

Amongst year 6 children in Norwich, 1 in 3 are recorded as overweight or obese. The idea behind the Daily Mile, which began in Scotland, was to improve not just the physical but social and emotional wellbeing of children.

"This was something the children could understand and buy into. Teachers and support staff have joined in the running too making it a real community event. The staff feel it has had a positive impact: children feel good about their achievements and are calm in class after their run. In addition, it has not taken much time out of the curriculum each day and it is now, for most classes, down to 15 minutes from leaving their seat in class to being back in their seat after. Children are fitter and can run the mile much quicker now that they could at the start. Furthermore, some children who suffer from asthma and needed their inhalers at the start no longer need them. The staff themselves feel that it has done them good to run a mile and feel like it is having a positive impact on their own wellbeing; making the link to the fact that if they feel like this, it must be having a similar positive effect on the children's mental health & wellbeing. I would highly recommend this initiative.

The TV presenter Jake Humphrey handed out medals to all the children after they had finished. Credit: ITV News Anglia