St Clare’s Primary School – Co. Dublin
Fact File
Name of school: St Clare’s Primary School
Address: Harold’s Cross Rd, Dublin 6W D6W WC86
The Daily Mile start date in your school: 26th February 2014
How many children in your school participate in The Daily Mile?
Wednesdays at 8am – 2nd to 6th class participate (130 children approximately)
Fridays – Whole school (296 children)
Where do you do The Daily Mile?
The field, playground and hall. We use the playground if the field is too wet. We also use the school hall on Wednesday mornings for circuit training if it is raining.
How many times a week does your school participate in The Daily Mile?
Once a week during winter months and twice a week during summer months.
Your school’s experience of The Daily Mile
The school organised a school recreational activity called The Daily Mile where children from second class to sixth class were invited to take part in. This activity was differentiated for children of different needs and fitness by having groups of varied paces with teachers and SNA’s encouraging and leading the group so that a pace could be set and maintained. This ensured inclusivity for all children.
The children receive a certificate for participation. The children and staff thoroughly enjoy this initiative and the benefits are huge. Children are more enthusiastic, more focused in class and everybody is in good form.
Did you encounter any barriers to getting started with The Daily Mile?
We renewed our Active School Flag in June 2017. All our initiatives had to be reviewed and we noticed that while children were enjoying the The Daily Mile initiative not all children in our school were getting the opportunity to take part.
Some children were not able to reach school twice a week at 7:50am. Therefore, we changed the format of our initiative – The Daily Mile now takes place on a Wednesday morning at 8am for children from 2nd – 6th class and on Fridays it happens during the school day.
Each class (Junior Infants – 6th class) has a time slot during the day where they can use the field/playground to carry out The Daily Mile. This ensures that every child in the school is now accessing the initiative at least once a week.
Since starting The Daily Mile, what differences, if any, have you noticed in the children and across your school?
In general, the children are more energetic and focused. They thoroughly enjoy The Daily Mile and parents have commented on their children’s new love of exercise. Children’s fitness has improved greatly and this is very evident during Physical Education lessons and during our extra-curricular activities/competitions.
We saw an increase in the number of children signing up to our school teams such as Athletics, Hurling, Camogie and Football. In general, the attendance and punctuality in our school has improved since we started our Active Programme.
What has been the reported impact of The Daily Mile on such things as the children’s learning, concentration, focus, behaviour, mood and relationships?
Teachers and parents have found the children more focused on the days they participate in The Daily Mile. Attendance and punctuality in the school has improved since the The Daily Mile initiative was introduced back in 2014.
There is a great atmosphere throughout the school and children are happy and parents are commenting on how the children are dying to get into school in the mornings!
Can you tell us about any successful links you have made between The Daily Mile and your curriculum?
Class teachers use The Daily Mile on Fridays for revision of spellings and tables. Children really enjoy this activity and it helps them to improve their teamwork skills.
Quotes from Parents
“Delighted with the morning run which has Eamonn enthusiastically jumping out of bed to go to school”
“Exercising daily, making it a part of everyday life”
“Wants to get up earlier for The Daily Mile, is more enthusiastic and has more energy”
“The children are more involved and enjoying the activities”
“My daughter wants to get up earlier in order to get to school earlier because of her change in attitude and her new love for exercise”
“The Daily Mile in the morning time is a great way for my child to start the day he loves it and it makes him more alert at the start of the day”
“Great encouragement given to students by teachers to take part in and increase physical activity”